The Mourinho Thread

[Jase 43,479]

Our main worry is our conceding of goals from the right. We should stop the goals then think about our attack.

Even Barcelona have shut up shop and won with two consecutive 1-0 because they conceded 9 goals in three matches. After that we can have confidence to go and attack later games.

I know we haven't been playing particularly well since the turn of the year but our performances right now are even worse than the second half of last season. Back then, we still looked decent in attack and capable of defending properly. If we have to grind out a result, we can do it but at the moment, all those things have completely gone out of the window. We can't attack, we can't defend and we can't even get a good result. Would gladly take the boring 1-0 wins right now!

[Reddish-Blue 2,345]

The quality of the performances haven't changed in 2015. The only difference is the score at the end of games. We tried to blame the second half of 14/15 on fatigue but it's obvious Chelsea have been found out. You can't keep grinding out wins 'like champions' forever so this was bound to happen without any changes made.

This third season phenomenon is truly astonishing. Is it a case Mourinho losing the dressing room after a few years? Or do the other teams figure out his approach, with Mourinho unable to adapt?

But it's very early so it's probably a bit too soon to start drawing conclusions. But the signs are very worrying for 15/16.

As every pundit said in the off-season, you can't stand still in the transfer market, otherwise you get left behind...I'm getting the feeling that we may have been left behind (by City)

The most worrying aspect of our first 4 games is that the players don't look motivated. There were a number of occasions where our attacking players could have taken a long shot and tried to test the goalkeeper...instead, they passed it around, missed the opportunity and Crystal Palace cleared the resulting cross/ball in the box with a simple header.

I back Mourinho to turn this mess around, time for him to walk the walk and back up his claims of wanting to stay here long term :blue scalf:

[Fernando 6,453]

I don't know about you but I like this situation because it will show me if mourinho is a coach for longer term.

Will he find the solution and solve the problem?

Or blame, complain and get a mess on his hand?

We shall see by December and more telling by the end of the season.

He was in a similar situation at Madrid where he win the league a season ago, gets a contract extension and then lose everything....

This is not the way a long term manager should be.

So let's see what he truly got and what are his real intentions in the coming weeks.

[zolayes 14,489]

Does anyone know what mysterious injury Oscar and Ramires have .?

[Jase 43,479]

The most worrying aspect of our first 4 games is that the players don't look motivated. There were a number of occasions where our attacking players could have taken a long shot and tried to test the goalkeeper...instead, they passed it around, missed the opportunity and Crystal Palace cleared the resulting cross/ball in the box with a simple header

Some of them have looked as though they're satisfied after winning the Premier League last season. There must be a deep-rooted problem here, I mean we can't go from being the champions of England to looking like a team battling to avoid relegation the following season. Something major must have happened behind closed doors that we do not know of. On top of that, Mourinho's body language is all wrong since the start of the season. He looks tense, unhappy, pissed off etc, which is completely opposite to the start of last season, where he looked more relax, calm.

[edetarod 2,155]

Does anyone know what mysterious injury Oscar and Ramires have .?

Juventitis

[Barbara 15,149]

I think we finally got caught.

Earlier this year when the performances were bad, the results still came because Mourinho is a great motivator and it doesn't take much to motivate players to win a title that was well within their hands. Now, not only they relaxed a bit - probably resting a bit on their laurels - but our limitations caught up with us. His motivation skills haven't been enough, we got our technical and tactical limitations exposed and it'll take a great problem solver to fix it and certainly different players in a couple of positions.

Mourinho used to be a great problem solver, long term and short term. He had a way to change matches with a sub or a new setup that we have rarely seen since he came back. He also had the ability to change the way the team played after longer periods of things not going the way he wanted. He's lost it (my guess is because he's trying too hard to be Fergie, that he thinks player loyalty - not to say favoritism - and stubbornness is what made Fergie win so much and stay so long, I'm not sure about either - him wanting to be the new Fergie and Fergie's success coming from those things - either way football changed and not even Fergie would have started winning nowadays, but once a team is a winner, and has this aura and mentality after many years, it overachieves).

Speaking of overachieve, that's what we did last year. motivated by the title possibility, some of our players played out of their minds and covered for many other players' limitations. Now it's the time for everyone - manager, players, board and even fans show their true colors. We all need to react, they more than us, of course. We won't get away with our weak defense - it has always been weak, does anyone remember the first couple of months last year? We didn't concede as many goals as we should have because we were lucky, opponents missed a lot, and goalies made some miracles, but we were just as unstable, this year with less luck. Ivanovic and Cahill are liabilities that depend a lot on how much players such Willian and Matic will cover for them, but neither is playing so well yet, so the defenders are exposed. Cesc needs both Matic and Oscar to perform at their best level for his defensive and physicality limitations not to be exposed and for his geniality to be maximized. That means we need players to replace Iva and Cahill and alternatives for when things aren't working on Cesc's favor because when they aren't, he works against us as he exposes us. Mourinho needs to see if he can find the answers within our squad or still do some key signings, but the truth is we got caught and as he says all the time, we are in a league that is more competitive than ever... we need to react.

[Barbara 15,149]

Juventitis

they were both cut from Brazil NT after being called upon, so I don't think that's the problem at all. They are injured, that's a fact, if they're going or not to Juventus is yet to be seen, but they're injured.

[CHOULO19 24,332]

Is he mad???

It'll be crazy if he was referring to hazard and not ivanovic. Even my little sister could tell ivanovic was poor, Mourinho is not that stupid.

Not saying that Jose didn't see that Iva was poor, but that comment was almost definitely aimed at Hazard for not tracking their RB in the area.

i feel like you just charred my birthday presents with a flamethrower

That's what I live for

[The Mak 4,459]

Some of them have looked as though they're satisfied after winning the Premier League last season. There must be a deep-rooted problem here, I mean we can't go from being the champions of England to looking like a team battling to avoid relegation the following season. Something major must have happened behind closed doors that we do not know of. On top of that, Mourinho's body language is all wrong since the start of the season. He looks tense, unhappy, pissed off etc, which is completely opposite to the start of last season, where he looked more relax, calm.

Isn't Mourinho's dad very sick though? As far as I know he had a stroke in May and hasn't been well since. Apparently he's had to stop in the middle of interviews (while we were in Montreal) and take a call about his dad. It would explain a lot and I'd totally understand if that's the reason he's like this - being already in a shit situation and trying to do your job.

Compounded with the hints that José informed the club way back in April about the requirements needed for him to do his job properly (new player etc.) and nothing being done about it. I mean, it's clear the money was there but we just didn't decide to use it until now which is plain stupid.

Still doesn't excuse playing Ivanovic though...well, maybe if Ivanovic looked like his dad (he doesn't).

[Jase 43,479]

Not saying that Jose didn't see that Iva was poor, but that comment was almost definitely aimed at Hazard for not tracking their RB in the area.

Mourinho is seriously deluded if he's blaming Hazard for not tracking Ward all the way back to our penalty area! The team's organization completely went out of the window the minute he switched to 3-5-2. If anything, he should be asking himself why did he put an attacking midfielder in the left back area when we had an actual left back on the bench. Had Rahman been playing instead, Sako probably wouldn't have had the chance to head the ball back across the goal for Ward. On top of that, he should also be asking why on earth are the oppositions' chances always coming from our right side! It seems pathetic that Mourinho finds it incredibly easy to blame attackers, midfielders for not doing their defensive work but not defenders, whose main job is to defend!

[hjperdeath 2,226]

Problems that should have been adressed long ago, are coming back to haunt him. Deep-rooted problems of lack of motivation and rotation, including our 'brilliant' defense being exposed for what it truly is has brought us here. Just the start, but we had a fantastic transfer window last season, and this has been anything but that (apart from Pedro, which was a fantastic deal imo) . We need Stones, and preferably Pogba in the middle. I'll take anyone to play alongside Matic and buff up our midfield right now. It's tremendously weak for a team that's trying to be back-to-back champions.

[Jase 43,479]

Isn't Mourinho's dad very sick though? As far as I know he had a stroke in May and hasn't been well since. Apparently he's had to stop in the middle of interviews (while we were in Montreal) and take a call about his dad. It would explain a lot and I'd totally understand if that's the reason he's like this - being already in a shit situation and trying to do your job.

Compounded with the hints that José informed the club way back in April about the requirements needed for him to do his job properly (new player etc.) and nothing being done about it. I mean, it's clear the money was there but we just didn't decide to use it until now which is plain stupid.

Still doesn't excuse playing Ivanovic though...well, maybe if Ivanovic looked like his dad (he doesn't).

AFAIK, yes but I'm not sure if he's recovered. And I don't want to sound cruel here but I don't think that can be used an excuse for the questionable decisions he's made so far this season, especially when he's done some of them in the past.

[NishC300 1,865]

I'm not really angry at Ivanovic, angry at Mourinho. He's just not fit to play in the RB position yet Mourinho sold a proper LB (Filipe Luis) bought another (Baba Rahman) and still seems to think playing an RB out of positon and a CB at RB is the sensible thing to do. I don't think it is fair to criticse a player for performing poorly when he's playing out of position.

What's incredible is we've paid big money for these LBs so they can warm our bench while we play a CB at RB.....

That is like purchasing a giant LED TV only to keep it in its box while you continue to use your old tiny CRT TV set.

Meanwhile you complain that your current TV's display sharpness is poor.

[Jase 43,479]

[Gappy 130]

I always hate gary when he was a player, but after he's a commentator I commit that he's one of a brilliant comment and direct to the point.

but it's opposite for jamie redknapp, I used to love him while he play but now he just a wanker.

[NishC300 1,865]

Slap? More like medieval torture....

[xPetrCechx 13,563]

Imo, we will never reach the attacking potential that our players have, with mourinho...