The Mourinho Thread

[ZOS 580]

Considering Mourinho has hardly been awarded the Manager of the Month, I would be surprised if he wins the Manager of the Year.

On the other hand, Alan Pardew could win that. He's practically helped to keep 2 teams in the division (think Newcastle are just about safe).

they gave it to him in 2006, no?

[The Rising Sun 726]

Somehow he needs to get us playing at a level to compete with the Big teams of Europe toe to toe.

Dont know how, but it should be the next thing in his agenda now that the PL has been won.

[Jase 43,479]

they gave it to him in 2006, no?

He won it in 2005 and 2006 but guess those times were slightly different than now.

[lionsden 4,689]

Why is he getting defensive now. I thought he doesn't care about criticism. I don't know what he expects people/media to call the brand of football he plays in virtually every big game. exhilarating?,captivating?, exciting?.

Since he apparently lives and dies by his philosophy, he should own up to it and not try to put a spin on it, it's boring football and that's fine as long as he's able to acknowledge that. You don't see other managers who deploy similar strategy cry about it when confronted instead they own up to it "It's far from pretty and exciting but it's an effective strategy" . That should have been Jose's response.

[Adnane 1,101]

And you should stop criticizing José just for the sake of it.

He is right, posession isn't beautiful football, beautiful football is goals, which means trying to score and not letting the opponent score, simple as that.

It's part of our identity now : Winning.

I don't give a shit about free-flowing passing football, we showed we can destroy opponents at that game in the first half of the season, i enjoy a well executed game plan mostly about nullifying the opponent and counter attacking as much as any other style of football.

If you want Barcelona style, go watch em today against Getafe, at Chelsea we play to score and win, simple as that.

[Adnane 1,101]

And stop criticizing the guy who brought all this success over a decade ( maybe two now that he's building this team over again ) all day long, appreciate your title and stop moaning, appreciate him for all the good services he's done to this club in nearly 5 years now, not all clubs are lucky enough to have a manager who is both successful and a fan of the club.

Ah and by the way, he responded to the critics because he cares, and protects his team and players, i prefer that to the overly diplomatic Carlo statements we had, or the I-have-no-idea-what-im-doing-here Scolari press conferences.

The guy's serving, protecting your club, and transforming it into a European force two times now and you're still moaning.

Go support Arsenal, for all we know, you're just some disguised gooner.

[didierforever 7,349]

Why is he getting defensive now. I thought he doesn't care about criticism. I don't know what he expects people/media to call the brand of football he plays in virtually every big game. exhilarating?,captivating?, exciting?.

Since he apparently lives and dies by his philosophy, he should own up to it and not try to put a spin on it, it's boring football and that's fine as long as he's able to acknowledge that. You don't see other managers who deploy similar strategy cry about it when confronted instead they own up to it "It's far from pretty and exciting but it's an effective strategy" . That should have been Jose's response.

he did not own up to his philosophy?

i guess you did not read his comments, did you?

“People talk about style and flair but what is that?” he said. “Sometimes I ask myself about the future, and maybe the future of football is a beautiful, green grass carpet without goals, where the team with more ball possession wins the game. The way people analyse style and flair is to take the goals off the pitch. It’s the football they play on the moon – where the surface is not good, with some holes but no goals."

“Everyone speaks about teams playing fantastically well because they ‘had great ball possession’. It looks like the goals aren’t important. They conclude a team that scores as many as we do is boring but a team with 70% of the ball who don’t score isn’t. Maybe, when my grandsons play, football will be a game without goals and we’ll just enjoy people passing the ball. But when football is played without goals, you will say it’s boring. You will say bring the goals back. For me, it’s still about putting the ball in your opponents’ net, and keeping it out of your own.”

“For me, the ‘beautiful game’ is to go to every match knowing exactly the way you have to play and what you have to do,” he said. “At Arsenal we were brilliant. Brilliant. A game where we were brilliant from the first minute.

“Us boring? It cannot be true. It’s all about establishing the criteria. Who scored the most beautiful goals in the Premier League? If that is a criteria, Chelsea did it collectively [with André Schürrle’s goal at Burnley in August]. If the concept is the number of goals, City scored more than us. But 18 teams scored fewer than us, so there are 18 teams who are more boring than us. Do you think, in the Premier League, there is one manager who will say that Chelsea don’t deserve to be champions? I think, out of the other 19 managers, the huge percentage will say Chelsea deserve to win the league.

“If a good team is the team with most points, we are the best team. If a good team is the team with most victories, we are the best team. If the best team are the side with fewest defeats, we are the best team. If the best team is the one that leads, we are the best team. If the best team is the side with fewest conceded, we are the second best team. In any criteria you can find, we are the best team or the second best team. It’s as simple as that.”

[kellzfresh 7,229]

he did not own up to his philosophy?

i guess you did not read his comments, did you?

People talk about style and flair but what is that? he said. Sometimes I ask myself about the future, and maybe the future of football is a beautiful, green grass carpet without goals, where the team with more ball possession wins the game. The way people analyse style and flair is to take the goals off the pitch. Its the football they play on the moon where the surface is not good, with some holes but no goals."

Everyone speaks about teams playing fantastically well because they had great ball possession. It looks like the goals arent important. They conclude a team that scores as many as we do is boring but a team with 70% of the ball who dont score isnt. Maybe, when my grandsons play, football will be a game without goals and well just enjoy people passing the ball. But when football is played without goals, you will say its boring. You will say bring the goals back. For me, its still about putting the ball in your opponents net, and keeping it out of your own.

For me, the beautiful game is to go to every match knowing exactly the way you have to play and what you have to do, he said. At Arsenal we were brilliant. Brilliant. A game where we were brilliant from the first minute.

Us boring? It cannot be true. Its all about establishing the criteria. Who scored the most beautiful goals in the Premier League? If that is a criteria, Chelsea did it collectively [with André Schürrles goal at Burnley in August]. If the concept is the number of goals, City scored more than us. But 18 teams scored fewer than us, so there are 18 teams who are more boring than us. Do you think, in the Premier League, there is one manager who will say that Chelsea dont deserve to be champions? I think, out of the other 19 managers, the huge percentage will say Chelsea deserve to win the league.

If a good team is the team with most points, we are the best team. If a good team is the team with most victories, we are the best team. If the best team are the side with fewest defeats, we are the best team. If the best team is the one that leads, we are the best team. If the best team is the side with fewest conceded, we are the second best team. In any criteria you can find, we are the best team or the second best team. Its as simple as that.

Fantastic comments by Mourinho. Goals is what should matter most.

[lionsden 4,689]

Jose reinventing the beautiful game, one bus parking at a time. :D

[Jase 43,479]

Why is he getting defensive now. I thought he doesn't care about criticism. I don't know what he expects people/media to call the brand of football he plays in virtually every big game. exhilarating?,captivating?, exciting?.

Since he apparently lives and dies by his philosophy, he should own up to it and not try to put a spin on it, it's boring football and that's fine as long as he's able to acknowledge that. You don't see other managers who deploy similar strategy cry about it when confronted instead they own up to it "It's far from pretty and exciting but it's an effective strategy" . That should have been Jose's response.

You mean you want him to say that just to satisfy your needs?

Why should Mourinho conform to the masses when he has a different view on the subject at hand? There's more than one way/approach to take in football and people are acting as if playing attacking football is the only way to go. All this talk about boring/negative football is really BS. It's almost as if people were only born in 2015 or they just decided to conveniently forget the attacking, expansive football we played in the first half of the season to suit their own agenda.

[didierforever 7,349]

some people just are not worth it... since we have all but won the league, and they dont have the ammunition of a "trophyless season" or "2 year trophydraught of jose" or even the ammunition of "just a PL is too little for a club like chelsea", now they have turned into purists.

poor beautiful football getting raped by the heinous monster that is jose mourinho.

[lionsden 4,689]

You mean you want him to say that just to satisfy your needs?

Why should Mourinho conform to the masses when he has a different view on the subject at hand? There's more than one way/approach to take in football and people are acting as if playing attacking football is the only way to go. All this talk about boring/negative football is really BS. It's almost as if people were only born in 2015 or they just decided to conveniently forget the attacking, expansive football we played in the first half of the season to suit their own agenda.

You all are right. the football we have played in the big games and from jan till now is the very definition of the beautiful game. exhilarating, mouth watering football on display. happy?

[Jase 43,479]

You all are right. the football we have played in the big games and from jan till now is the very definition of the beautiful game. exhilarating, mouth watering football on display.

Precisely what I alluded to in the previous post - selective memory. Only picking out certain games to say Mourinho is boring when there others to prove he isn't and there are circumstances as to why we have been playing differently this year but of course, people have chosen to ignore that as well.

[lionsden 4,689]

Precisely what I alluded to in the previous post - selective memory. Only picking out certain games to say Mourinho is boring when there others to prove he isn't and there are circumstances as to why we have been playing differently this year but of course, people have chosen to ignore that as well.

What the **** are you even talking about? The bone of contention here is that Jose bores the life out of neutrals, opposition fans and the non blue tinted Chelsea fans with the brand of football he plays in the big games since the topic was brought up after yet another drab, negative approach/performance in a big game.

The big games are usually what neutral fans watch and base their opinion on. Every time the opposition fans and neutrals watch us against a big/half decent teams, it just so happens that we spend 85 minutes of the game defending and not much else. . .like just over a week ago when they witness the champions elect playing at home against Man utd and ended up with only 30 odd percent possession.

I wonder why other big teams haven't earned such reputation. maybe, just maybe there's an element of truth to it. nevermind that we have actually been crap for 4 months now.

If Jose is worried about the criticism, he should use the big games which is the biggest advertisement of any club there is to play a more balanced and exciting brand of football.

[didierforever 7,349]

You all are right. the football we have played in the big games and from jan till now is the very definition of the beautiful game. exhilarating, mouth watering football on display. happy?

i thought we were playing football. with the ultimate objective of winning or like against arsenal - not losing. but well!!!

[Jase 43,479]

What the feck are you even talking about? The bone of contention here is that Jose bores the life out of neutrals and opposition fans with the brand of football he plays in the big games. The big games are usually what neutral fans usually watch and base their opinion on. nevermind that we have actually been crap for 4 months now.

There is nothing wrong with forming opinions based on the big games but to pass judgment based solely on that smacks of ignorance. If people feel it's boring and all that, then fine. But it doesn't make them right to say 'oh Mourinho is boring' just because of the big games. You don't judge a team's style of play just on the big games.

[didierforever 7,349]

What the **** are you even talking about? The bone of contention here is that Jose bores the life out of neutrals and opposition fans with the brand of football he plays in the big games. The big games are usually what neutral fans usually watch and base their opinion on. Every time the opposition fans and neutrals watch us against a big/half decent teams, it just so happens that we spend 85 minutes of the game defending and not much else. . .like just over a week ago when they witness the champions elect playing at home against Man utd and ended up with only 30 odd percent possession.

I wonder why other big teams haven't earned such reputation. maybe, just maybe there's an element of truth to it. nevermind that we have actually been crap for 4 months now.

If Jose is worried about the criticism, he should use the big games which is the biggest advertisement of your team to play a more balanced and exciting football.

so jose should play according to what viewers want to see,, hmm... next i will hear is, jose sucked all the fun out of PL by finishing the PL so early. look at city and how wonderfully they won their title.. JOGA BONITO!!!

we have been utter crap for 4 months. dont mind that we are unbeaten for 4 months in PL!!!! :lol:

what makes you think that jose gives a crap about what people think about his philosophy? or that he is looking to change people's opinions? i thought his comments were pretty straight forward as to what he thinks is the main priority when he makes his team go out on the field.

[lionsden 4,689]

i thought we were playing football. with the ultimate objective of winning or like against arsenal - not losing. but well!!!

Every big club plays with exactly the same objective but the process in which this objective is achieved is what makes a team boring or exciting and I'm sure everyone understands this but just playing dumb for the sake of defending jose.

[lionsden 4,689]

so jose should play according to what viewers want to see,, hmm... next i will hear is, jose sucked all the fun out of PL by finishing the PL so early. look at city and how wonderfully they won their title.. JOGA BONITO!!!

we have been utter crap for 4 months. dont mind that we are unbeaten for 4 months in PL!!!! :lol:

what makes you think that jose gives a crap about what people think about his philosophy? or that he is looking to change people's opinions? i thought his comments were pretty straight forward as to what he thinks is the main priority when he makes his team go out on the field.

The 5,000 word thesis or should I say interview that he recently gave on the matter for starters. Someone who doesn't give a damn would never try that hard to defend his approach to the point of trying to reinvent the definition of the beautiful game.

[lionsden 4,689]

There is nothing wrong with forming opinions based on the big games but to pass judgment based solely on that smacks of ignorance. If people feel it's boring and all that, then fine. But it doesn't make them right to say 'oh Mourinho is boring' just because of the big games. You don't judge a team's style of play just on the big games.

yes you do. Every big teams are expected to crush and bully majority of the smaller/inferior teams around. It's your performance and approach in the big games and big tournaments that reputations are built on. You can't only play exciting football against canon fodders and expect people to give you the credit when that's the bare minimum that's expected of you. Actually going toe to toe with a team closer to you in terms of talent and ability is the true mark of great and exciting teams. Was Pep's Barcelona team's reputation built on their performance against teams like Hercules,Almeria and co or was it built on their demolition of Mouirinho's Madrid and Fergie's united et al while playing excellent football to boot? Answer that question truthfully.