The Mourinho Thread

[Cosmin 2,484]

I think Mourinho has a point when he says that we are not favourites. City have a great squad, Arsenal have continuity, but just think about how many changes happened in our team before and during this season. Remember how Azpi turned into a LB or how Oscar, Hazard, Mata and Willian kept rotating a few months ago. Even at this point we don't even have a crystalised starting 11 to begin with. We don't know who is our main striker. Remember how Matic was signed just a few days ago and he's already in the starting 11. Jose is building, he's thinking everything through all the time. Nothing is ready for us, yet. Still, we are there, just like he said. Which is just enormous. Imagine what happens when the mechanism will be ready.

Nevertheless, being in the title race might seem normal, but just think about it as if there was no Mourinho. What he managed to do so far is astonishing, but people don't understand that anymore, since they got used to it.

[Alan Partridge 1,124]

Of course we aren't favorites. City have the best squad and Arsenal have been top all season.

It's great that we are right up there already and that is due to Jose's managment

[kellzfresh 7,229]

He got everything right. The team, the strategy, the tempo, the mood. He knew the stakes, he knew how to win, he knew when to risk, when to gamble, when to hold. It was, quite possibly, the perfect game.

There have been more than a few landmark performances in the career of Jose Mourinho, but a very strong case can be made that this was his finest as a Premier League manager.

The impact on the title race was not immediately obvious. Chelsea started the day in third place and ended it there, too. The same with Manchester City in second. Goal difference separates them now, rather than three points, but goal difference can still win leagues and if the competition ended tomorrow the trophy would go to Arsenal.

No, Mourinho’s impact was greater than a mere jostling for position. He exposed a myth, he challenged the perceived wisdom, he inspected the evidence and threw it contemptuously to the floor. His revelation, the statement he made to the rest of the league, was that Manchester City are not invincible. There should be no procession, no deference, no awestruck observation of their inevitable progress to the finishing tape. This team can be beaten. This team have weaknesses. That was Mourinho’s message for the masses. Chelsea’s performance was an invitation for others to do the same, to get at City’s defence, to place obstacles in the path of that all- conquering midfield.

What Mourinho proved was that if a coach can cause City as many problems as they are causing him, they are vulnerable. Few coaches have Chelsea’s squad, of course, or Mourinho’s intelligence in deploying it but now there is hope and a map that shows where the treasure is. This was worth more than just three points to Chelsea.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-2551120/Manchester-City-0-1-Chelsea-Match-report-Branislav-Ivanovic-wins-game-Blues.html

[robdog 2,084]

After Monday's game...

This is a sad image. CFC would be top of the table if we could only beat the likes of West Ham & Stoke City

[Jase 43,479]

Team Focus: Pragmatic Mourinho Proving Hard to Predict

Jose Mourinho's eye for small details at Chelsea makes big difference against Manchester City

[nofacej 132]

This is a sad image. CFC would be top of the table if we could only beat the likes of West Ham & Stoke City

I think it's a very encouraging image. It's much harder to consistently beat the big teams than it is to consistently beat the small teams. It means we're almost where we need to be and after the previous two seasons that's a great feeling. Add a top class striker to our squad and we'll find it much easier to score against the lesser teams, and suddenly draws will become wins and losses will become draws.

[robdog 2,084]

I think it's a very encouraging image. It's much harder to consistently beat the big teams than it is to consistently beat the small teams. It means we're almost where we need to be and after the previous two seasons that's a great feeling. Add a top class striker to our squad and we'll find it much easier to score against the lesser teams, and suddenly draws will become wins and losses will become draws.

I remember the disappointment from the Stoke City loss. I thought we could get them, then the equalizer & then that screamer from that unknown dude. We secure that win, everyone would be looking up to our nutz. That is why I find it sad. The Big Boys didn't stop us, it was the lil' guys. I have been following CFC for a while & that always seems to be the case. Win the matches we shouldn't, but lose the ones we should win. Case in point, our 03/04 UCL campaign. Defeat the so-called invincibles, but lose to Monaco. However the best that happened was that we got Jose cause of it I loved Don Claudio, but Jose is Da Man. He is constantly proving it too. Win some & you lose some. I can deal w/ that.

[yuvala 2,167]

[xPetrCechx 13,570]

CHELSEA WIN PERFORMANCE OF THE WEEK AWARD

Our 1-0 win away against Manchester City has been judged the best display by any team in all four divisions in the past week by the League Managers Association.

A panel comprising Howard Wilkinson, Sir Alex Ferguson, Joe Royle, Dave Bassett and Barry Fry made the decision and Jose Mourinho will receive a specially engraved crystal football in a presentation tomorrow at Cobham

http://www.chelseafc.com/news-article/article/3656950/title/chelsea-win-performance-of-the-week-award

:blue scalf:

[xPetrCechx 13,570]

Everything i do is mind games everything i say is mind games...

[xPetrCechx 13,570]

About Cavani : " I don't Know ".

[sutro 1,026]

Everything i do is mind games everything i say is mind games...

He was mind gaming the press right there

[Jase 43,479]

Seems like Pellegrini has got touchy with Mourinho's talk about our title chances..

http://espnfc.com/news/story/_/id/1707799/man-city-boss-manuel-pellegrini-hits-back-chelsea-jose-mourinho-title-talk?cc=4716

Pellegrini said: “Maybe it is a small horse if the manager thinks like that. It can be a little horse but very rich. This is the team that spends most money in the last 10 years, it is the team that spends most money this year and the team that spends the most money in the transfer window so [it is] little but rich.”

City outspent Chelsea in the summer window of 2013 but Pellegrini argued that the Londoners paid more in transfer fees over the 12-month period, as well as in a decade of Roman Abramovich’s ownership.

Pellegrini accused Mourinho of trying to take the credit if Chelsea do win the title but attempting to escape the blame if they do not.

He added: “I think he is favourite but he thinks if he wins he will have the merits but if he loses he does not have responsibility. It is the way he acts. Everyone acts the way he thinks is better for his team.”

Pellegrini also insisted that, while Mourinho has claimed it is a transitional year for Chelsea, he could also argue City should not be expected to win trophies this season but opted not to take that approach.

He said: “It is very easy for me to say: ‘It is my first year in the Premier League -- I am just getting to know the players so we don’t have to expect anything in this year,’ but I don’t think it is the way. I think we are working every day to try and do our best. We will see what we can do in all the competitions.”

[Rmpr 8,977]

Seems like Pellegrini has got touchy with Mourinho's talk about our title chances..

http://espnfc.com/news/story/_/id/1707799/man-city-boss-manuel-pellegrini-hits-back-chelsea-jose-mourinho-title-talk?cc=4716

He does have a point.

[Jase 43,479]

He does have a point.

Maybe so. We may have spent loads of money but that is one way of looking at it. Look at the players and their age, despite being quality, we got and compared that to City. Either way, it's hilarious that he has reacted to Mourinho's comments, not just on our title chances but also City's, when he should know that Jose, if anything, was trolling or trying to rile up oppositions. Pellegrini basically took the bait a tad too easily.