The Mourinho Thread

[Viper22 2,418]

My point is not about adaptability - I know we can mix it with Stoke on a wet night at The Britannia whereas other teams cannot or not having a Plan B to Z etc. - reverting to type about trying to close out a game with the different personnel in the wrong situation. There is only so much Jose can do from the touchline, he cannot climb on Schurrle's back and follow him until the final whistle whispering "Track the runner".

No doubt we will go far with the trophy cabinet, I'm worried about the latter stages of the CL.

Cheers for that. This hilarious image will be in my head for ever more now.

[Fernando 6,585]

I'm aware, I've been watching the EPL for a while now.. I do not recall people saying that the defences were bad though.. Not disagreeing that is not 'too good' - the guy is a monster, same as Messi but its a widely shared opinion that La Liga is.. easier to score in, smaller teams and such, its a big point to make but I can't be bothered to write it all out, common sense should have kicked in by now as I said its a commonly shared opinion.

And its in no way a dig at Ronaldo, beast.

Common shared opinion?

Maybe if your English, but not to me.

It's about the same to me.

The top teams totally destroy the smaller teams.

Chelsea record of goals just like Barca and Real.

[DH1988 1,348]

Common shared opinion?

Maybe if your English, but not to me.

It's about the same to me.

The top teams totally destroy the smaller teams.

Chelsea record of goals just like Barca and Real.

Say what? Top teams destroy smaller teams? Agree to disagree!

[DH1988 1,348]

Cheers for that. This hilarious image will be in my head for ever more now.

Golden. Someone tweet it over to Schurrle.

[TheOneChan95 225]

I'm aware, I've been watching the EPL for a while now.. I do not recall people saying that the defences were bad though.. Not disagreeing that is not 'too good' - the guy is a monster, same as Messi but its a widely shared opinion that La Liga is.. easier to score in, smaller teams and such, its a big point to make but I can't be bothered to write it all out, common sense should have kicked in by now as I said its a commonly shared opinion.

And its in no way a dig at Ronaldo, beast.

I agree that it is probably easier to score in La Liga than other top leagues. I mean look at the first Ronaldo. He nearly hit 50 at Barca didn't while at a younger age than both Messi or CR didn't he? Did it with a Barca side that wasn't as stacked as the Barca of 2008-2012. Then it dropped when he went to Inter.

It's amazing to see how Mou has shaped our team in 2 seasons. And I wouldn't be worried about the latter stages of the CL at all really. After we won it once I feel that the "burden" of wanting to win it has been lifted. Mou has some bad luck in the Semi's but the fact that he can get any team there consistently is a testament to his ability. I believe we should advance that far again at least.

[Chelsea Legend 11 4,062]

I'm aware, I've been watching the EPL for a while now.. I do not recall people saying that the defences were bad though.. Not disagreeing that is not 'too good' - the guy is a monster, same as Messi but its a widely shared opinion that La Liga is.. easier to score in, smaller teams and such, its a big point to make but I can't be bothered to write it all out, common sense should have kicked in by now as I said its a commonly shared opinion.

And its in no way a dig at Ronaldo, beast.

That may have been the case a few years ago but I don't buy that anymore. La Liga has taken the reigns as the best division in Europe right now... The style of play in England allow for more teams to be competitive but I don't think its fair to say La Liga is easier to score in.

I go by what the players say, England is faster and more physical, Spain is technical and more tactical. Both produce problems however, in La Liga 9pts separate 1 from 6 meaning the competition is getting a lot stronger than in the past.

[Viper22 2,418]

Golden. Someone tweet it over to Schurrle.

I don't have twatter, someone else will have to do it .

[sutro 1,026]

[Fernando 6,585]

Jose Mourinho insists he is not motivated by the thought of matching Roberto Di Matteo's achievement of winning the Champions League with Chelsea.

Instead the Portuguese wants to set about building his next great team at Stamford Bridge, one that is capable of challenging for the trophy which has so far eluded him during his time in west London.

Having delivered European Cups whilst in charge at Porto and Inter Milan, Mourinho so far has not been able to repeat the feat with Chelsea - whose one and only success in the competition came under Di Matteo's stewardship in 2012. But this season has started promisingly for the Blues, who are unbeaten in all competitions and sit clear at the top of the Premier League.

Progression into the knockout stages of the Champions League can be attained with a victory over Di Matteo's Schalke side in Gelsenkirchen on Tuesday evening but Mourinho is not thinking about having to equal the Italian's triumphs during his spell at Chelsea.

"Don't ask me to speak about him," said Mourinho when asked about Di Matteo. "The history is the history - he was on the Chelsea bench when Chelsea won the Champions League and he is a historic name in this club, I have nothing more to say.

"My name is in the history of this club. A football club is made of many, many names not one or two names or one player or one manager. I did my history here and now I have the chance to make more history here and he was Chelsea manager and he did his history."

Mourinho even said that winning the competition was not necessarily evidence of managerial brilliance.

“The Champions League, many, many times I say, is not a consequence of a great work,” Mourinho said. “Sometimes it is not. You can win the Champions League in the worst season. You can finish fifth and win the Champions League.

"Right. Liverpool did, and Chelsea, too. A knockout competition is something that always has a big percentage of unpredictability.

"I can do nothing to win it. I can only work to improve my team all the time, make a very good team like we are doing.

"Me working on the pitch, the board working at other levels to make a great team like we did in 2004/05/06."

Mourinho has targeted victory in Germany to secure safe passage at the first opportunity and avoid tricky fixtures in amongst important domestic games in December - warning his players not to take qualification for granted.

The teams drew 1-1 at Stamford Bridge in the first round of fixtures before Di Matteo replaced Jens Keller as Schalke boss and even another draw on Tuesday would go a long way to keeping Mourinho on course to bring his first European Cup to Chelsea.

[The Chels 2,502]

That said I would back us to beat Madrid over two legs but not a single one off game.

I'd say the opposite. Over 2 legs the better team will usually win whereas a final is more unpredictable.

[MrExcalibur100 7,124]

Brilliant job so far, boss. . He's delivered on his promise so far concerning the "evolution" of Chelsea. We are playing with fantastic style and swagger, imposing our will on teams home or away. The contrast of our play in this same fixture last season, where we defended very deep and played on the counter attack for 90 mins and today was there for all too see. We destroyed them this time. I was admittedly concerned after the City game but right now I have nothing but praise for Jose and the way he has us playing football.

21 games unbeaten and we carry on.

[Heisenberg 1,824]

ALL HAIL THE KING.

[stroey 2,525]

post match Schalke 0-5

http://www1.skysports.com/watch/video/9579671/mourinho-hails-fantastic-result

[RoyalBlues 4,050]

Final whistle verdict: The complete performance

Jose Mourinho was thrilled with the emphatic result against Schalke as well as his teams performance which was close to perfect from the first minute to the last.

The Blues romped to our equal-biggest ever away win in the Champions League tonight, with three first-half goals and two in 60 seconds after the break doing the damage.

John Terry, Willian and an own goal had us 3-0 ahead at the interval and more scintillating football after the break was rewarded when substitutes Didier Drogba and then Ramires netted in quick succession. It was no less than a brilliant team performance deserved, as Mourinho acknowledged afterwards

We played a fantastic match, the manager enthused. The team is very confident. We needed to come and play and we showed that from the first minute.

The team was always in control playing top quality football, strong defensively, no mistakes, no real saves for Courtois, just one rebound which hit the bar. It was very impressive.

In the second half we didnt need to chase the game and give them a chance to counter-attack, we could wait for them to make a mistake. We faced the second half with a different profile but the team was so solid. Normally a team winning four or five nil makes a defensive mistake or allows the opponents to score a goal, but we didnt.

I think they have to accept we were too strong for them. When you lose against a team that produces a perfect performance and a perfect result its not your fault.

Tonights performance followed on from Saturdays exceptional first-half showing against West Brom

The team was fantastic from the first minute to the last. If the result has to be different it must be with us getting another couple of goals.

I dont remember Chelsea playing in this way away from home. Obviously there have been some great victories away from home - with me, with other managers - but this was very impressive, very complete. The reality is tonight any team that played against us would find it very difficult because the players were fantastic.

Everything the players do is with big focus and ambition but at the same time with this component of happiness, of flair, of beauty. We are very happy because at the moment we are having good results and at the same time we are playing really, really well.

Mourinho explained why he thinks his players are enjoying their time on the pitch so much

When the team is playing the way we are playing the players dont get tired because we have so much control of the game. The ball does the running. The way we are playing is a pleasure for the players Fabregas was saying that after the game against West Brom.

The victory guarantees top spot in our Champions League group

I dont set targets. In this moment we are very confident, we go match after match, step by step.

We have one Champions League match in December but were qualified and top so its a good situation for us. Lets see what happens at Sunderland with this mentality.

Diego Costa was withdrawn midway through the first half

He took a knock in his leg. He is ready for Saturdays game.

Mourinho was asked how this team compared to the ones he managed during his first spell as manager of Chelsea

Every team has its own profile. Sometimes people try to put a stamp on managers this manager is this or that. The good ones adapt to the realities of the situation. At the moment this team is completely different to my team from 2004 to 2007.

This team to be better than other Chelsea teams needs to win. At the moment it has zero titles. We have to transform the quality of our game into results, which we are getting now but we have to try to win things so this team goes into Chelsea history as a brilliant team and a team that won something.

Our former boss Roberto Di Matteo, now in charge of Schalke, concurred with Mourinho...

Chelsea were super in the way they played, he said. They were ice cold. We played against a really great team.

http://www.chelseafc.com/news/latest-news/2014/11/final-whistle-verdict--schalke-away.html

[RoyalBlues 4,050]

Mourinho: "To win 5-0 away in the Champions League is not normal. To win 5-0 in Germany is even more not normal" #CFC

[Chelsea Legend 11 4,062]

CAREFREE!

[Blue Armour 4,448]

it's impossible... working with him full time, day after day they saw everything he does to motivate players, they saw how he prepares his training sessions, they saw his philosophy. The thing is he's a genius, especially tactically and that one doesn't teach to another, even if they try hard. It's like a talent such as Hazard, you either has it or you don't, you can't teach someone dribble like that, it's inherent to them. Mourinho's understanding of the mechanisms of the game is something special. People can learn a lot of things from him, but that's his. Someone would have also to have the same to be able to be like him, but then again they wouldn't have learned it from him either, they would have been born with that.

Never said anyone of them would become like Mourinho. I just said he would only teach the people who he wants to be taught

[Madmax 9,219]

Dare I say it yet? R.I.P November.

[Tomo 21,751]

My biggest worry a couple of season's back is we were losing a real spine and identity to the team, 12/13 was a little baby step back in the right direction after two years of stagnant and stale football, Hazard, Oscar and Azpi helped breath some fresh energy into a stale side but for me their was a massive concern as we had no prime players (well none at the level needed to challenge at the very very top) and no real spine which helped massively our success of 2005-2010.

Our squad was so unbalanced and so unorganised even Jose needed a year to sort it, but boy has he sorted it. In Tibo, Terry, Matic, Cesc, Oscar, Hazard and Costa he has set us a spine ready to challenge at the very top for the next few years (i honestly don't believe Terry's retirement is as close as people think) and with Jose hopefully staying for the duration this time, he will replace the players before it becomes an issue and we stagnate again.

I can never tire of saying just how lucky we are to have this guy at this club, no more signing un needed players, no more Torres playing 90 minutes every game, no more player power, no more Maloudas of 10/11 playing shite strolling through games and getting picked regardless the next time, no more unbalanced squads, get in!!!

[CHOULO19 24,332]

Great article in the Telegraph today:

How Jose Mourinho's Chelsea became England's cavaliers in the Premier League and Champions League