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The Mourinho Thread


Steve
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Vhanging the topic a bit. With Terry's renovation and his words of praise for Mourinho I think it will be good to remember this article written at the end of April

http://deportes.elpais.com/deportes/2014/04/21/champions/1398108828_465569.html

Here Diego Torres (remember him and his books?) informed us that relationship and trust between Mourinho and Terry is completely broken and gone.

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No, I don't consider just a 1 on 1 as a quality chance - it's feeding players into dangerous positions which allows them a good probable shot on goal that I consider as a quality chance. I'm not defending our strikers and I'm not saying that we don't need a striker - we 100% need a quality striker. I've never said anything less. What I am saying though is that getting in this quality striker will not complete us as a team. As I've said many times before, if we had let's say a Diego Costa upfront for the 13/14 season we probably would've won the league because quality strikers take half chances and produce magic on their own, but it would've papered over the cracks because simply signing a striker alone would not automatically improve our final play in the third to the level we should be aspiring at; to the level which will allow our most talented players to truly flourish.

02

We lose out badly in the ratio of taking chances because our chances created aren't anywhere near as good as Liverpool's or City's who consistently slice open these defences we struggle against. The ratio is bad because they aren't quality chances that are made via good build up play - we rely way too much on the individual brilliance of players. We need to greatly improve how we play against teams that sit deep; against the likes of Norwich, Crystal Palace etc. who are obviously just playing for a point - not saying they're easy to beat or anything but with the attacking talent we have on the team and the talent we will be acquiring over the summer we should be able to consistently break down these sort of teams just like City and Liverpool do.

02

Sure, I'm not suggesting that all of our chances have to be clear cut - of course not - but the ratio of clear cut chances that we have compared to the ratio that Liverpool and City have is obviously not a good thing for us. We don't score enough from these positions because we don't have a true system that fully allows our most talented players to thrive - how many times is Hazard surrounded by 3 players in the final third when we face deep defences? How is he meant to impact the game when that happens? This is why the system in the final third must improve - we have to create more spaces for our most creative and talented players to thrive in - a simple overlap from an attacking fullback who has a good cross on him and is threatening in the final third will create more space for Hazard - likewise how linking up with a CM in the pivot (City have Fernandinho or Yaya, Liverpool have Gerrard) or an AM who is dangerous in the attacking third (think Coutinho, Aguero when he's dropping off a Dzeko or Negredo or Silva) and connects play well will also create more space for someone like Hazard to try and influence the game with his talent. The system we implement right now doesn't allow that - and admittedly Mourinho has seen that we don't have the personnel to implement a system like that which is why he himself said that we've gone to a more conservative style of play.

Hazard scored plenty of great long range shots in the 12/13 season, Oscar scored an absolute peach against Juve, Schurrle used to routinely bang them in from long range for Leverkussen... We do have players that can provide something special outside the box but because we aren't cohesive enough in the final third they struggle to create that sort of space for themselves.

02

Even if we do score an early goal (which you can't always rely on - what if we don't?) I personally don't think it's wise to then return to our counter attacking game against the likes of Norwich, Crystal Palace, Villa, WBA etc... Sure we can be slightly more conservative but we do need that 2nd goal to kill them off because anything can happen in football - it's much better to be proactive than reactive against these sort of teams that sit deep, grab that 2nd goal to kill them off (Mourinho always says we struggle in killing teams off) and then perhaps go to a counter attacking game (when they have nothing to lose and when the game is not still in the balance) is justified.

If you're going to quantify Nasri and Sterling as finishers surely I can quantify Oscar and Hazard as finishers as well? Like I said, in the 12/13 both of these scored better goals than any Sterling or Nasri have. They certainly have that in their locker. I agree that we don't have enough quality in the CF position, I'm not debating that whatsoever, but like I said before, we need more quality in our general play in order for our players to flourish more. Signing a top striker is definitely a move into the right direction but we need more than that to truly become a complete team that doesn't struggle as much against sides that sit deep.

Good answers.

You specified on how we should improve our tactics to become a more complete team. But I was just trying to prove that even with our "boring" style this season, we could have won those smaller matches and the league with a more clinical striker.

To improve our play to be complete, I agree with you. Here's a post about this I even wrote earlier. :)

Nice. That's why the clinical striker is important. A striker good in tight spaces or can use his physical strength to create space for himself and shoot.

Not just that.

1. We also need team combinations. 1-2 movements between hazard and willian is needed and with the striker. We need a constant front 4 again with no rotation to increase team chemistry.

2. I heard that pellegrini trains with his team in shooting practice at the etihad stadium a day before home matches. We could adopt similar methods to increase our accuracy in finishing.

3. Also hazard needs the leftback to support, we can't have him marked by 3 people and not let a runner take advantage of the space. If we are building the team around him, we should do it properly with more team support.

4. We need to learn how to keep possession too. It will help conserve pressing energy in matches so that the players can rest a little. Be like athletico, perfect pressing and good on the ball with two full backs going forward at EVERY attack. We shouldn't just play like they met each other for the first time when opposition let us have the ball, we should have more passing triangles especially in the attacking third.

5. We play too slow!! Increase the tempo and we force defenders to make mistakes. This is our biggest problem against small teams.

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The only downpoint was when Jose said they didnt play well...he should tell players they did good job but to do it even better next year...

Instead Jose made it look like players were shit this season...

it's right for players like ramires,oscar...

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The only downpoint was when Jose said they didnt play well...he should tell players they did good job but to do it even better next year...

Instead Jose made it look like players were shit this season...

You are talking about Mourinho's comments during the award right?

If so, think he just wants the players to raise the standard and set a higher bar in which they can get to and achieve rather than making them sound like they did alright and let them rest on their laurels.

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You are talking about Mourinho's comments during the award right?

If so, think he just wants the players to raise the standard and set a higher bar in which they can get to and achieve rather than making them sound like they did alright and let them rest on their laurels.

Yeah agree but a little praise wouldnt be bad either...most of the players followed Mou defensive approach despite they might want to attack more. And after such season they might like to hear from manager that they did at least decent job.

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Yeah agree but a little praise wouldnt be bad either...most of the players followed Mou defensive approach despite they might want to attack more. And after such season they might like to hear from manager that they did at least decent job.

I'm sure he would have said things like that and others behind doors before. Don't need for him to go all picky and dramatic with his assessment in the public.

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