The Mourinho Thread

[Henrique 9,133]

To be honest british press talk about Mourinho is clueless.

The talk about players around the referee is nonsensical and doesn't make any sense. Every team in the world used to do that.

Actually they should be questioning who is Mourinho at this point. Perhaps his pragmatic approach went too far. Mourinho's record in last 5 years is decent but far from impressive for a coach who called himself the special one and is treated by the local press as god-like manager.

I never hear talk about the real quality of PL at this point, and the lack of a really dominant team. It seems its going to be the most one sided league race since 2006, and its not what you would expect coming from the quality of football this squad produced for most part of the season.

[Chelsea Legend 11 4,062]

To be honest british press talk about Mourinho is clueless.

The talk about players around the referee is nonsensical and doesn't make any sense. Every team in the world used to do that.

Actually they should be questioning who is Mourinho at this point. Perhaps his pragmatic approach went too far. Mourinho's record in last 5 years is decent but far from impressive for a coach who called himself the special one and is treated by the local press as god-like manager.

I never hear talk about the real quality of PL at this point, and the lack of a really dominant team. It seems its going to be the most one sided league race since 2006, and its not what you would expect coming from the quality of football this squad produced for most part of the season.

You will be hard pressed to find another manager with the winning pedigree Jose has. Everyone knows this... He is without question one of the greatest of all time and even today. If you can name me 4 managers who are better you may have a leg to stand on but the fact is you can't.

He's not going to win every year but he will definitely be amongst the contenders every year and that is a remarkable feat. You can never count him out that's why he's the Special One.

[termninja 5,290]

Sure, you can slate Chelsea, slate Jose, and slate us, but the way Jose defends Chelsea is something I missed since...well Jose's first spell. Ive gotten sick with pundits and the media throwing hate at us and us staying silent. After that shocking CL exit, Jose really needed to come out strong at press conference, and he did. Definitely one of the most memorable Ive seen. Calmed me down at least and made me believe fully again.

He has his flaws like everyone, but he is one on us.

I will forever like him for another reason - he thought me how to fight through life and build myself a winning mentality despite others trying to bring me down and enjoying in my failures. He thought me not to accept anything less then a victory and those lessons are hard to get. I dream of meeting Jose and having a chance to talk to him and meet perhaps my biggest hero.

Say one thing, but since he got back, following Chelsea definitely got more interesting and crazier xD I love it how he sticked it in to those Liverpool twats on skysports hahah

“Envy is the biggest tribute that the shadows do to the man. ”

[Barbara 15,149]

To be honest british press talk about Mourinho is clueless.

The talk about players around the referee is nonsensical and doesn't make any sense. Every team in the world used to do that.

Actually they should be questioning who is Mourinho at this point. Perhaps his pragmatic approach went too far. Mourinho's record in last 5 years is decent but far from impressive for a coach who called himself the special one and is treated by the local press as god-like manager.

I never hear talk about the real quality of PL at this point, and the lack of a really dominant team. It seems its going to be the most one sided league race since 2006, and its not what you would expect coming from the quality of football this squad produced for most part of the season.

the league is quality, the thing is the big teams are going through a few peculiar things that should be taken into account.

City has the funds, but no stability and they just don't seem capable of signing defenders and managers as good as the strikers they sign.

United was overachieving with Fergie - and that's all Fergie's credit. Now they're competing with RM to see who spends more money and make more stars signings. It took a while for RM to actually make a team. Those galacticos buys are more for marketing purposes and Perez' vanity than anything else. They don't sign who they should. United seem to be following the same route. At some point it will work, but it's going to be very miss and hit for a while, if I can risk a prediction.

Arsenal is the team with the most potential, but their manager really holds them back. Liverpool is a joke sorry.

And then we have ourselves. We were a mess ever since Carlo left. No manager stability, crazy and pointless signings, key players leaving or entering the descending years of their careers. The team José built was fading away. Then José came back and started building a new team. Those things take time even for giants such as Bayern, Barcelona, RM, United... This transition between a winning generation and the next can go smooth and happen in a couple of years (rare cases) or it can take 3-4 years to happen completely. Chelsea were very lucky and competent when they transitioned from a medium force in the league into a top contender under Roman in a couple of years. That's not the norm. City struggled, PSG even in their mickey mouse league didn't have a cakewalk, Monaco didn't make it at all, nor did Anzhi.

It's a 'bad' moment for English football because the main forces in Europe lately (Chelsea and United) are going through a transition (Chelsea started a bit earlier and is far more advanced on it, but we can all agree we still need a few pieces in our chess board and we're still a young team in age and time playing together). Arsenal and City can't be taken seriously with their defenses and managers (City also have the stability issue). Liverpool is a non-factor. The fact we're talking about 4-5 teams is more than we can do about any other league in the world. La Liga is proving to become again 2-horses. Atletico had an exceptional run in recent years, but they seem to be going down from their high. Spanish teams aren't used to play physical football and it wouldn't take too long for them to figure out how to play against the odd team that chose it. Only RM will continue to be victim to Atletico's style - everyone else is adapting or already know how to play them and leveled things up again - which means there's RM and Barça and then a few miles behind the rest.

Germany has Bayern and that's about it. We don't know what will happen to Dortmund. Wolfsburg is this season's 'one-season wonder' like Leverkusen, Werder Bremen, Schalke, and others were before. Dortmund was the one team that was able to last longer than a season, so I need this Wolfsburg team - who had always had Volkswagen money (a company that hasn't really had money troubles recently), so why aren't them the second strength in Germany for years now? This is how German football has always been ever since I follow it from distance (don't watch Bundesliga, but I keep track of what happens there). Bayern dominates a couple of years, then has a shocker season, then dominates again a couple years, than a shocker season with the odd one-season wonders team grabbing titles whenever Bayern fail. It tells more about how Bayern used to fall apart every few years when they really shouldn't seeing how much money (through more than questionable ways) they have running their machine. Then they came to Barcelona, and watched and learned how they planned their football, academy, how they were faithful to a style and made everything in the club work around that style. That's why I believe they're now going to dominate longer as they should have always had.

So people talk about how English football and the league isn't that great when there are three big teams in the world and coincidently two happen to be in the same league. Chelsea and United were fighting for the 4th spot for a few years, but then went through transitions themselves. Barcelona had been in a transition for a couple of years now. The fact they continue to win things in Spain just show how easy it is to win there... That (ridiculous) thread opened a couple of weeks ago about the EPL champion being the best among a bunch of averages teams could be opened about other countries too, the difference is that Bayern, RM and Barça are well established forces of recent football, but that doesn't happen overnight. United took years to become the force they were in England and more often than not a serious contender in Europe. UCL titles are overrated to no end imo. In a league where the best teams from all countries - and more and more leagues have money injected on them - is a tough tournament to win, but it's also a KO system championship with means anything can happen. No country have been having teams in the SF for years and years. It changes every few years, so I don't get why people are using this as a criteria to decide if a national league is good or not. Whoever draws Shakhtars, Galatasarays, Monacos (LOL Arsenal), Italian sides, German sides aside from Bayern have more chances to advancing. If those sides draw themselves, even more likely. It says nothing about the leagues they represent. European football has three forces currently (Atletico was never one, but just like Dortmund had a good run, one they may repeat or not) - they should draw no conclusion about how strong or not their leagues or other leagues are.

We can laugh at City as much as we want, but getting two of the three giants in the continent every round of 16 is a tough task.

[Toli 977]

His new Mirror interview is kinda disgusting. Its okay to be confident and defend yourself, but this wow. he seems to be immune to critic of any sorts. seems like he wont change at all his tactics and his negative approach in nearly every damn big game. At least after the CL knockout you would have expected to see some self-reflectiveness from him, but no, he is just arrogant as f#ck and is talking bout his medals blabla and how he has won 2 CL titles and so on- yes he has, but none with our team and he was knocked out by a mediocre PSG due to his shit approach in BOTH games. so atleast aknowledge your fault for one time instead of playing the big macho and letting your ego get the better over you.

[stroey 2,525]

http://www.espnfc.co.uk/chelsea/story/2348511/jose-mourinho-says-people-are-too-worried-about-him-and-his-motivations

People are too worried about me - Jose Mourinho

[Henrique 9,133]

http://www.espnfc.co.uk/chelsea/story/2348511/jose-mourinho-says-people-are-too-worried-about-him-and-his-motivations

People are too worried about me - Jose Mourinho

He is right. Mourinho is local press top 1 obsession.

[The_Flash 1,144]

That lampard signature makes me a bit sad

[hamad138 190]

the league is quality, the thing is the big teams are going through a few peculiar things that should be taken into account.

City has the funds, but no stability and they just don't seem capable of signing defenders and managers as good as the strikers they sign.

United was overachieving with Fergie - and that's all Fergie's credit. Now they're competing with RM to see who spends more money and make more stars signings. It took a while for RM to actually make a team. Those galacticos buys are more for marketing purposes and Perez' vanity than anything else. They don't sign who they should. United seem to be following the same route. At some point it will work, but it's going to be very miss and hit for a while, if I can risk a prediction.

Arsenal is the team with the most potential, but their manager really holds them back. Liverpool is a joke sorry.

And then we have ourselves. We were a mess ever since Carlo left. No manager stability, crazy and pointless signings, key players leaving or entering the descending years of their careers. The team José built was fading away. Then José came back and started building a new team. Those things take time even for giants such as Bayern, Barcelona, RM, United... This transition between a winning generation and the next can go smooth and happen in a couple of years (rare cases) or it can take 3-4 years to happen completely. Chelsea were very lucky and competent when they transitioned from a medium force in the league into a top contender under Roman in a couple of years. That's not the norm. City struggled, PSG even in their mickey mouse league didn't have a cakewalk, Monaco didn't make it at all, nor did Anzhi.

It's a 'bad' moment for English football because the main forces in Europe lately (Chelsea and United) are going through a transition (Chelsea started a bit earlier and is far more advanced on it, but we can all agree we still need a few pieces in our chess board and we're still a young team in age and time playing together). Arsenal and City can't be taken seriously with their defenses and managers (City also have the stability issue). Liverpool is a non-factor. The fact we're talking about 4-5 teams is more than we can do about any other league in the world. La Liga is proving to become again 2-horses. Atletico had an exceptional run in recent years, but they seem to be going down from their high. Spanish teams aren't used to play physical football and it wouldn't take too long for them to figure out how to play against the odd team that chose it. Only RM will continue to be victim to Atletico's style - everyone else is adapting or already know how to play them and leveled things up again - which means there's RM and Barça and then a few miles behind the rest.

Germany has Bayern and that's about it. We don't know what will happen to Dortmund. Wolfsburg is this season's 'one-season wonder' like Leverkusen, Werder Bremen, Schalke, and others were before. Dortmund was the one team that was able to last longer than a season, so I need this Wolfsburg team - who had always had Volkswagen money (a company that hasn't really had money troubles recently), so why aren't them the second strength in Germany for years now? This is how German football has always been ever since I follow it from distance (don't watch Bundesliga, but I keep track of what happens there). Bayern dominates a couple of years, then has a shocker season, then dominates again a couple years, than a shocker season with the odd one-season wonders team grabbing titles whenever Bayern fail. It tells more about how Bayern used to fall apart every few years when they really shouldn't seeing how much money (through more than questionable ways) they have running their machine. Then they came to Barcelona, and watched and learned how they planned their football, academy, how they were faithful to a style and made everything in the club work around that style. That's why I believe they're now going to dominate longer as they should have always had.

So people talk about how English football and the league isn't that great when there are three big teams in the world and coincidently two happen to be in the same league. Chelsea and United were fighting for the 4th spot for a few years, but then went through transitions themselves. Barcelona had been in a transition for a couple of years now. The fact they continue to win things in Spain just show how easy it is to win there... That (ridiculous) thread opened a couple of weeks ago about the EPL champion being the best among a bunch of averages teams could be opened about other countries too, the difference is that Bayern, RM and Barça are well established forces of recent football, but that doesn't happen overnight. United took years to become the force they were in England and more often than not a serious contender in Europe. UCL titles are overrated to no end imo. In a league where the best teams from all countries - and more and more leagues have money injected on them - is a tough tournament to win, but it's also a KO system championship with means anything can happen. No country have been having teams in the SF for years and years. It changes every few years, so I don't get why people are using this as a criteria to decide if a national league is good or not. Whoever draws Shakhtars, Galatasarays, Monacos (LOL Arsenal), Italian sides, German sides aside from Bayern have more chances to advancing. If those sides draw themselves, even more likely. It says nothing about the leagues they represent. European football has three forces currently (Atletico was never one, but just like Dortmund had a good run, one they may repeat or not) - they should draw no conclusion about how strong or not their leagues or other leagues are.

We can laugh at City as much as we want, but getting two of the three giants in the continent every round of 16 is a tough task.

The problem is liverpool got outplayed by basel , monaco outplayed arsenal. And City almost got knocked out in group stages.

Then u have United who cant pass the ball properly sitting on 4th place.

Look at West ham , stoke and co. No gameplay just freaking hoofball.

The Premier league is currently a very weak league, but that is down to tactics and gameplay and manager. With our money its just a matter of time we catch up

[Barbara 15,149]

The problem is liverpool got outplayed by basel , monaco outplayed arsenal. And City almost got knocked out in group stages.

Then u have United who cant pass the ball properly sitting on 4th place.

Look at West ham , stoke and co. No gameplay just freaking hoofball.

The Premier league is currently a very weak league, but that is down to tactics and gameplay and manager. With our money its just a matter of time we catch up

my point was which league is outstanding? None. The fact that we talk - even if badly - about 5 teams in England is more than we can do about any other country. Unless you count the 'surprising' third place in Spain and whoever chases Bayern with less than 15 points behind.

I wonder how much better would Valencia, Sevilla, Leverkusen, Wolfsburg do in our league over more than one season... Even Atletico is fading already.

[Jase 43,479]

The problem is liverpool got outplayed by basel , monaco outplayed arsenal. And City almost got knocked out in group stages.

Then u have United who cant pass the ball properly sitting on 4th place.

Look at West ham , stoke and co. No gameplay just freaking hoofball.

The Premier league is currently a very weak league, but that is down to tactics and gameplay and manager. With our money its just a matter of time we catch up

Think to say West Ham, Stoke etc are still playing the 'hoofball' style is rather harsh and cliche. They are definitely much more versatile and adaptable in their style than people give them credit for these days.

[Tomo 21,751]

Sure, you can slate Chelsea, slate Jose, and slate us, but the way Jose defends Chelsea is something I missed since...well Jose's first spell. Ive gotten sick with pundits and the media throwing hate at us and us staying silent. After that shocking CL exit, Jose really needed to come out strong at press conference, and he did. Definitely one of the most memorable Ive seen. Calmed me down at least and made me believe fully again.

He has his flaws like everyone, but he is one on us.

I will forever like him for another reason - he thought me how to fight through life and build myself a winning mentality despite others trying to bring me down and enjoying in my failures. He thought me not to accept anything less then a victory and those lessons are hard to get. I dream of meeting Jose and having a chance to talk to him and meet perhaps my biggest hero.

Say one thing, but since he got back, following Chelsea definitely got more interesting and crazier xD I love it how he sticked it in to those Liverpool twats on skysports hahah

Envy is the biggest tribute that the shadows do to the man.

Very true, someone asked me the other day why don't I go on the rampage on facebook anymore and I responded "Jose does it for me"

[Tomo 21,751]

Think to say West Ham, Stoke etc are still playing the 'hoofball' style is rather harsh and cliche. They are definitely much more versatile and adaptable in their style than people give them credit for these days.

Also I think Allardyce gets unfairly branded aswell, West Ham were playing some great stuff early on and his Bolton team with Okocha and co played some pretty good stuff aswell.

Dare I say if he was skinny and more of a looker, he would get the credit he deserves and probably get shots at top jobs.

[quickpassnmove 924]

I typically don't want to watch any of the teams in the EPL now. Tottenham have a pretty damn good manager IMO and so do Soton. Crystal Palace can be fun to watch and this weekend I recorded the Aston Villa match because I suspected they would pick up their form. But, the league is boring right now. I don't care to watch most of the clubs, nor many of the matches. The gameplay has become more negative with the exception of the attacking from sides like ManCity and Liverpool (who were always enjoyable to watch through the years if someone were a fan IMO.

Above all of this, I think, is the generation and era of football we are seeing: improved defending, an emphasis on defending, better defenders while the talented players can spend too much time on the ball instead of moving it quickly through passing. Also, I don't rate this generation of footballers nearly as highly as the previous two generations AND, there either aren't many strong centre forwards, or every one of them is getting dominated by defenders (or falling off of bar stools like Andy Carroll?).

I find myself less interested in football now more than ever, but I will watch Villareal, Valencia, Sevilla sometimes with a little bit of excitement.

I just don't feel it much anymore. and the English League's management and player combinations along with the league play itself is making for an awfully boring mix of matches week after week.

Credit to Arsenal for scoring three goals yesterday. I just wonder why the hell they ever bought Oezil. such a turd.

[iseah100 5,612]

His new Mirror interview is kinda disgusting. Its okay to be confident and defend yourself, but this wow. he seems to be immune to critic of any sorts. seems like he wont change at all his tactics and his negative approach in nearly every damn big game. At least after the CL knockout you would have expected to see some self-reflectiveness from him, but no, he is just arrogant as f#ck and is talking bout his medals blabla and how he has won 2 CL titles and so on- yes he has, but none with our team and he was knocked out by a mediocre PSG due to his shit approach in BOTH games. so atleast aknowledge your fault for one time instead of playing the big macho and letting your ego get the better over you.

He is GOD!

my point was which league is outstanding? None. The fact that we talk - even if badly - about 5 teams in England is more than we can do about any other country. Unless you count the 'surprising' third place in Spain and whoever chases Bayern with less than 15 points behind.

I wonder how much better would Valencia, Sevilla, Leverkusen, Wolfsburg do in our league over more than one season... Even Atletico is fading already.

This. Every team has one or two good teams. Even the EPL. Bayern, Barca, Real are the great powers.

[Styles 9,790]

His new Mirror interview is kinda disgusting. Its okay to be confident and defend yourself, but this wow. he seems to be immune to critic of any sorts. seems like he wont change at all his tactics and his negative approach in nearly every damn big game. At least after the CL knockout you would have expected to see some self-reflectiveness from him, but no, he is just arrogant as f#ck and is talking bout his medals blabla and how he has won 2 CL titles and so on- yes he has, but none with our team and he was knocked out by a mediocre PSG due to his shit approach in BOTH games. so atleast aknowledge your fault for one time instead of playing the big macho and letting your ego get the better over you.

He sounded very insecure.

[Jase 43,479]

Also I think Allardyce gets unfairly branded aswell, West Ham were playing some great stuff early on and his Bolton team with Okocha and co played some pretty good stuff aswell.

Would say he's one of the more intelligent English coaches around. He's not just about passion (like the Sherwoods, Redknapps), he combines that with clever team management and tactical nous. His teams have never been easy to play against down the years.

Dare I say if he was skinny and more of a looker, he would get the credit he deserves and probably get shots at top jobs.

Skinny and more of a looker? You mean like Wenger?

[boshman 1,073]

I don't think anyone said to replace him with simeone or pellegrini. Nor sack as well.

I think most was saying if we continue like this next season then that should be a time to consider it.

What do you mean if we continue like this next season? You mean winning the League Cup, bar us literally throwing the title away, be champions. And up to this moment only losing 3! Yes THREE!! games in all comps all season long. Don't see how if he carries that on next season there should be consideration for a change of manager to be honest with you.

[laura90 556]

This. Every team has one or two good teams. Even the EPL. Bayern, Barca, Real are the great powers.

That's what Henrique said. This season Premier League is one horse race. We were dominant from the beginning to the end just like Bayern is dominant in Bundesliga. Which club was our biggest competitor?

Man City - don't make me laugh - they are shit ant it doesn't have nothing to do with us being too dominant, their time passed. Unless they invest cleverly and get decent coach, they will be in the top for race next season. Wait a minute, there are in the top four race now.

Arsenal - LOOOL

Liverpool - don't make me laugh

Man Utd - LOOOL

PSG dominated us with eleven and ten men. Monaco dominated Arsenal ( the club that will probably finish second in PL) big time. Probably none of this clubs will have a chance to meet the clubs you mentioned, and if they do, they will be crashed.

Bayern can beat anyone. Same goes for Barcelona. The same can't be said for Chelsea, even though we dominate the Premier League.

Premier League regressed big time and there is no point denying it. It's easier for us now than it was for us in 2010 or United in 2009 / 2013 or City in 2012.

[ChelseaFanUK 1,014]

I dont even think Guardiola is better. I am confident Jose would have dominated with that Barca side and would also romp the Bundesliga with the current Bayern side. However, would guardiola have won the CL with Porto? Would he have won the treble with Inter? Mourinho get's slated for his Madrid tenure, but he lost 1-2 more games than Ancelotti currently has, but in roughly 50 more matches. He set points records, goals scored, away wins etc.

It's jealousy and bitterness. Also, ever single opposition fan who says they wouldn't want him managing their team is talking out of their backside. 100%