The Mourinho Thread

[Amblève. 4,995]

Basle are a good team, they are in the CL for a reason, Man.Utd got 1 out of 6 against them, Spurs couldn't beat them. You rarely get mug sides in the Champions League these days, even the teams in pot 4 are strong.

These results happen in the Champions League, i could probably find one similar result all the top clubs have had in recent times, but im too tired and half cut to look, one on the top of my head tho, Barcelona 1-2 Rubin Kazan.

Basel is not the same team anymore they used to be when they won vs United. And if we're honest, Spurs only lost to them because they couldn't finish to save their lives.

Basel basically changed half their team this summer (and even during the summer of 2012) and lost players like Dragovic who were their absolute cornerstones for the past few years.

Also, we played at home. Results like these should never ever happen at the Bridge.

[johnnythefirst 1,076]

Hmm, as far as these first few matches have been going, i'm seeing an actual decrease in quality since preseason...

This team should have the quality to easily beat squads like Basel. But is it the players' fault, the manager's fault or a lack of cohesion.

I'm starting to believe Mourinho has troubles playing with an offensive team. In his Real years he had the best squad in the world for most of the time, and the second best starting eleven after Barca. But he made them play like inter and depended on the individual talent of Ronaldo. What did he really win with all that offensive quality? One title, one cup and no Champions League finals. Granted, he was up against probably the best team ever, but did he ever play them full on and head to head?

I think he's best managing big, powerful teams based on a strong defense like Inter and the old Chelsea. Not exactly the players he has now...

[Tomo 21,733]

Sorry but Basle aren't a good team ... They are a below average CL side and at the Bridge SHOULD have been a guaranteed 3 points.

There can be NO disguising the fact that this was a terrible result and IMO the result was exactly what the performance deserved

Im not saying it's not a bad result, but it's not like we lost to Yeovil.

[zolayes 14,489]

Im not saying it's not a bad result, but it's not like we lost to Yeovil.

let's hope we don't lose to Swindon ...it could be our best chance of a trophy

[Blue Warrior 109]

The fight back is on, the kick up the arse is done. Mourinho to steady the ship and lead from the front. Losing to Basle, have seen worse. No surrender, pride in the famous blue shirt.

[xPetrCechx 13,563]

Must to learn from this game...

Mou Mou...

[Tomo 21,733]

Its safe to say Fulham and Swindon are more important than we initially thought they would be.

[polo 18]

it's not his fault if the players don't give their all

[Sidzeret 2,257]

Yeah, I'm 100% behind him, but bringing Mata was a mistake... which I wonder what people that was saying he's shitty because he doesn't use Mata enough will say. For some is lose-lose when it comes to him, but he made a mistake that cost us the match imo. Mata may not be directly responsible for the goals (indirectly he was responsible for one), but he killed our creativity (writing this sounds so absurd, but it's so true) in the attack and stopped pressuring because not only he added absolutely nothing to the attack, he also lost possession 5 times - that I've counted - could have been more.

Besides Eto'o hasn't got his positioning right even. He is either staying wide at the edge of the box and couldn't hold the ball inside the box. Our AM-stiker link up didn't work out. So the blame goes partly to Eto'o as well.

[bluephoenix 1,126]

I may very well be crazy but does mourinho want to prove a point that he will not rely on what the other managers did ? and that he is different ..blah blah blah ?

otherwise I really think he would have done much than what he has done to make Mata fit and show why he was Chelsea's key player for the last couple of seasons .

Any ways Mourinho has to get the team together and quick. What i was really hoping to see in his return was the team work and so far i don't see anything of that sort.

[Henrique 9,133]

Mourinho should stop his experiments. One day we have Ramires+Mikel, the other day Van Ginkel + Lampard, then here we go with Ramires + Lampard. Then here comes Schurle, 4 days later he is not even on the bench. Etoo is the new face in town, and suddenly he became the 1st choice striker, playing 90m, even if he is out of form.

Willian first match was in Europe, even tough he wasnt even on the bench against Everton.

I'm still believe in Jose, but until this moment he has been 100% poor.

[Jase 43,479]

Mourinho should stop his experiments. One day we have Ramires+Mikel, the other day Van Ginkel + Lampard, then here we go with Ramires + Lampard. Then here comes Schurle, 4 days later he is not even on the bench. Etoo is the new face in town, and suddenly he became the 1st choice striker, playing 90m, even if he is out of form.

Willian first match was in Europe, even tough he wasnt even on the bench against Everton.

I'm still believe in Jose, but until this moment he has been 100% poor.

And not to mention, the attacking trio behind the ST have been constantly changing.

vs Hull - Hazard/Oscar/De Bruyne

vs Villa - Hazard/Oscar/Mata

vs Man Utd - Hazard/Oscar/De Bruyne

vs Bayern - Hazard/Oscar/Schurrle

vs Everton - Hazard/Mata/Schurrle

vs Basel - Hazard/Oscar/Willian

[TrippingStep 336]

For gods sake - MASSIVE overreaction again - Basel did this to Utd... They are in the CL - there are NO easy games.

It's gonna take time to get this squad playing as a cohesive unit

Keep the faith and stop bashing everything and everyone - it WILL work out - so what if we have a few more dogshit performances... That's what football is all about, supporting your team through thick and thin...

Forgetting we beat them in europa league last year, but it was the FSW so that doesn't count.

[Blue Gino 377]

Dear God:

Tell Jose in his sleep to go back to the 4-3-3 formation, please?

[TrippingStep 336]

I think it's not time for us to criticize starting eleven decisions - although subs are totally a different case - because he's been doing the tests to find the best team and the best style for us. I disagree with whoever said he needs to stop imposing himself because I don't feel that's what he's doing... He likes 4-2-3-1 - yes, but he isn't imposing it, he is testing it. While I like 4-3-3 better I think our wingers are being quite busy and creating plays - and that's the one thing that 4-3-3 has over 4-2-3-1 as the last three have more freedom while the 3 in the midfield play deeper and don't go too high to offer cover to the wingers - with the exception of the highest midfielder. But in the 4-2-3-1 although our wingers keep backtracking to defend - André is particularly awesome shutting down opponent's FB and wingers - they also have been very present in the attack, they have a lot of freedom to attack, so the formation itself seems more like a technical detail right now than the real issue.

Until he finds the best team to start the matches and make that formation work - even if it's the 4-3-3 formation - we'll see changes from one match to the other. It may take longer than we expect, who knows? But we need to be fair to him... technically and individually some of our best players are under-performing (Mata and Hazard) others are alternating great matches with capital mistakes or poor displays in others (Ramires, Cole, Lamps, Luiz) and there are players adapting (Kevin, André, Eto'o, now Willian too). So add the players bad performances to Mourinho's hit or miss attempts to find the best philosophy and we lose and draw matches. He's responsible, but I feel like he's not the only one and his mistakes are a consequence of his own adaptation to the squad and the definition of our style.

Selective memory people (yeah, their memory isn't short, just selective) seem to forget that both Robbie and Rafa also struggled during their first matches. It took Benitez four months (imo) to mold the completely mess that was Robbie's team. Why are people comparing Benitez work in the last months of his spell with Mourinho's first? How fair is that? It wouldn't be fair to compare their first months alone because Rafa was here to fix it and fix it soon, Mourinho is here to establish a philosophy that will guide us in the following years. One thing definitely takes more time than the other and mistakes are more prone in the latter as well. So the comparisons sound unfair, overreacting, and also pointless. Just my opinion though.

Come on, Mourinho's philosophy is not suited for Mata, Oscar, Hazard, Azpi, Luiz, Ramires.

His teams have never been great when they had to dictate the play. Against every big clubs, he's sitting deep and play a waiting game.

And what physical preparation have we done. De Bruyne is slower than at Bremen, Van Ginkel was slow to react and had difficulties to control balls as if he had very heavy legs. And Hazard is the same like he's totally knackered and like he has only very heavy power training that slows him.

What makes me laugh, was the graphs of one member after Hull, where he would find triangles everywhere while I thought it was just awful positioning from the team and the next matches against Aston Villa, Manchester United where we didn't even try to attack, Everton, Basle proved my point.

And I don't understand why some chelsea fan were so angry for some comments Benitez made some years ago.

[kellzfresh 7,229]

Come on, Mourinho's philosophy is not suited for Mata, Oscar, Hazard, Azpi, Luiz, Ramires.

His teams have never been great when they had to dictate the play. Against every big clubs, he's sitting deep and play a waiting game.

And what physical preparation have we done. De Bruyne is slower than at Bremen, Van Ginkel was slow to react and had difficulties to control balls as if he had very heavy legs. And Hazard is the same like he's totally knackered and like he has only very heavy power training that slows him.

What makes me laugh, was the graphs of one member after Hull, where he would find triangles everywhere while I thought it was just awful positioning from the team and the next matches against Aston Villa, Manchester United where we didn't even try to attack, Everton, Basle proved my point.

And I don't understand why some chelsea fan were so angry for some comments Benitez made some years ago.

Mourinho has three problems

He keeps changing the starters and no chemistry is formed between anybody.

He seems to have ordered ashely cole and ivanovic not to go forward just like benitez did, which makes us have no width. The width he is expecting from our AM'S is not there. They dont stay wide, we were used to azpi and cole putting in a lot of crosses, now we must have the lowest crossing in world football (I'll try and find this stat)

Hazard has started every match and is physically exausted.

[ZOS 580]

it's not his fault if the players don't give their all

yes it is

[Joe Ay 66]

Are we improving, stagnating or moving backwards under Jose? Very early days but, the first 20 mins vs Hull notwithstanding, I think we've been fairly average or just piss poor in all our games. Benitez tried to tinker initially before realising that playing Mazacar was our best bet to win games. With mikel and ramires in the pivot, and sometimes lampard playing a deeper role. Looks like we're experimenting all over again with all the options that Jose has.

We hardly have any width from our fullbacks, and Brana over Azpi as an attacking right back just doesn't work, hence why Benitez played him at centre back.

Given time, hopefully we can start playing as a cohesive team but its just doesn't make any sense that we're not building on the team dynamics and understanding that was developed towards the end of Benitez's reign. Why break something when it wasn't broken? I would've thought we take up to another level rather than start at the basics again.