The Mourinho Thread

[Adnane 1,101]

Mourinho's philosophy has always struck me as:

"I've already shown you guys how to stop "x" team from hurting us. Go out and beat "x" team. After all, we have more quality than they do and that eventually will tell"

It was instructive to listen to Mourinho wax lyrical about all the preparation he had done to ensure our players knew about all the means Leicester could score and win, as he's done several times this season.

But was what alarming about Chelsea was not Leicester's goals against us, but how clueless we looked in their final 3rd till they scored! Mourinho hardly ever speaks about that side, aside from some basic stuff here and there. "I told him to make some movement" How can players make movements when there is no space? Or when no one is attacking space? Or when the passing is so slow and ponderous? That's training ground stuff and we have to ask why we hardly ever saw it in almost 3 years.

Please, he's gone, and these are tough times for all of us.

Can you spare us this please ? Can you stop criticizing him ? At least helping us in the impossible task of keeping a good image of him in his last days ?

Let's just move on, we all love him, let's not keep blasting him here, we all know what went wrong and we all hope someone comes and fixes it.

[Kostas 1,468]

it would take too long but in a nutshell .. some things are more important than tin cups ,, I am now thought to be one of the most negative moaners on here .

hope you are well and things in Greece are improving

Sounds like a position based on principle(/ethics?) rather than purely utilitarian concerns. Am I on the right track?

Greece is actually getting increasingly worse :/ Glasgows been treating me fine through

[lucio 5,418]

Jose Mourinho leaves Cobham, reported he was crying when he left.

is that real???

[Parky 739]

'There is speculation that Chelsea have approached Pep Guardiola about taking over at the end of Hiddink’s temporary stint. The Daily Mail say the Spaniard has let the club know that he thinks they need 10 new players to get to where they want to be.' via the Guardian.

[Kieran. 6,317]

is that real???

Can't tell if hes crying but he looks absolutely shattered.

[Clockwork 1,794]

You can't blame the players; just like you can't blame soldiers for revolting or underperforming due to a toxic military officer, or employees who are underperforming due to a toxic CEO.

Its all the same; every solider, player, and employees wants to feel good about themselves, and that only happens when they are successful at their job.

The manager always takes responsibility for their subordinates.

Mourinho did not look like a leader to me this season at all. A leader takes responsibility for his team he never did in this situation. Blamed almost everyone players, media, ballboy, refs, medics, exterminators, etc.

I was never a fan of his tenure, never wanted him back at Chelsea from the start. Great he is gone, the club can move in the right direction now.

[Blue-in-me-Veins 4,067]

[zolayes 14,489]

Sounds like a position based on principle(/ethics?) rather than purely utilitarian concerns. Am I on the right track?

Greece is actually getting increasingly worse :/ Glasgows been treating me fine through

old fashioned principles ,, enjoy Hogmanay ,,,,do you get to see Rangers or the Hoops?

[kevvyhaz 9]

already in biggest dutch newspaper Hiddink to Chelsea

[Kieran. 6,317]

ONE OF US.

[Sideshow Luiz 2,310]

Furthermore Jurgens impact at Liverpool has been overexaggarated some what, the City and Saints matches were impressive but beyond that their hasn't actually been that much improvement, the Swansea and Newcastle games for Liverpool are as bad as any display we've put on this season.

He will probably sort the problems out, but he hasn't had the impact the Scouse loving media are suggesting.

I certainly don't think he's the messiah. But, I do think he's excellent and was the best manager without a job at the time. Certainly better than what's out there now.

[Ossie the King 634]

You can't blame the players; just like you can't blame soldiers for revolting or underperforming due to a toxic military officer, or employees who are underperforming due to a toxic CEO.

Its all the same; every solider, player, and employees wants to feel good about themselves, and that only happens when they are successful at their job.

The manager always takes responsibility for their subordinates.

Mourinho did not look like a leader to me this season at all. A leader takes responsibility for his team he never did in this situation. Blamed almost everyone players, media, ballboy, refs, medics, exterminators, etc.

I was never a fan of his tenure, never wanted him back at Chelsea from the start. Great he is gone, the club can move in the right direction now.

In your analogy, Mourinho isn't the CEO is he? That would be Roman and the board so doesn't a lot of what you're saying pertain to them?

I'm intrigued though as to what the right direction is because I'm fucked if I know? Is it the old 'Barcelona-lite' thing where we try and copy them so people really like us?

What is the right direction for Chelsea now?

[Sideshow Luiz 2,310]

It was no secret FSG tried to get him as soon as they took over Liverpool, but he decided to stay with Dortmund. The writing was always on the wall after his 'sabbatical'

Gotcha.

[DYC. 7,542]

According to whom? Big gesture if true.

[iseah100 5,612]

Considering the club fucked with him that bad, why would you say no to the severance package? Fuck me, I'd have taken the 40 million in a heart-beat.

HE LOVES THIS CLUB

[The Skipper 20,609]

Not sure if you were around when Rafa was hired but right now it feels almost as bad. People are there to support Chelsea but Jose is a massive part of this club. It's hard to explain but a lot changed around the time Roman took over. We changed massively, but as much as Roman was the instigator for that, Jose was the architect. His attitude fitted not just with what Chelsea was before, but what it was after the money arrived. It's almost impossible to overstate the impact he had but I can't think of someone we've loved as much as him.

Even when things were tough, we stuck by him simply because he was that important. Chelsea is a club like no other, right down to the fact that many of us own part of the pitch itself. I don't really know what our ethos or perhaps even our identity is going forward because we don't have that core of players (JT, Lamps, Drogs etc.) like last time. It's a hugely worrying time.

I was, and I went to plenty of games at the Bridge during that time as well. I was one of Benitez's biggest critics. It certainly does not feel like that at all to me. I agree that Jose is a very important person at Chelsea and definitely helped starting the CFC revolution last decade but that doesn't automatically mean he's above everything this club is about.

My problem isn't even that we're a point above the relegation zone. There's far more to it than that. It's the fact that he's completely gone back on what he's promised to establish here - not just about winning, but winning in style (Jose's own words in 2013 shortly after he arrived), about developing the massive potential we had as a team when he arrived, about giving our most talented crop of youth a chance to develop. We're doing none of that so far - I genuinely wouldn't mind Jose staying if he stuck to these promises.

When Jose came back I was absolutely ecstatic but I love my club more, and I enjoy the fact that we're one of the leading clubs in the country and in Europe. We weren't heading in the right direction at all anymore and Jose has even lost what would've given him more time here - the ability to churn out wins. You can't say it's an irrational sacking. There is no way a squad this talented should be in the position we are now. We're not even a mid table team at the moment.

I also don't see it as a worrying time either. I think if the board get it right, it'll give us a chance to get back onto the right path. Exciting times ahead. Hopefully we start realising our potential in the long term now.

[CurlyHairLikeLuiz 1,625]

He oozes blue, he's proper Chels, but that doesn't mean he's the best man for the job. By that reasoning Kenny Dalglish should still be Liverpool manager even though what he's done at the club had set them back for years and is still kind of haunting them right now.

It doesn't work like that.

And I'm very certain SB won't be anywhere near as toxic as you're trying to make it out to be. There's time between now and the game, things will cool off. People are there to support Chelsea FC, not Jose Mourinho. We're more than a manager.

You can't tell me you were happy with the identity the club has generated under Mourinho?

Ossie's response basically satisfies what I was going to say.

Jose is a huge part of our club and its character and many of us won't forget that on Saturday if the players suddenly come out of the woodwork and perform.

[ZanSnake 1,211]

I generally think that after Monday, it was the realisation to Jose that he wasn't the man to turn this round. That he failed, and it was too late for him to turn it around, maybe hence why it was 'mutual' and the comments that he said in the post-match interview.

[The Skipper 20,609]

Ossie's response basically satisfies what I was going to say.

Jose is a huge part of our club and its character and many of us won't forget that on Saturday if the players suddenly come out of the woodwork and perform.

An interesting question to you here:

Do you genuinely believe that Jose is more or less guilt free and that our bad showings doesn't have much to do with his tactics and how he sets up and selects the team? Do you actually believe the players are performing bad because they want Mourinho sacked? That's just too simplistic a view to take.

Many of us won't forget that we're here to support the club we love on Saturday either. I'm very sure of it. Yes, we love Mourinho and what he's done for the club but we love our club more, and we love watching us play regardless of what's going on. That's the attitude and atmosphere I hope to see at the Bridge on Saturday.

[Kieran. 6,317]

One thing though is I don't think Jose will stay in England. I don't think he wants anymore bullshit from the English FA.