The Mourinho Thread

[iseah100 5,612]

We don't need £100m+ to contend. Look how close we were this year. A good CM+CF is all we need. Lb would be nice but not vital, we have young LB's and could always bring Cole back. The pessimism is strong here.

[kellzfresh 7,229]

We don't need £100m+ to contend. Look how close we were this year. A good CM+CF is all we need. Lb would be nice but not vital, we have young LB's and could always bring Cole back. The pessimism is strong here.

Last season we were all optimistic and we didn't win a trophy. So the trend is to become pessimistic so we can win....

[ZOS 580]

We don't need £100m+ to contend. Look how close we were this year. A good CM+CF is all we need. Lb would be nice but not vital, we have young LB's and could always bring Cole back. The pessimism is strong here.

and persist with Ivanovic at RB?

[boshman 1,073]

It's been a good season if you're looking purely at the results and compared to the car crash that was the 12-13 season.

In terms of an actual transition there hasn't been much improvement at all. We're in the same position we have been for many years i.e. needing to spend another 100m+ to improve the way we play and our chances of winning silverware.

I agree we may have to spend in the region of 100mill this summer but i think the difference is, IMO, we need 2/3 world class players in critical positions rather than buy a complete new team like we have done in recent years.

LB and a Striker are essential. Also a world class CM to partner Matic would improve us greatly. But with our loan players returning (Courtois & Lukaku in particular) I honestly believe those 3 positions are all we need to fill.

[iseah100 5,612]

and persist with Ivanovic at RB?

Yupp...

[The only place to be 11,313]

If we are to improve the problem areas we won't get much change from 100m. Possible transfers could be a LB, at least 2 CMs and maybe even 2 CFs. 100m is more or less the amount that's been spent per season for the last 3-4 years.

Gross maybe, not net. We have a fair amount of dead wood to get rid of, and that includes players on high wages. Even formerly top earners are looking at reduced terms so financially I actually think we're looking good going into next season.

We could sign a left-back, but is there one out there who is clearly better than Azpilicueta? Shaw isn't yet. We won a league title with Gallas playing at left-back, but there seems to be a mental block amongst some people when it comes to seeing a right-footed player at left-back. There's a great rush to see Azpi returned to right-back, despite there being A LOT of criticism about his crossing when he played there.

We can win the league with Ivanovic and Azpi as full-backs. It's not the most immediate area to upgrade, especially if the number one choice is an 18 year old who would cost a lot.

We could sign 2 midfielders, but we're possibly going to sell 2 (Mikel and Luiz) for a combined real terms cost of possibly £25 million.

Striker is the one position where we absolutely need to invest and I think that will have the most transformative impact on the team. There seem to be 6 or 7 members who accept that we need a new striker but stop there, refusing to acknowledge the impact that a striker has on the rest of the team, the way they generate space for others and make chances for themselves.

So I think you're being massively pessimistic when it comes to how far away we are from being a top side.

[The only place to be 11,313]

1. we didn't improve our play ( we improved defence

Because defence isn't part of football? When you graduate from the Kevin Keegan School of Football Tactics, do you get a certificate?

Liverpool were the highest scorers in the league this season. They have scored 99 goals, 30 more than us. That's remarkable.

Their goal difference is 7 better than us. 7, with arguably the world's in-form striker against our non-in-form, non-strikers.

This season was always about developing a platform for next season. Jose said as much at points this season, and the transfers were explicitly about next season as well. If that was the target then how has this season not been successful? I suppose the fair thing to do is wait to judge it at the end of next season when we know who has won the league, isn't it?

[Madmax 9,219]

Then I think something is really wrong. We spent 100x more than Atletico, and how come they manage to build a better squad than ours? Atletico in my opinion has a good squad, but thats it. They have a limited squad, almost the same squad from 11/12 season when they were in the Europa League final.

If Atletico win La Liga and UCL this season, I don't see they winning both competitions again or even fighting for them again in the next 10 years. What those guys are doing is really amazing, but saying they have a better squad that ours just show how a lot of our players are underperforming in the currently season.

I don't think Atletico are a flash in the pan or that they're going to go away so easily. The year before last they won in Europe, last year they won the domestic cup and this year they're favourites to win the league with 2 round to go while also being in the UCL final. This shows they've been making consistent progress and their level is only improving year on year. Can they sustain it? Depends. We've seen what happened to Dortmund this year. Your argument applies to Liverpool imo, who've been in the title race this year without threatening to do so in the past years. Their only recent success was the useless League cup and a FA cup final against us 2 years back.

While our squad has the more 'raw quality' or 'potential' on an individual basis (especially in midfield and attacking midfield) what makes Atletico's better man-for-man (and this is just my opinion) is the synergetic effect of Simeone's coaching and their togetherness, bred by a few years of stability and having a smallish squad. Their signings are also astute and buy into the way Simeone wants them to play. So while we may have spent 100x more, you know as well as I that the spending has been scattergun in approach and has left us with a hugely imbalanced squad being managed under a revolving door manager policy.

Give Mourinho the signings he wants and let him coach this bunch for another year and we'll see the difference. He's always maintained that we should judge him on his second season and that's what we'll do. For what it's worth I think the current season while not a 'success' in the traditional terms is as far away from a 'failure' as possible.

[bushman 2,043]

Of course defense is vital for any team.

When it comes to Jose, that´s his style of football.

He wants to play tight at the back, orders a counter attacking game & hopefully the team scores one goal.

[Rmpr 8,977]

The 10 best players, five from Brazil and five from the rest of the world

Chelsea F.C

Brazil

So? If we are going to try to find flashy offensive players, it surely wont be in England or Israel!

South America and Iberian Peninsula are the best places to find them...

[The Skipper 20,593]

Striker is the one position where we absolutely need to invest and I think that will have the most transformative impact on the team. There seem to be 6 or 7 members who accept that we need a new striker but stop there, refusing to acknowledge the impact that a striker has on the rest of the team, the way they generate space for others and make chances for themselves.

Is that the new phrase you've given to the people you "called out" earlier?

Regardless. None of us are saying that a top striker won't make a difference, of course they will. If we had one this year we probably would've won the league but it would've papered over the cracks of an incomplete system. A top striker is vital but if you seriously think that it'll magically improve the fact that we're still too slow in transition from defence to attack, that we don't stretch the pitch enough, that we don't support our most creative player with off the ball movement and overlaps from players around and behind him (specifically a good attacking left back)

Even Atletico Madrid who have a very similar system to us implement two naturally attacking fullbacks (Filipe & Juanfran).

I still maintain a left back and a creative CM are as vital as getting a striker - that is if we want to have a complete system and team that Mourinho can fully utilise in different situations.

[The only place to be 11,313]

Is that the new phrase you've given to the people you "called out" earlier?

Regardless. None of us are saying that a top striker won't make a difference, of course they will. If we had one this year we probably would've won the league but it would've papered over the cracks of an incomplete system. A top striker is vital but if you seriously think that it'll magically improve the fact that we're still too slow in transition from defence to attack, that we don't stretch the pitch enough, that we don't support our most creative player with off the ball movement and overlaps from players around and behind him (specifically a good attacking left back)

Even Atletico Madrid who have a very similar system to us implement two naturally attacking fullbacks (Filipe & Juanfran).

I still maintain a left back and a creative CM are as vital as getting a striker - that is if we want to have a complete system and team that Mourinho can fully utilise in different situations.

Called out? Gave people the chance to put their money with their mouths were I think is more apt.

I think some of your criticisms are bizarre. Slow transitioning from defence to attack?? That's the one thing we've looked remarkably adept at for much of this season and have devastated some top teams like that. Away to City we did that. Home to Liverpool we did that. Home to Arsenal we did that. Away to Galatasaray we did that. It's been the second phase attacks where we've suffered after the counter breaks down.

In those instances there's been a distinct lack of movement from the strikers. We don't have a decent focal point for our attacks so what is there to build around?

As for Atletico, they have a defined target man in Diego Costa so there's someone for their attack (including the full-backs) to build around. They also have Raul Garcia who is strong in the air. Despite that they couldn't break us down at their place and it wasn't until Eden Hazard decided to not bother defending that they scored against us and basically destroyed our gameplan.

You can maintain that getting a left-back and midfielder is as vital as getting a striker, but that's hyperbolic....and also hyperbollocks. A striker changes our whole team. A new left-back probably doesn't even start the first match of next season.

[The Skipper 20,593]

Called out? Gave people the chance to put their money with their mouths were I think is more apt.

I think some of your criticisms are bizarre. Slow transitioning from defence to attack?? That's the one thing we've looked remarkably adept at for much of this season and have devastated some top teams like that. Away to City we did that. Home to Liverpool we did that. Home to Arsenal we did that. Away to Galatasaray we did that. It's been the second phase attacks where we've suffered after the counter breaks down.

In those instances there's been a distinct lack of movement from the strikers. We don't have a decent focal point for our attacks so what is there to build around?

As for Atletico, they have a defined target man in Diego Costa so there's someone for their attack (including the full-backs) to build around. They also have Raul Garcia who is strong in the air. Despite that they couldn't break us down at their place and it wasn't until Eden Hazard decided to not bother defending that they scored against us and basically destroyed our gameplan.

You can maintain that getting a left-back and midfielder is as vital as getting a striker, but that's hyperbolic....and also hyperbollocks. A striker changes our whole team. A new left-back probably doesn't even start the first match of next season.

I should've said slow transition from defence to attack with regards to our main problem this season: against teams that sit deep against us, which is what that whole post was in conjunction to. I thought that was pretty obvious but never mind.

[xPetrCechx 13,563]

So? If we are going to try to find flashy offensive players, it surely wont be in England or Israel!

South America and Iberian Peninsula are the best places to find them...

Jose? Offensive players?! No way lol...

You always can find the next benayoun.

[The only place to be 11,313]

I should've said slow transition from defence to attack with regards to our main problem this season: against teams that sit deep against us, which is what that whole post was in conjunction to. I thought that was pretty obvious but never mind.

Again, it's a really poor point. Teams that sit deep/park the bus don't leave many gaps in transition because they don't commit many men forward. In fact we hit the post on one of the rare occasions Norwich did leave spaces and Matic was able to win the ball back and immediately play Schurrle in. That was a fantastic example of how we can exploit this gaps on the rare occasions they appear but the issue has been consistency especially from the number 9.

And don't worry - most of the replies I post seem obvious to me but apparently aren't... to about 6 or 7 members.

[The Skipper 20,593]

Again, it's a really poor point. Teams that sit deep/park the bus don't leave many gaps in transition because they don't commit many men forward. In fact we hit the post on one of the rare occasions Norwich did leave spaces and Matic was able to win the ball back and immediately play Schurrle in. That was a fantastic example of how we can exploit this gaps on the rare occasions they appear but the issue has been consistency especially from the number 9.

And don't worry - most of the replies I post seem obvious to me but apparently aren't... to about 6 or 7 members.

And it's exactly for that reason as to why we need more than just a striker to unlock them. The striker will be as isolated as anyone if we don't stretch these teams correctly with overlapping fullbacks and off the ball movement, and then have someone on the ball who can quickly switch up the tempo and exploit the spaces that are being created by said movement.

The Schurrle chance was good, but we don't do that often enough at all.

What you're saying doesn't matter anyway as it's pretty evident the board & coaching staff themselves believe we need more than just a top striker. I'm pretty certain we're looking for players in those positions (CF, CM & LB) since we're being linked with them routinely now and Mourinho himself said we're a couple of clinical signings away from a complete team.

[The only place to be 11,313]

What you're saying doesn't matter anyway as it's pretty evident the board & coaching staff themselves believe we need more than just a top striker. I'm pretty certain we're looking for players in those positions (CF, CM & LB) since we're being linked with them routinely now and Mourinho himself said we're a couple of clinical signings away from a complete team.

We've also been linked with goalkeepers, central defenders and attacking midfielders.....between you and me I sometimes think these links aren't entirely based in reality.

Anyway, we're just going round in circles here. Yes we need to invest in other areas but that's inevitable when you look at the current squad make-up. The simple fact (and I call it a fact because in my opinion it's indisputable) is that no area in our team needs investment more than our striking options. I'm firmly of the belief that we could win the league if we get the right striker in and completely ignore the left-back position....mainly because we already have one of the best left-backs in the league already (a point that goes amiss with alarming regularity on here).

[ZOS 580]

counter attacking ... can it be a permanent style for a team? especially for one which is full of superstars and, therefore, can not be considered an underdog in most situations? .. I mean, what happens to such a team when it can't afford to sit back?

I don't know if it is even a THING, like tiki-taka, high-pressing or long-ball. For me its more of a specific quality in a situation...and people say it will be Chelsea's identity next season... I don't get it, some body help

PS: for me, a team should be able to keep its identity in most situations in a game. Say, if we've couple of good free-kick takers and a considerable amount of our goals comes through them, we can not claim free-kick taking as our style/identity be cause it is too event driven