The Mourinho Thread

[kmk108 1,186]

Not defending Fabregas lack of form but I'm surprised most people actually think his role is DM.

IMO, it's the same thing Lampard went through towards the end of his career here. He's too slow to play the no. 10, but he doesn't defend well enough to play DM.

[LDN Blue 7,903]

IMO, it's the same thing Lampard went through towards the end of his career here. He's too slow to play the no. 10, but he doesn't defend well enough to play DM.

Spot on. I don't really get how anyone thought Lampard could play that position, he'd never done it before and looked completely out of his depth. But the question is, where do you actually put these players once they're past that AM capabilities.

[quickpassnmove 924]

if there were a younger manager like Eddie Howe Chelsea could hire, I would be for that.

[kmk108 1,186]

Spot on. I don't really get how anyone thought Lampard could play that position, he'd never done it before and looked completely out of his depth. But the question is, where do you actually put these players once they're past that AM capabilities.

The bench

But really, I don't think there's a place for a player like that in 4-2-3-1. Bring him in when we're up and want to slow things down or are down and need one of the 2 DMs to go forward more, but they just don't really have the tools to play anywhere in a normal 4-2-3-1 setup.

[Tomo 21,751]

True, but Klopp is just another Chelsea experiment. Like Peace was just talking about identity above, what exactly do we want from this team/any manager? We seem to hire managers that don't seem to get the best out of any squad we've built. Mourinho can't unlock Hazard's potential, AVB couldn't make Hazard/Mata/Oscar click together, Scolari couldn't bring the South American flare to Chelsea. What exactly are we building here? Let's be frank, our next coach won't last longer than 3 seasons, let's accept that.. So what's the long term strategy exactly?

There is flaws in any system, would Pellegrini get more out of Hazard and Oscar? Probably, but he also has no idea how to coach defending and it holds City back, give Mou or even Mancini/Benitez Kompany, Mangala and Otemendi with Fernandinho protecting them and our only 15 goals conceded record would be in some danger.

[LDN Blue 7,903]

The bench

But really, I don't think there's a place for a player like that in 4-2-3-1. Bring him in when we're up and want to slow things down or are down and need one of the 2 DMs to go forward more, but they just don't really have the tools to play anywhere in a normal 4-2-3-1 setup.

Yeah exactly.

United signed 3 CMs in 2 years and they're all world class lmao. It's not like the club can blame a lack of options, hell even Vidal went for an equivalent of peanuts.

[LDN Blue 7,903]

There is flaws in any system, would Pellegrini get more out of Hazard and Oscar? Probably, but he also has no idea how to coach defending and it holds City back, give Mou or even Mancini/Benitez Kompany, Mangala and Otemendi with Fernandinho protecting them and our only 15 goals conceded record would be in some danger.

For the life of me, I won't get why he plays Fernando!

[Jokesy 53]

IMO, it's the same thing Lampard went through towards the end of his career here. He's too slow to play the no. 10, but he doesn't defend well enough to play DM.

In addition to what you said, I actually think his role is more like a trequatista/creative CM. More like Sneijder(at inter)/Pirlo/Xavi/Alonso's role. With good DM behind them they play well, but without one they look mostly hopeless when the team is under pressure.

Ramires provided that cover yesterday and he played well until Matic came into the game.

[Jase 43,479]

Liverpool have just sacked Brendan Rodgers. Klopp might be heading there soon...

[Shakez 755]

Jason beat me to it

[Polo7 3,496]

And Liverpool are playing better than us. We have sacked managers for way way less before.

[kmk108 1,186]

And Liverpool are playing better than us. We have sacked managers for way way less before.

Because Roman has always had a quick trigger finger. It's nice for a change.

[xPetrCechx 13,572]

And Liverpool are playing better than us. We have sacked managers for way way less before.

Our board is so patient

[Blue Colored Sky 1,807]

If they appoint Klopp I'm offically backing Jose full-stop until Simeone is available.

[lionsden 4,689]

Just a little thing about your Bayern comment. Pep is a manager that's against the Bayern identity. That's why there's many Bayern supporters that don't like him, even though of the success they've had with him.

Bayern's identity is a combination of fast paced attacking football and possession football, transition of youth into the first team etc. A more refined version of united pre moyes if you will and guardiola even despite his more patient approach (tiki taka)is not a complete misfit like mourinho was to Chelsea's initial objective. For example Bayern will never hire a manager that rarely/never promotes youth, plays dull unimaginative football and parks the bus in majority of the big games because it goes against their identity. When/if guardiola leaves, I'm willing to bet they won't replace him with someone like mourinho.

[Jase 43,479]

If they appoint Klopp I'm offically backing Jose full-stop until Simeone is available.

People moan about Mourinho being a negative manager and yet want Simeone?

[Blue Armour 4,448]

No. The point of his post is that a well defined and implemented identity is what gives a club stability and not necessarily the ability to retain the same manager for many years. A good example of how the board have contributed greatly to our lack of identity is how they invested tons into the academy and youth players with the promise of one day producing first team players out of the crop and changing the style of play for more attacking and expansive one and that was reflected in the type of players we were buying but then what did they did the most confusing thing ever by employing a manager who is the very opposite of what the club is aiming to achieve to oversee the project.

That's just poor planning and implementation of policy.they are all over the place with what it is they really aim to achieve.

You will never see well run clubs with an identity like Bayern and barca buy players and hire managers who go against the clubs policy/identity. The decisions from which manager to hire to which players to buy etc are done with great levelnof purpose at these clubs.

I think its been quite clear the only real thing Chelsea is trying to achieve is results in terms of trophies, and expanding the fan-base. Which I think is fair for a club still trying to establish its stamp the way clubs like Barca and Bayern already have. Integrating youth and having a better style of play are secondary objectives. Some of the long-time supporters of the club may not think along these lines, but this is what football is these days. A business.

You could argue that another manager could have come in 2013 and integrated the entire youth pool we had available then including DeBruyne and Lukaku, but it would have taken him a very long time to achieve immediate results. You may disagree, but it would have been a long time before we saw Chelsea's fifth league title if we had gone down that route.

[Myself 793]

Man.

I really wish we signed Sanchez when we could. 30m for him was such a steal

[Stats 7,147]

Me thinking we might be better of a change is not just because of our current position in the league, it is an accumulation of things. It is like what people have criticised him before, he rests too much on his laurels. We won the league with relative ease last season but you could see towards the end we were faltering. As we have seen with other teams who win titles, the best policy is to keep improving. We failed to do that and kept the same squad and only added additions that were to be back ups. We only reacted and got a player for the starting 11 when we played poor. We should have made some marquee signings from the beginning of the transfer window.

Then resting on his laurels again is the fact that he still does these outdated tactics with the idea of having a right footed player at LB and a CB at RB. Actually it is not even outdated, it is unheard of to do for seasons and that is what he seems to have plan on doing. Did he really think this is the way to go forward when teams clock on that we fail to get natural width out of the FB. This is a big problem. Then when where else do we start. United clearly made a mistake in getting him and obviously was never going to turn it into a permanent deal. Yet, us the champions had to take him on. God knows why! That is not based on merit but based on past achievements which is ridiculous. Probably explains why Ivanovic is in the starting 11 every week. Mourinho sees what he has done for him in the past and cannot drop him.

Then just look at the tactics we have done during the season. Bringing on Falcao to change the game based on what? His chemsitry with Costa from Atletico days? Hello, this was about 4 years ago when Falcao was the best striker around. Remy has not covered himself in glory this season but the way he was cast aside with Mourinho favoruing Falcao was not based on merit but reputation and past achievements and that is not acceptable. I would rather a manager who looks as the playing abilities and does not have favourites which Mourinho clearly does.

Then the signings. Luis, signed him to leave him on the bench then sell him. WTF? Baba was signed for £21m which seemed a lot but understandable if he would play. Mourinho does not even play him. We played Palace this season. Losing the game and he takes of Azpi and with Baba on the bench, he brings on Kenedy to play there. He done well but what does this say to Baba. If he was fit enough to be on the bench why would he not put him on? He just seems to make rash decisions like taking off Matic for RLC in that game. RLC done well but it is like he wants to scapegoat Matic. That was proven by him firstly being dropped for Porto then being on the bench against Southampton, coming on then coming off again. How comes Fabregas has not has this treatment? He needs to stop his ego-tastic ways and be fair. Matic has been bad but what about Fabregas, Ivanovic? He makes the same changes every game when we are losing and it does not work. Hello, try something else.

It is ridiculous that Ivanovic gets torn aparrt every game yet starts him. We don't even have an identity right now. Defence to attack. I just struggle to see where we are going to improve because right now the team is in total disarray and Mourinho takes huge blame.

[Pseudo 92]

Man.

I really wish we signed Sanchez when we could. 30m for him was such a steal

Mourinho would have destroyed him like he has Hazard.