The "completed" Chelsea side and attractive football.

[Sidzeret 2,257]

[DANILA 290]

My main problem with Jose is when Chelsea is up 1-0 or 2-1 he wants to go in complete defense mode for some reason, even against small clubs! Then like times last season they would pressure us and score near the 90th minute and we would draw or lose. IMO, the best form of defense is attack (to a certain level) and Jose really does not agree with that. Hopefully he learned his lesson from last season that we cannot just 'defend' for the rest of the game when one lucky fluke could take away 2/3 points from us.

[DYC. 7,542]

I do expect better and definitely a proactive approach, taking the initiative. Last season Mourinho would have the team soak up the pressure too much imo. Defending very deep, which led to the players having to bridge a lot space before reaching the opposition goal once the ball was won. No top team should have to result to such tactics too often. And this mentality of having to play defensively or in a reactive manner whenever the team faces a quality side also does not suit a club of this stature. I'm not saying that's always the case but it does happen quite a lot.

Ball circulation was a major issue troughout the season as well. It was simply too slow, giving the opposition far too much time to set up defensively. This should improve with Fabregas in the middle but it's not that simple. This is where the work done in training shows. The coach should allow his team to take more risks, allowing players to get forward more, instead of staying behind the ball, so there are more passing options. Players like Oscar and Willian also need to step up as they tend to slow down play, especially Willian (drives me crazy), without having any ideas on what to do with the ball.

I'm not going to lie, the neutrals are right about the style of Chelsea throughout the years. If you're not a fan, watching Chelsea won't do much for you or can simply be boring. That said, it does not matter how Chelsea play, they'll always find something to criticise or to complain about.

And saying Chelsea's style of play doesn't matter is simply not true. An attractive brand of football attracts fans. The people in charge at Chelsea want that, Abramovich wants that, every club wants that. And attractive, attacking football does not mean having to sacrifice winning. Real Madrid, Barcelona, Bayern, Milan etc. have all shown it's possible to combine both. It's not easy but Chelsea do have the resources to do so.

As for next season, I'm not sure what to expect. This is Mourinho so I don't think anyone should expect Chelsea to be one of the most exciting sides around. But like I said before, I do expect better.

[robsblubot 3,595]

Jose builds his teams for the big games.

That makes him struggle against weaker sides. When you employ defensive fullbacks it's a compromise you are willing to make: defensive solidity, but missing in numbers going forward. This is simple arithmetic: chelsea will have 4 players out of 10, who are not capable to contribute in attack.

I have no qualms with his team setup, but understand something's gotta give and sometimes we will struggle when facing weaker sides. Just look at the other top teams' record against weaker sides at home.

Yes, we will improve with Fabregas and Costa, but not sure if enough. I also expect we won't have it as good against the top sides, because we will play less disruptive football; MAtic and Luiz were monsters in those tough away derbies. tradeoffs...

Hopefully some sort of balance is struck and we win the league, even if still on the defensive side as strategies go.

[DazLaughlan 55]

Maybe just me, but I find a team that looks to get forward quickly and effectively more entertaining to watch than say Arsenal or Barca who will make 20 odd passes in the middle before attacking.

[TorontoChelsea 4,064]

I can't deny that I would like us to play a more attractive football. With the players we currently have, it'd be a shame if Jose can't accomplish that while keeping the team defensively sound. That said, results matter the most, of course.

The issue I have is that defensive football actually isn't any more successful than offensive football. The bottom line is that you have to score more goals than the other team and that can be 5-4 or 1-0. In fact, last year, goals for was a better indicator of success than goals against. The top 7 in goals for finished 1,2,3,4. 7, 5,6 (in other words all the top 7) The top 7 in goals against finished 3, 1, 5,4, 7,8, 11. I don't expect us to be exciting offensively because Mourinho is not that kind of coach. I don't like it, but it's the way we went and we have to keep on that path if we want to win. Trying to force a certain offensive style on a team it doesn't fit is a disaster..

BTW, for 95% of teams, you just need to do what you can do win. I will never begrudge a lower level team of playing super defensively against us. What can you do when your entire roster costs less than any two players on the other team's squad? However, when you are spending 60M pounds a year, you should be able to produce some attractive football.

[Shakez 755]

The issue I have is that defensive football actually isn't any more successful than offensive football. The bottom line is that you have to score more goals than the other team and that can be 5-4 or 1-0. In fact, last year, goals for was a better indicator of success than goals against. The top 7 in goals for finished 1,2,3,4. 7, 5,6 (in other words all the top 7) The top 7 in goals against finished 3, 1, 5,4, 7,8, 11. I don't expect us to be exciting offensively because Mourinho is not that kind of coach. I don't like it, but it's the way we went and we have to keep on that path if we want to win. Trying to force a certain offensive style on a team it doesn't fit is a disaster..

BTW, for 95% of teams, you just need to do what you can do win. I will never begrudge a lower level team of playing super defensively against us. What can you do when your entire roster costs less than any two players on the other team's squad? However, when you are spending 60M pounds a year, you should be able to produce some attractive football.

Idd, and the majority of our games are against those lower sides. It feels sore to lose against those sides while playing boring football.

[Styles 9,790]

The issue I have is that defensive football actually isn't any more successful than offensive football. The bottom line is that you have to score more goals than the other team and that can be 5-4 or 1-0. In fact, last year, goals for was a better indicator of success than goals against. The top 7 in goals for finished 1,2,3,4. 7, 5,6 (in other words all the top 7) The top 7 in goals against finished 3, 1, 5,4, 7,8, 11. I don't expect us to be exciting offensively because Mourinho is not that kind of coach. I don't like it, but it's the way we went and we have to keep on that path if we want to win. Trying to force a certain offensive style on a team it doesn't fit is a disaster..

BTW, for 95% of teams, you just need to do what you can do win. I will never begrudge a lower level team of playing super defensively against us. What can you do when your entire roster costs less than any two players on the other team's squad? However, when you are spending 60M pounds a year, you should be able to produce some attractive football.

Well said.

[Rambo 1,729]

We play winning football. At the end of the day, people will only remember the end result, not how pretty we play.

[kellzfresh 7,229]

Mourinho does hold the record for most goals in laliga. 121 with Madrid in 38games is almost impossible to be beaten. If we play anywhere as good as that 2011/2012 Madrid side, we're in for a cracker.

The key is that we needed better finishers because we will concede when attacking like that. That's where costa and fabregas come in, good finishers and hopefully alongside schurlle in attack, we won't find goals difficult to come by.

We also need a marcelo to help our Ronaldo(hazard) in attack, that's where Luis comes in. A highly technical left back that can actually dribble his marker and put in dangerous crosses.

I'm sure that's why Mourinho feels like keeping cech and Courtois bcos he knows they will be left isolated hence the keeper with the best reflexes on form is critical.

Mourinho has a history of fantastic second seasons (Porto, Chelsea, inter, Madrid) he understands what are the missing links in the first season and fixes them in the second.

Can't wait for the new season!!

[Barbara 15,149]

First of all, I don't even agree we are what it's been said we are, how am I going to assess if I think the premise is fake?

There were matches where we were a joy to watch. The team couldn't keep it up enough and the second part of the season was a disaster with players already thinking about the WC or what they ate the day before, because they seemed completely uninterested in some matches (and I'm not talking only about Brazilians). But when the machine was working, it was a very nice style to watch. We played good football at many point throughout the season, we just weren't good enough to keep doing it.

It wasn't as silky and flair-ish as others and while that influences to a certain extent people labeling us anti-football or boring, the main source of those ideas is because we don't score much. But it has nothing to do with Mourinho's tactics and preferences when you look who were our striker force in the first place. That's what people will say. With Diego Costa here if we play exactly the same football, but somehow score let's say 90-whatever goals, the argument is going to disappear. Opposition and neutral fans won't talk as much about our 'anti-football'. We only really practiced for a while, especially during the UCL under di Matteo. Everything else is jealousy, distortion of facts and too much time in hands.

And this whole idea is even more ridiculous when you realize not every season has a team scoring 100+ - regardless of the league. If that was the case our record of most goals at the league would have been broken or at least tied every season and it's intact until now. In other leagues - just like in the EPL - teams go over 100 once in a while. Yeah, 70-whatever is poor for a top team. It has little to do with Mourinho's tactics and a lot more with 1) bad strikers 2) our best player not shooting enough 3) our other AMs - especially Oscar who started scoring for fun and has very good finishing - went hiding the second half of the season. So the problem was actually more in the players shying away than in the approach. Against teams whose attack was better than us we played more defensively. I think mistakes were made against Atletico, but it wasn't simply because we were defensive. They were tactical bets that didn't pay off. Most of them did throughout the season.

This whole discussion imo is moot and bleh because I don't agree with the basic premise.

Now if we move it to 'can we play more effective football' I'll have a lot to say (as if three paragraphs weren't a lot already). While many said we don't play beautiful, but play effective, I disagree. We weren't properly drilled at offensive actions, we could and should have done better. Our attack should be more organized, our midfield more creative and direct. We had a lot of problems - most of them technical as in many matches the players didn't show up and in many others it was a chance-created-waste-festival. Mourinho failed in create alternatives (plays practiced in training, actually have drills on how to attack) because it seems like everyone was doing whatever they saw fit at some points, it wasn't organized, purposeful and conscious many times. During pre-season, Mourinho and Kevin spoke about us scoring goals in plays we trained, but it seemed to have been lost during the season. André ran, positioned himself, nobody saw him or passed to him. Eto'o also presented himself for the 2-1, but the AM or whoever received the ball and moved forward, our FB didn't support our attack properly (Azpili and Iva were in the final third, but bad positioned, without a clear purpose of attacking, many times seemed to only add numbers and be there for sideway passes), we were taking nonsense shots (especially with Luiz and Ramires) that showed we didn't know what else to do with the ball.

Players should be aware of where André was and pass him the ball. Players should know when Eto'o got his back to the goal at the edge of the box and passed it backwards, that he was going to receive a couple of seconds later, inside the box, face to the goal. Azpili and Iva should be more than players to pass the ball to the side and get it back, trying to find a way to get passed the block (or bus). It's not only about crosses, but smart linkup and 2-1s. I have no problem with risking long distance shots, but sometimes they showed we didn't know what we were doing. All those things should be worked in training imo but they don't show you're defensive, they just show you should do a better job because if all those players were in the positions they found themselves in the first place (all examples I gave they are in the final third and I'm talking about strikers, AMS, pivot players and FB, a team with all those people up there isn't defensive). I wasn't in the training sessions, obviously, so I'm assuming they weren't properly worked because I didn't see purpose in many of our actions in the final third. Maybe they were worked and we couldn't execute, either way, the problem has always been execution (in training and in play) more than philosophy. And I now I spoke enough

[The Mak 4,459]

If we keep on winning home and away against the top 3/4 other teams like we nearly did last season, I really couldn't give a shit. Attractive football is great, but when those teams that played it came up against us they looked like headless chickens and we often murdered them on the counter (City, Arsenal). I found a lot of joy in that to be honest.

We also managed to get to the semi-finals of the CL and this was accomplished with the squad we had at the time. With our new signings this year I would expect us to perform a lot better against the smaller teams by sheer virtue; especially if Mourinho implements high pressing again against these types of teams.

To be able to effectively press high against weaker opposition and counter ruthlessly against the more dangerous teams, well, that would be good enough for me to be honest.

[kellzfresh 7,229]

Barbara

The practiced moves were poor last season. At times it felt like they haven't played with each other before. No understanding, no teamplays, no 1-2 combination plays, no vision. Maybe rotating the strikers so much didn't allow for more understanding between the ams and the strike.

But now we have someone that makes runs constantly, keeping the centerbacks on the run and thinking. Now we have someone who is looking to pick out runs in behind the defence so gameplay will definitely improve now. Hopefully schurlle gets more gametime now so him and costa make runs and add finishing to our team.

[AndersonBLUE 819]

If by attractive you mean we can win against bottom half teams in relative comfort then yes, wouldn't we all? But the big big games I hope we can continue to rustle jimmies by tactically out-doing everyone like last year.

[BlueLyon 9,359]

My main problem with Jose is when Chelsea is up 1-0 or 2-1 he wants to go in complete defense mode for some reason, even against small clubs! Then like times last season they would pressure us and score near the 90th minute and we would draw or lose. IMO, the best form of defense is attack (to a certain level) and Jose really does not agree with that. Hopefully he learned his lesson from last season that we cannot just 'defend' for the rest of the game when one lucky fluke could take away 2/3 points from us.

If he will keep doing that this season, he will be packing bags in summer.