The Mourinho Thread

[kmk108 1,186]

But Hazard is not even bad defensively, is he? Let's not also act as if Mourinho doesn't ask the attacking players to do more defensive work than one normally would.

On the team, Hazard is the weakest defender IMO.

Yes, Mourinho asks more from his attackers in terms of defense, but that's who he is. If you're not putting in defensive effort, you're not going to play. Hazard wasn't doing enough offensively to justify having him in the squad.

Personally, Hazard being Hazard, he's one of the first on the team sheet, but I'm not going to argue that a sit for a game against Villa isn't deserved. Are there others that deserve it as well? Yes, but that doesn't take away from the fact that Hazard has been off all season, and he needs to wake up. He's one of the best in the world, but he's not playing like it at the moment. We don't know what Mourinho has done with him behind the scenes, so we can't make judgements on it. We just know that he's done this before and Hazard has responded well.

[didierforever 7,349]

i am sorry, but this hazard exodus is even more of a joke. i mean we have a player like cesc right in the middle of the park not giving a fuck for most of the match and jose is singling out the only world class player in our team!!! seriously jose?

why was not cesc benched after his defensive fuck up in that corner. or when he completely slept and failed to mark his man for soton's first goal.

double standards and more double standards.

[Stingray 9,441]

Jose Mourinho's obsession with personal battles could lose him the war

Mou's war of attrition. Quite so indeed.

[kmk108 1,186]

Jose Mourinho's obsession with personal battles could lose him the war

There's no facts that say he's even waging in personal battles. That's all created. Has any player come out and say they disagree with what Mourinho has said about them? Did we see Hazard throwing a fit? Did we see Baba crying because Jose has no confidence in him? Do we see Loftus-Cheek say he's being treated unfairly? Maybe, just maybe, Hazard will work harder to prove to Mourinho that he's better. Maybe we'll see Baba working harder to be a more solid defender. Maybe we'll see Loftus-Cheek track back more.

It's just another article making Mourinho out to be a ruthless dressing room tyrant and the players poor little victims.

[Iggy Doonican 4,187]

Mourinho I just can't work the bloke out. He keeps saying how much he loves London and how his wife and kids are settled here. But yet he seems to rattle more cages everyday even more then when he was at Real Madrid. Is this an exit strategy?. Probably not but bloody hell there is a touch of self destruction about him at the moment. Who's next in the firing line?

[bababoom 4,478]

I have to admit over the past few months i'm starting to get tired of the negativity that Jose brings, where has the funny, positive, witty Jose gone? His time at Real has made him very paranoid and bitter. I just wish he would keep his mouth shut sometimes.

[Roquila 1,335]

As another poster said.

We sold our future for a league title.

[zeppos 20]

Mourinho is an "impossible person", and whilst his debatable "genius" may short term give results, at some point of time the negative spiral his personality disorder is creating will take over. Please get rid of him before he sucks out all the joy of football...

[Adnane 1,101]

People don't understand Jose's logic for fuck sake.

I will mention one exeample, when we won at City in 2013/2014 with an absolute masterpiece by José.

Matic-Luiz-Ramires, very solid midfield.

Willian and Hazard behind Eto'o.

Ivanovic on his prime, brilliant Cahill-Terry partnership etc.

We had the best defense in the league at the time.

I remember one particular interview, when Eden was speaking about that game, he said José told him for that game especially : "Go and play, don't worry about defending, just play and do what you do best".

Why did José say that to him ? Because we had a solid defense and midfield, and because we were the in-form team of the moment ( that game was the part of a serie of wins that put us top of the table ).

Why did José tell Eden to defend in the start of his second reign ? Because we didn't have that balance yet ?

Why is he making adjustments and thus dropping Hazard and/or asking him to defend more ? Because we lost that balance once again, because we really are on a bad moment, and because we are putting in Baba who is no Azpilicueta defensively.

Dave covers pretty much all the left flank by himself when he plays, he is the one piece in the team that lets Hazard free from defensive duties without compromising the balance of the team.

I saw Hazard defend really good in the start of José second reign, when Azpi came in and showed he was a beast, I saw Eden defending less, the optimum is last year, Hazard defending more or less but having enough freedom to do what he did, you know, POTY stuff all season long.

I have no problem with Mourinho trying bold choices to momentarily fix our team balance and grind us results, even if it's by dropping Hazard, so be it, he won, you can barely criticize him on this one, when he drops Hazard and loses, come running at him ( and I will be too ).

[Roquila 1,335]

People don't understand Jose's logic for fuck sake.

I will mention one exeample, when we won at City in 2013/2014 with an absolute masterpiece by José.

Matic-Luiz-Ramires, very solid midfield.

Willian and Hazard behind Eto'o.

Ivanovic on his prime, brilliant Cahill-Terry partnership etc.

We had the best defense in the league at the time.

I remember one particular interview, when Eden was speaking about that game, he said José told him for that game especially : "Go and play, don't worry about defending, just play and do what you do best".

Why did José say that to him ? Because we had a solid defense and midfield, and because we were the in-form team of the moment ( that game was the part of a serie of wins that put us top of the table ).

Why did José tell Eden to defend in the start of his second reign ? Because we didn't have that balance yet ?

Why is he making adjustments and thus dropping Hazard and/or asking him to defend more ? Because we lost that balance once again, because we really are on a bad moment, and because we are putting in Baba who is no Azpilicueta defensively.

Dave covers pretty much all the left flank by himself when he plays, he is the one piece in the team that lets Hazard free from defensive duties without compromising the balance of the team.

I saw Hazard defend really good in the start of José second reign, when Azpi came in and showed he was a beast, I saw Eden defending less, the optimum is last year, Hazard defending more or less but having enough freedom to do what he did, you know, POTY stuff all season long.

I have no problem with Mourinho trying bold choices to momentarily fix our team balance and grind us results, even if it's by dropping Hazard, so be it, he won, you can barely criticize him on this one, when he drops Hazard and loses, come running at him ( and I will be too ).

And who's fault is it ? It's his fault.

Since January we are shit and he didn't try to fix anything. He only made the situation worse.

Please stop trying to justify his actions. He has lost it completely. On and Off the pitch.

[Fernando 6,743]

FA releases written reasons behind Jose Mourinho's £50,000 fine http://espnfc.com/chelsea/story/2671497/fa-releases-written-reasons-behind-jose-mourinhos-fine

-via ESPN FC http://es.pn/fcapp

Pretty much the fine and ban is coming because he is a repetitive offender which in truth make sense.

[Jokesy 53]

How does a manager take a public dig a player that he considered top 3 in the world and said he was better than Ronaldo last season... For not defending enough?

Meanwhile, others have been a steaming shower of shit and yet simply don't get benched. Way to go, this man has turned into a professional troll. We're fucked really, the board won't fire him because they'd have to give him around 50M euros + pay the next coach.

Wait....

I believe Hazard has been one of the worst three or four performers for us this season so far. His offensive play has been unbelievably bad. He's become very lazy too. If his attacking play is bad then he has to help the team defensively. It's a collective effort.

We should not forget than Under Jose Mourinho;

1. Arjen Robben tracked back, and his game wasn't terrible during his time with us if not for the injuries.

2. Cristiano Ronaldo also tracked back. He went on to score way more goals than he did under the "entertaining" Pellegrini.

3. OZil tracked back. He's never had a better season under any other manager. Remember, he's also benched for this same reason at a particular time.

4. Samuel Eto sacrificed himself for the team when he wasn't scoring much at Inter.

5. Last season, Hazard became more hardworking, tracked back very well when he lost possession. He had his best season IMO.

For other players like him,

6. Sanchez tracks back every time.

7. Ribery tracks back.

8. Even Messi tracks back. So what's Hazard's excuse?

A team is always more important than any individual player. That's why Messi hasn't won jack with Argentina for instance, or why Chelsea of 2012 won both the Champions League and the FA cup.

Hazard is a very gifted player and I am surprised at his lack of desire to push himself a step further. He really needs to up every part of his game this season. The last time he was criticised publicly for similar reasons, he only came back stronger and I strongly believe this time won't be any different.

If Ivanovic or Matic is indefensible this, then Hazard is not.

[Jase 43,479]

On the team, Hazard is the weakest defender IMO.

That's your view and so, fair enough. But Fabregas is the certainly the worst for me if we exclude defenders. That guy can't even tackle or bother to put in the shift to save his life.

Yes, Mourinho asks more from his attackers in terms of defense, but that's who he is. If you're not putting in defensive effort, you're not going to play. Hazard wasn't doing enough offensively to justify having him in the squad.

The thing is, are others even doing enough offensively to justify their place in the squad? No. The fact that we're currently winning based on luck (almost) and we leaving our best attacker out is daft. I also don't buy this nonsense that just because Mourinho is our manager, we have to accept the fact he asks our attackers to defend a lot. In a way, yes simply because he's in charge at the moment but with a mindset like that (preference of defending more than attacking), we'll never progress to the next level and be alongside the likes of Real Madrid, Barcelona, Bayern Munich etc.

There's no facts that say he's even waging in personal battles. That's all created. Has any player come out and say they disagree with what Mourinho has said about them? Did we see Hazard throwing a fit? Did we see Baba crying because Jose has no confidence in him? Do we see Loftus-Cheek say he's being treated unfairly? Maybe, just maybe, Hazard will work harder to prove to Mourinho that he's better. Maybe we'll see Baba working harder to be a more solid defender. Maybe we'll see Loftus-Cheek track back more.

No one will be daft enough to come and criticize Mourinho but that doesn't mean the players are happy behind closed doors. Mourinho's obsession of always taking the aggressive approach in handling players (or even the referees, the club etc) is tiresome, predictable and history has shown that approach does more harm than good to the team/club.

[CurlyHairLikeLuiz 1,625]

Willian has been our best attacker this season.

Hazard has been shit for 2 months and counting. Where do we draw the line and decide when it's no longer worth trying to play him into form? I'd rather Kenedy be afforded a chance now.

[Ainsley Harriott 2,732]

@Jokesy, don't get me wrong, I know Hazard has been poor this season (the team's inability to attack doesn't help). But why does José publicly criticise him, while coming up with excuses for Ivanovic or not even metioning Cesc? How many games since Mourinho has arrived did we see him as the only one who tried to play football?

What I want is fairness and for him to stop being a hypocrite, to treat everyone the same. To take the blame for this run, not to come up with excuses or deflect everything on to the others.

Oh, and for the team to start playing football for the first time since the end of 2014. I'd really love that.

[Jase 43,479]

FA releases written reasons behind Jose Mourinho's £50,000 fine http://espnfc.com/chelsea/story/2671497/fa-releases-written-reasons-behind-jose-mourinhos-fine

-via ESPN FC http://es.pn/fcapp

Pretty much the fine and ban is coming because he is a repetitive offender which in truth make sense.

To be fair, even though Mourinho repeatedly commits the same offence, to give him a 50k fine is still a joke. Did Fergie even receive that amount of fine before? On top of that, the suspended stadium ban is also a joke. Alan Pardew got a stadium ban 2 seasons ago for headbutting David Meyler and the FA is practically saying Mourinho's criticism of the referees is as bad as Pardew's actions.

Willian has been our best attacker this season.

Hazard has been shit for 2 months and counting. Where do we draw the line and decide when it's no longer worth trying to play him into form? I'd rather Kenedy be afforded a chance now.

But in general, Hazard is the best attacker in the side. The fact that we're saying Willian is our best attacker right now says a lot more about our current predicament than his ability because we all know Willian is very average going forward. Besides, we're only saying Willian is our best attacker because of his free kick goals. Otherwise, he himself hasn't done much either going forward.

[CurlyHairLikeLuiz 1,625]

To be fair, even though Mourinho repeatedly commits the same offence, to give him a 50k fine is still a joke. Did Fergie even receive that amount of fine before? On top of that, the suspended stadium ban is also a joke. Alan Pardew got a stadium ban 2 seasons ago for headbutting David Meyler and the FA is practically saying Mourinho's criticism of the referees is as bad as Pardew's actions.

But in general, Hazard is the best attacker in the side. The fact that we're saying Willian is our best attacker right now says a lot more about our current predicament than his ability because we all know Willian is very average going forward. Besides, we're only saying Willian is our best attacker because of his free kick goals. Otherwise, he himself hasn't done much either going forward.

But my point is that once Hazard stops attacking he is useless. He's been given more than enough chances to get back into form.

[Jase 43,479]

But my point is that once Hazard stops attacking he is useless. He's been given more than enough chances to get back into form.

The same could be said for some of the other players.

[CurlyHairLikeLuiz 1,625]

The same could be said for some of the other players.

Which is why rotation exists. So out of form players rest and step up in training while another player plays in matches who is in form.

[Jase 43,479]

Which is why rotation exists. So out of form players rest and step up in training while another player plays in matches who is in form.

That's ironic to hear when our manager is Mourinho.