The Mourinho Thread

[Jase 43,479]

He was being sarcastic...

Think Styles was being sarcastic with his response too...

[Henrique 9,133]

Jesus Christ, just 1 week ago we were the best team in the PL and nobody could stop us. We have 2 bad games and all of a sudden the season is over, we have lost everything, we are heading to second division, we are the worst team in Europe and we're in another major crisis (even though there still isn't a single club in the PL that currently looks more dangerous than us).

I swear 7 out of 10 people in this forum suffer from some kind of bipolar disorder. Next week we win a game 4-0 and we're the best team in the world again.

Whatever...

To be honest I don't remember serious people in this forum saying such a thing. I can't remember as well people from press saying we were the best.

Since the beginning of the season the team is playing like shit.

[TorontoChelsea 4,064]

To be honest I don't remember serious people in this forum saying such a thing. I can't remember as well people from press saying we were the best.

Since the beginning of the season the team is playing like shit.

It's true. We haven't played well all year. We've been lucky to be where we are in the league, we've had a super easy CL group and we've ground out some results, but we've rarely played well for more than one 10-15 minute stretch in a game.

[Sidzeret 2,257]

It's true. We haven't played well all year. We've been lucky to be where we are in the league, we've had a super easy CL group and we've ground out some results, but we've rarely played well for more than one 10-15 minute stretch in a game.

Also nobody from our attacking department have been performing consistently for more than 2 games max.

[Reddish-Blue 2,495]

Also nobody from our attacking department have been performing consistently for more than 2 games max.

Yeh but to be fair, if the attacking midfielders keep changing, how do you expect them to perform consistently?

Jose needs to pick his best three AM's and stick with them. Personally, I'd go with Schurrle - Oscar - Hazard/Willian

[Sidzeret 2,257]

Yeh but to be fair, if the attacking midfielders keep changing, how do you expect them to perform consistently?

Jose needs to pick his best three AM's and stick with them. Personally, I'd go with Schurrle - Oscar - Hazard/Willian

Exactly our problem this season.

[remains of the day 564]

But did we even play all that well last season either? During the end of Rafa's tenure we started putting together a string of good results, but not necessarily good performances. I would even venture to say that for the past three seasons, the quality of football we've displayed in the league has been dire. I can't remember the last time we displayed good, top performances for a stretch of time. I just wonder how much the constant turnover of managers has contributed to that. The last time we finished a season with the same manager we started with, was in 2011! Also, since Carlo left it just seems like every time a new manager has come in to replace the other, the priority has been to sort of the defensee. How much attention has gone towards working on combination patterns and interplay?

Anyway, there's a lot of factors that has contributed to the team's poor performances in these past few seasons, part of it also has to do with transfer strategy. But bottom line is, this team has been poorly coached for a while now and I really hope the board gives Jose time. There's a lot of work that he needs to do to get this team playing at a high level. I don't agree with all of the decisions his made and I think his tactics has been pretty negative for the most part but it's only been a couple of months. Fans really need to have more patience.

[OneMoSalah 8,885]

I think the 8-0 game vs Villa under Rafa, 4-2 win vs Spurs under Robbie and 3-1 loss at United under AVB have perhaps been the best we've played since 2011. Thats how bad and inconsistent we've really been at times in terms of performances.

I'll take winning football over attractive football but you'd think with 150-200m worth of attacking players and Jose Mourinho we'd be winning games easily playing attractively or not. Sure Jose prefers defensive stability over going gun ho but with Mata, Hazard, Oscar, Willian, Ramires, Schurrle, de Bruyne, Eto'o, Torres and Ba you'd think we'd be able to score a lot of goals in games and win them no? Pivots a problem too but I'd prefer we sorted the performances of some of our players first.

[Reddish-Blue 2,495]

I think the 8-0 game vs Villa under Rafa, 4-2 win vs Spurs under Robbie and 3-1 loss at United under AVB have perhaps been the best we've played since 2011. Thats how bad and inconsistent we've really been at times in terms of performances.

I'll take winning football over attractive football but you'd think with 150-200m worth of attacking players and Jose Mourinho we'd be winning games easily playing attractively or not. Sure Jose prefers defensive stability over going gun ho but with Mata, Hazard, Oscar, Willian, Ramires, Schurrle, de Bruyne, Eto'o, Torres and Ba you'd think we'd be able to score a lot of goals in games and win them no? Pivots a problem too but I'd prefer we sorted the performances of some of our players first.

To be honest, I don't think the spending figure matters..

Our major problem has yet to be solved. We still have no link between our CB's and the attacking midfielders.

You can't win games if the opposition park the bus and your CM/DM is not creative enough to find a gap and exploit it...

[mediator 2,026]

We still have no link between our CB's and the attacking midfielders

That's it, without a real DLP we won't dictate the tempo

[The Skipper 20,609]

To be honest, I don't think the spending figure matters..

Our major problem has yet to be solved. We still have no link between our CB's and the attacking midfielders.

You can't win games if the opposition park the bus and your CM/DM is not creative enough to find a gap and exploit it...

Whilst a link player would significantly improve things, it won't magically fix our problems. We need to improve when the AMs do have the ball - there is a serious lack of movement or risk taking in the final third even as of now.

Yeah we don't have a DLP but that doesn't excuse why our AMs aren't doing anything when they do get the ball.

[Korea 734]

One thing I notice is that in previous games, Oscar went back to retrieve the ball.

However, in recent games, he doesnt as much. I dont know if Jose told him not to or if he is just getting tired....

[The Mak 4,459]

Whilst a link player would significantly improve things, it won't magically fix our problems. We need to improve when the AMs do have the ball - there is a serious lack of movement or risk taking in the final third even as of now.

Yeah we don't have a DLP but that doesn't excuse why our AMs aren't doing anything when they do get the ball.

But then again you can also say that they look a little clueless because they always seem to have to come so deep to receive the ball. As a result, they always seem to be facing two blocks of 4 instead of one.

There is no one in the team that can get the ball to them quickly or someone with enough composure to help press further forward allowing the AMs to try to make those dangerous runs in behind. We then shoot ourselves in the foot by asking Oscar to come back to help the lack of creativity coming from there - pretty much making it that much easier for other teams to defend against.

I suppose we'll really see if a DLP can help with that though. I think they'll find that little bit more space and eventually become confident enough to attack it. At least, that's the hope....maybe I'm just rambling!

[Styles 9,790]

Whilst a link player would significantly improve things, it won't magically fix our problems. We need to improve when the AMs do have the ball - there is a serious lack of movement or risk taking in the final third even as of now.

Yeah we don't have a DLP but that doesn't excuse why our AMs aren't doing anything when they do get the ball.

In my opinion it's because they very rarely get the ball when they have found the space + time. Our distribution from midfield is laboured and lacks both creativity and precision. For example I've seen Hazard find space - in which he can turn and make things happen - but he either gets a bad pass, the ball takes too long to arrive, or (and by far the worst) he just goes ignored. How often has Hazard received the ball with two men on him and a third making his way towards him? I've seen that plenty of times. My opinion is that from back to front we lack guile, precision and creative passing. Ivanovic at RB is the best example of that. Sure the AMs can and should be doing better, but if they keep getting late inaccurate passes then I can understand why they're struggling.

[Sidzeret 2,257]

In my opinion it's because they very rarely get the ball when they have found the space + time. Our distribution from midfield is laboured and lacks both creativity and precision. For example I've seen Hazard find space - in which he can turn and make things happen - but he either gets a bad pass, the ball takes too long to arrive, or (and by far the worst) he just goes ignored. How often has Hazard received the ball with two men on him and a third making his way towards him? I've seen that plenty of times. My opinion is that from back to front we lack guile, precision and creative passing. Ivanovic at RB is the best example of that. Sure the AMs can and should be doing better, but if they keep getting late inaccurate passes then I can understand why they're struggling.

With all the attacking talent in the world, we still lack guile, precision and creative passing. Yet counter attacking football is our teams mantra. Pretty ironic to say the least.

We definitely lack penetration when it comes to teams that park the bus. More direct players like Schurrle could make all the difference in our team than the likes of Mata eventhough Mata is a greater talent. We need to found that midfield that feed or strikers and penetrate the opponent's defences.