The Mourinho Thread

[bushman 2,043]

I doubt much have changed unless Roman's expectations have lowered. Remember this is the guy that sacked King Carlo, RDM after guiding us to one of greatest season in history. The day his expectations lowered is probably also the day he stopped buying top players for us, but then again that is gonna soon happen with FFP. I think he will allow Jose to be trophy less this season, but it will be the only one for the rest of the contract.

Why would Roman expectations be lowered ?

There is no need for it. More like patience is required. Perhaps, Jose may not win any trophy in this season, but certainly he will make needed changes for next year. His leadership, loaned players brought in, stability achieved, I think that´s fantastic.

Finally, just maybe Jose gets to do his job in a calm way.

[The Skipper 20,593]

Would answer the 'stability' problems we've had

But, Buck said the same thing about AVB being our 'long-term' manager, so we can't really speculate. Would prefer someone like Jose at the helm of the club for the long term then, say, David Moyes

To be fair, I'm pretty sure AVB was actually the long term option but because he screwed up do badly he had to be sacked.

[Rmpr 8,977]

Read it again, I never said our team wasn't unbalanced, I said people are over exaggerating it.

Like I said, we're 2/3 ('clinical' as Jose said) signings away from having a complete squad.

We are not 2 or 3 clinical signings away from a complete squad. More like 4 or 5!

Our last transfer window (which Mourinho was in charge, btw) was completely useless. Not only we didnt fix our long going pivot and striker problems, but we created one (despite being a good problem to have) in the AM department!

Sorry, but we have already spent too much to still have to buy 3 top players (another 60-70mi?) in order to be successful (and I dont mean trophies)...

[The Skipper 20,593]

We are not 2 or 3 clinical signings away from a complete squad. More like 4 or 5!

Our last transfer window (which Mourinho was in charge, btw) was completely useless. Not only we didnt fix our long going pivot and striker problems, but we created one (despite being a good problem to have) in the AM department!

Sorry, but we have already spent too much to still have to buy 3 top players (another 60-70mi?) in order to be successful (and I dont mean trophies)...

4 or 5? Elaborate please...

I personally believe that we need another CB, another CM and another ST, but they have to be the right signings. If we had done these correctly in the summer the squad would be fine right now.

You're right in saying that we've spent too much to buy 3 more top players but what's happened has happened. It's why I was against the Willian signing; even though he's a great player - £30m on an area that didn't need investment whatsoever was pretty pointless.

[Reddish-Blue 2,345]

4 or 5? Elaborate please...

I personally believe that we need another CB, another CM and another ST, but they have to be the right signings. If we had done these correctly in the summer the squad would be fine right now.

You're right in saying that we've spent too much to buy 3 more top players but what's happened has happened. It's why I was against the Willian signing; even though he's a great player - £30m on an area that didn't need investment whatsoever was pretty pointless.

4 signings - CB, CM, ST and LB to fill the void of Ashley Cole.

[The Skipper 20,593]

4 signings - CB, CM, ST and LB to fill the void of Ashley Cole.

Fair enough.

[Rmpr 8,977]

4 or 5? Elaborate please...

I personally believe that we need another CB, another CM and another ST, but they have to be the right signings. If we had done these correctly in the summer the squad would be fine right now.

You're right in saying that we've spent too much to buy 3 more top players but what's happened has happened. It's why I was against the Willian signing; even though he's a great player - £30m on an area that didn't need investment whatsoever was pretty pointless.

Totally agree with the second part. Willian is a great player, but not what we needed (he isnt even a true winger). We could have spent 30mi on a CM to fix our 3 year long pivot problem.

We need at least 4 signings, at least. A ST, CM, LB, CB. You agree with that right? Ok. And a legitment case can also be made that we could use a DM (do you trust Mikel and Essien?). So, 4 key players and maybe another one elsewhere. Four OR five players, without even counting the ones we need to return from loan (Courtois, Chalobah, Lukaku, etc). That is easily 60-70mi, if not more. On top of the 300mi we already spent in the last 4-5 years!

We have spent 60mi on strikers and none of them turned out to be useful. We spent 130mi on AMs and we still cant find a perfect trio. 23mi on Ramires, but no more investments on definitive replacements for Lampard, Essien, etc. We bought Azi to fix our cronical right back issues, but play him as a LB because Cole is already past his prime and Jose doesnt trust Bertrad. Our only secure defender is a 34yo (no disrespect for the Legend). Even Cech is not playing well!

Our good players are either loaned out or not playing half as good as they can. People are not exagerating, trust me!

Now, of course another 70mi transfer window (buying the right players) and a great pre-season can make a lot of difference, but that is not even close to what Jose Mourinho is making. We have been playing bellow average and we cant defend nor attack. We look like Tottenham for fucks sake!

[The only place to be 11,313]

Mourinho's record over Wenger is being played up....if we do lose then expect to see a lot of stories about him losing his aura, and perhaps rightly so. This Christmas period is going to be incredibly important to the future of this club, and I don't think it' beyond the realms of possibility that Mourinho could be under immense pressure within 12 days.

Need to get a result tonight.

[Hutcho 8,443]

We need another winger.

We have a lack of options in that area right now. Be good to have some more choices.

[Henrique 9,133]

I think its funny that some people here are saying we have to spend more. Thats Mourinho, when the results are not good enough the answear is: spende more and more.

[Blue Warrior 109]

Lets not forget Mr Abramovich who calls the financial shots. I believe limited funds are available. A striker and a holding midfielder are all we might get. Free spending days are over.

[yuvala 2,167]

A lot of you guys are always against signing players and spending money.. whilst I get your point, sometimes you have to spend in order to make a crucial signing.

What is a crucial signing u ask? NOT a buy like Willian.

But rather a buy like a top CM (we've had pivot problems for some time now), buying a top striker (again, a big problem. We've already seen the results of bringing in "cheap" alternatives such as Ba and Eto'o). A new LB, Cole is past it and we're playing a RB in the LB position. A new CB because Terry is not gonna last forever, Cahill is average and Luiz is a liability as of now.

Some of you make the point of "we have young players who can do that" - well, we might have more than a few talented youngsters but they are not ready to lead a team to the title. However they should be incorporated in the team (Lukaku as a 2nd striker, PVA as a LB option, perhaps Omeruo aswell etc.).

If we buy any other AM I'm gonna kill myself..

[Belgiannutt 3,201]

I think its funny that some people here are saying we have to spend more. Thats Mourinho, when the results are not good enough the answear is: spende more and more.

Don't think there's much question that we need to spend more, no matter how ridiculous it seems with all the money we've already spent. We lack key elements that make or break a team.

ST, CM, LB, CB need to be bought. Just sell some of our deadweight (Ba, DeBruyne) and maybe some of our loanees .

[BleedsBlue 1,549]

A lot of you guys are always against signing players and spending money.. whilst I get your point, sometimes you have to spend in order to make a crucial signing.

What is a crucial signing u ask? NOT a buy like Willian.

But rather a buy like a top CM (we've had pivot problems for some time now), buying a top striker (again, a big problem. We've already seen the results of bringing in "cheap" alternatives such as Ba and Eto'o). A new LB, Cole is past it and we're playing a RB in the LB position. A new CB because Terry is not gonna last forever, Cahill is average and Luiz is a liability as of now.

Some of you make the point of "we have young players who can do that" - well, we might have more than a few talented youngsters but they are not ready to lead a team to the title. However they should be incorporated in the team (Lukaku as a 2nd striker, PVA as a LB option, perhaps Omeruo aswell etc.).

If we buy any other AM I'm gonna kill myself..

The reason why we have spent so much is mainly because of the number of managers we've had after Jose. In his first spell here,Jose knew who he wanted and hence spent accordingly and to be honest most of his signings for us have been top notch.Every manager sets out a plan of what kind of players they want and try to get them with the funds available.

Our case is very different,managers have the luxury to splash out and get the players they feel will work but unfortunately most of them were told to part ways. I have no complaints with Jose spending because I know he's building a solid team which will last at least 2 or more seasons.Relying upon our youngsters will be a phase he will focus hopefully after he gets his desired starting players.

Gradually he'll give our youngsters the squad player role or promising loan spells to prove their quality as a starter.The summer transfer window is ours to dominate,some players will clear the way for world class signings. Till then, Jose will use the quality players he already has and compete for major trophies.Also in terms of success this season I really won't be disappointed if we finish this season without winning a trophy.I won't consider it as a failure as I very well know that the next season will be for ours to rule.At the moment,we have a good squad but next season we'll have a very good one with each position being covered by some really lethal players.(including the ones we have at our disposal now)

[Mouri_Matic 560]

The thing here is we got 2 types of people, one is definitely against spending more and one is for spending more, it is all about expectations really. Do we all want us to win the CL,BPL title soon or at least compete very well in them? If yes then we need to spend more. But if we could accept not getting any trophy(Roman won't) and not spend more then we can develop the team with young players.

The people that say we shouldn't spend more, what else can we do to become better? Buying better players obviously

Other might say we should integrate young players into the team, but do you really think we can beat top class teams with the like of Lukaku leading the line? He hasn't played well for like 3 weeks now and at a club like Chelsea that is not good enough, if he was here now he would have been on the bench for his performances.

So in the end, it all boil down to what you want us to achieve. If you are happy with consistent top 4, good run at FA Cup, Capital one cup and just QF of CL at best then of course we don't need to spend more, but if you all want more(which I hope you all do) then really we just have to spend. No team will sustain a continuous challenge at the top with just your own players, every top team do. Even Barcelona, who got one of the best academy in football history got to buy top class players summer after summer, and even then they can't retain success continuously. Even Bayern had to sign Martinez for £40m despite reaching 2 CL finals in 3 seasons. Madrid spend millions after millions. While teams like Dortmund now found out that you just can't sustain a continuous challenge without spending bug, they just lost like their 5th home game this season at the weekend and will probably got knock out of CL soon.

[The only place to be 11,313]

I think its funny that some people here are saying we have to spend more. Thats Mourinho, when the results are not good enough the answear is: spende more and more.

It was also the same answer under AVB, Di Matteo etc.

We don't just want spending for the sake of it, but sensible spending hence why most of us won't overly enamoured with the Willian signing.

[bushman 2,043]

To spend more just might be a short patch up job. To some, it may be a solution. To me, this team should try to place as highest as possible, but introduce young players next year. Certainly, there are plenty of them around.

[laura90 556]

I think its funny that some people here are saying we have to spend more. Thats Mourinho, when the results are not good enough the answear is: spende more and more.

Nobody would be asking to spend more if 80% of our spending budget wasn't used on one winger and 3 attacking midfielders, while already having a damn good one.

And if Terry wasn't getting older...

And if Cole wasn't getting older...

And if Torres was back to his best...