The Mourinho Thread

[RoyalBlues 4,050]

Hello, The Motivated One

[RoyalBlues 4,050]

Jose Mourinho didn't try to sign Luke Shaw because his £120,000-a-week wage would have unsettled Chelsea squad

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-2706095/Jose-Mourinho-didnt-try-sign-Luke-Shaw-120-000-week-wage-unsettled-Chelsea.html

mind games genius.

[Blue Armour 4,759]

Well, I'm not sure top 5 PLl clubs from last season are that superior when compared to La Liga ones. Is Chelsea better than Real Madrid? Is Liverpool better than Barcelona? (Suarez left one and joined the other one for a reason). Perhaps Arsenal is better than Sevilla, Spurs better than Valencia, but form me Internazionale and Fiorentina are also better than those teams, but are Arsenal, Spurs, Valencia, Sevilla and Fiorentina that make a league the strongest one?

Perhaos PL is as strong as La Liga and Bundesliga, but not THE strongest as claimed by many. About the two horse argument, as I said before, "with the notable exception this year", PL has always bees a two horse race. Sometimes you just change the name of the horses, but since 2004 United have been one of the horses every single season, with the exception of 2003, 2004 and 2014. The rest of the seasons were United/Liverpool, United/Chelsea, United/City, and no to mention the one horse race we had in 2005, 2006, 2013.

The talk about 4 or 6 teams fighting for the trophy started in last 4 years, and as I said before, its not a coincidence that PL looked more competitive when Liverpool, Chelsea, United and Arsenal couldn't rebuild teams that were once world beaters. Years ago a decisive match between Real Madrid or Bayern and a PL giant had a predictable outcome. To be honest its not a surprise anymore if a team like PSG, Atletico de Madrid or Borussia Dortmund manage to beat Chelsea. Someone happened in the last 4 or 5 years, and for many reasons PL is not the strongest anymore.

If Mourinho manage to build another world beater team, that scenario might change again, because I do believe Mourinhos tactic combined with Roman's money was the reason PL was once the strongest league in the world.

Of course not, but teams like Chelsea, United and Arsenal face tougher and similar-level opposition on a more regular basis in the league, when say compared to Madrid, Bayern or Barcelona. Plus you have the crazy fixture pile-up.

That's why squads of PL teams tend to be quite worn out when you reach the knockout rounds of the CL competition.

[The Skipper 20,609]

So we were in for Luke Shaw, but his wage demands were just outrageous. Interesting and fair enough.

[Madmax 9,219]

From mid-season we were feeling that we needed critical surgery, new players but instead of buying five, six, seven, eight, we made a very early decision to go and attack three points where we felt we needed a real improvement.

This and exactly this. Truer words haven't been spoken.

[LDN Blue 7,903]

Jose Mourinho didn't try to sign Luke Shaw because his £120,000-a-week wage would have unsettled Chelsea squad

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-2706095/Jose-Mourinho-didnt-try-sign-Luke-Shaw-120-000-week-wage-unsettled-Chelsea.html

mind games genius.

At least we were trying.

[LDN Blue 7,903]

Jose Mourinho didn't try to sign Luke Shaw because his £120,000-a-week wage would have unsettled Chelsea squad

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-2706095/Jose-Mourinho-didnt-try-sign-Luke-Shaw-120-000-week-wage-unsettled-Chelsea.html

mind games genius.

This is reassuring. I didn't realise Shaw was asking for this much, at least it shows there was interest. if wages were the stumbling block in this case, it is understandable why we didn't pursue it.

Shame really..

[Fernando 6,743]

Jose Mourinho didn't try to sign Luke Shaw because his £120,000-a-week wage would have unsettled Chelsea squad

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-2706095/Jose-Mourinho-didnt-try-sign-Luke-Shaw-120-000-week-wage-unsettled-Chelsea.html

mind games genius.

Half mind games and half truth.

I'm glad that the club did not bowed down to his demand.

[RoyalBlues 4,050]

Van Gaal respond :

Van Gaal refused to get drawn into a public war of words with Mourinho - a former protege of his at Barcelona - but it appears he will discuss the matter privately with the Portuguese.

'I don't think I have to discuss things in the media, it's better to discuss it with Jose,' he said.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-2706566/Louis-van-Gaal-hits-Jose-Mourinho-claims-Luke-Shaws-120-000-week-wages-killed-Chelsea.html

[LAM09 7,100]

Looks like LVG will be hearing some home truths when he phones Mourinho. Mourinho was speaking the true!

[Fernando 6,743]

Looks like LVG will be hearing some home truths when he phones Mourinho. Mourinho was speaking the true!

LVG and Mourinho on the phone?

Won't be as funny as Mourinho and Moyes.

[LAM09 7,100]

LVG and Mourinho on the phone?

Won't be as funny as Mourinho and Moyes.

http://youtu.be/_qwMZ56n74k

That's hilarious!

[kellzfresh 7,229]

We now have a technical striker(Drogba) and an all round energetic striker in Costa that completes our strike force.

We have a left back in his prime, which perfects our already strong defense.

We have a playmaker (fabregas) which adds much needed creativity and goals to our midfield along with hazard.

We have two of the top 3 keepers in the world.

If schurlle brings his worldcup form here, that will give us a pure goal scoring Am, we could be looking at the best squad we've had since 2004-2007 imo.

EPL here we come!!!

[iseah100 5,612]

Costa-Droba-Bamford:ph34r:

[CHOULO19 24,332]

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-2706032/Jose-Mourinho-relishing-new-season-HIS-Chelsea-team-wants-Premier-League-title.html

Talks about Costa, transfers...

"I can play Azpilicueta right back and Ivanovic centre back because of Filipe."

Yes, PLEASE!

[The Mak 4,459]

This is reassuring. I didn't realise Shaw was asking for this much, at least it shows there was interest. if wages were the stumbling block in this case, it is understandable why we didn't pursue it.

Shame really..

Yeah, so much for him being a Chelsea fan...

[Henrique 9,133]

Of course not, but teams like Chelsea, United and Arsenal face tougher and similar-level opposition on a more regular basis in the league, when say compared to Madrid, Bayern or Barcelona. Plus you have the crazy fixture pile-up.

That's why squads of PL teams tend to be quite worn out when you reach the knockout rounds of the CL competition.

Excuses. Atletico reached UCL Final last season, and their home league were harder for them than PL was for us. Years ago when 3 out of 4 teams in UCL semi-finals were from PL, I don't remember this talk about PL teams being quite worn in the knockout rounds of UCL, AND if now those teams are facing tougher and similar-level opposition, its not necessarily because the rest of the league is better than years ago...

and we can't forget teams like Sunderland and Stoke can be really tough opponents, but anyone who is not involved with PL will have a laugh if you say those teams are very hard to beat. Its really easy for us, who are watching PL week after week to say that Spurs or Everton are very good teams, but those teams are barely known outside PL. People who are involved with La Liga and Bundesliga, for example, they don't think Spurs, Everton, Sunderland or Stoke are tough opposition. Is Everton and Spurs better than Leverkusen and Schalke 04, or Sevilla and Villareal? People who are watching PL week after week will say yes, people who are watching Bundesliga or La Liga won't believe Everton and Spurs are better than those teams.

To be honest this kind of attitude is similar to what happened with Brazil for many years, failure after failure, people here always believed the football still was the best, still was the best, even when the evidences were saying a different scenario. At this point, the idea of PL still being the strongest in the world is really odd.

[Henrique 9,133]

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-2706032/Jose-Mourinho-relishing-new-season-HIS-Chelsea-team-wants-Premier-League-title.html

Talks about Costa, transfers...

"I can play Azpilicueta right back and Ivanovic centre back because of Filipe."

Good news.

[We Hate Scouse 10,352]

Yeah, so much for him being a Chelsea fan...

I don't think any professional player can play at top level supporting another club with proper passion. It just doesn't work.

On one hand I'm gutted we didn't get him, but on the other I'm glad we didn't with those wages. Fair play to him for managing to get them though.

[Blue Armour 4,759]

Excuses. Atletico reached UCL Final last season, and their home league were harder for them than PL was for us. Years ago when 3 out of 4 teams in UCL semi-finals were from PL, I don't remember this talk about PL teams being quite worn in the knockout rounds of UCL, AND if now those teams are facing tougher and similar-level opposition, its not necessarily because the rest of the league is better than years ago...

and we can't forget teams like Sunderland and Stoke can be really tough opponents, but anyone who is not involved with PL will have a laugh if you say those teams are very hard to beat. Its really easy for us, who are watching PL week after week to say that Spurs or Everton are very good teams, but those teams are barely known outside PL. People who are involved with La Liga and Bundesliga, for example, they don't think Spurs, Everton, Sunderland or Stoke are tough opposition. Is Everton and Spurs better than Leverkusen and Schalke 04, or Sevilla and Villareal? People who are watching PL week after week will say yes, people who are watching Bundesliga or La Liga won't believe Everton and Spurs are better than those teams.

To be honest this kind of attitude is similar to what happened with Brazil for many years, failure after failure, people here always believed the football still was the best, still was the best, even when the evidences were saying a different scenario. At this point, the idea of PL still being the strongest in the world is really odd.

True..but there was a sharp decline in quality of the squads of the traditional big 4 (United, Chelsea, Arsenal, Liverpool) since 2010. Its not that their opposition became tougher in the league,... its that they became more level with their opposition. This has in turn made the league more competitive

I think this season, (if all the rumored transfers go through), will make a direction change towards what we used to see in 2004-2009, with better performances in the knockout rounds of the CL.