The Mourinho Thread

[ChelseaFC12 134]

I would be amazed if both Cech and Courtois are still Chelsea players in September.

Yeah one has to leave definitely...

I'm saying with hard heart but it should be Cech I know how great he has been for us. But Courtois is the future and he's already one of the top 3 keepers in the world. And we might still be able to get a decent fee for Cech he's still relatively young for a goalkeeper.

[Madmax 9,219]

Holding my peace till September 1; if we haven't signed a Lukaku replacement by then I would be upset.

[edetarod 2,155]

pressure on him is huge to win something now, after making some questionable calls

wouldn't want to be him right now

[LAM09 6,814]

Genius!

[didierforever 7,349]

Genius!

more credit to the board than to him!!!

[LAM09 6,814]

more credit to the board than to him!!!

Both deserve the praise. Mourinho could have easily said he want to keep one of them for the sake of it, but I get what you mean.

[MrExcalibur100 7,124]

http://www1.skysports.com/football/news/11668/9400974/premier-league-jose-mourinho-explains-reasons-behind-romelu-lukakus-move-to-everton

Mourinho on Lukaku's move to Everton. Nothing we didn't know.

[HD3D 1,038]

You know what I still fail to understand why did we renewed Shawarzer's contract when we wanted Courtois to come back and Cech has also confirmed he's staying.

And since we are already short on HG quouta having 3 keepers who are good enough to start for any top side doesn't make sense at all!

Shawarzer is a very good goalkeeper. And all teams need at least 3 of them. If 1 keeper gets injured and the other gets red-carded, the team is in big trouble. And even though you might think that's extremely unlikely, it has happened before, more than once. How ridiculous would it be if Chelsea lost the title race because of such a silly, unprofessional mistake?

Besides that, neither Cech or Courtois will accept to be on the bench. One of them will want to leave eventually. It's only a matter of time. And when that happens, who will be our second GOOD keeper?

[Styles 9,790]

‘The other good thing is we have not just Diego – we also have Drogba and Torres, I know what they can give. I also know because of Fernando’s great mentality he is ready to work the way he did today.

We can work and play with two of them at the same time. We are preparing things and we are working on things where it is possible to have two of them on the pitch. We have a group of three strikers that hopefully are going to give us a lot.’

[The Chels 2,502]

Speaking after our 3-1 friendly victory against Vitesse Arnhem, the manager explained why he does not expect to make any further signings before the transfer window shuts, such is the positive work already carried out by the club this summer.

‘We are so happy with the squad we have,’ he stressed. ‘We feel that the correct squad is exactly this type of squad we have, with people like Didier and John Terry, but at the same time people like [Andreas] Christensen and [Nathan] Ake.

‘We have the squad we want and, I repeat, the club was fantastic in the way they worked so hard and so fast to get Diego [Costa], Filipe [Luis] and [Cesc] Fabregas. Thibaut [Courtois] to return was something obvious. Kurt Zouma we did six months ago.

‘We are happy, and we trust them. We did the job very well. We are outside the market now.’

Two of those new signings were heavily involved in our victory against Vitesse tonight, with Costa laying on two goals and winning the free-kick from which Fabregas superbly netted the other.

It was our third in particular that pleased Mourinho.

‘Last season, for Chelsea to score goals we have to play very good football. In some matches and some moments we were not playing at the top of our game so it was difficult to score goals.

‘You could see today our third goal came at a moment when the team were not playing well,’ he continued.

‘Vitesse were on top. We recovered the ball, one pass and Diego created the situation. When you have this kind of player it’s important because you can score out of context.

‘The other good thing is we have not just Diego – we also have Drogba and Torres. I know what they can give. I also know because of Fernando’s great mentality he is ready to work the way he did today.

‘We can work and play with two of them at the same time. We are preparing things and we are working on things where it is possible to have two of them on the pitch. We have a group of three strikers that hopefully are going to give us a lot.’

On Monday John Mikel Obi and Drogba joined up with the group, supplemented earlier today by Courtois and fellow Belgian Eden Hazard. Mourinho says he hopes our goalkeeper will play 45 minutes of our game against Werder Bremen on Sunday.

Then at the beginning of next week the Brazilian trio of Oscar, Ramires and Willian, as well as World Cup winner Andre Schurrle, will complete the return of the first team squad members that competed in Brazil for their nation this summer.

The manager discussed how he has coped with this situation and singled out one positive in particular that has made this period a little easier.

‘It’s a strange pre-season but we are doing what we can do: improving the condition of the players, working on some tactical aspects and waiting for the other people to make the final work before the start of the season.

‘It was good for us that the new players were in that group that joined us in the early part of pre-season. Because Spain were knocked out in group phase we could get Fabregas and Costa back then.

‘For them it was important and for us it was important. They will be two important players for us in two crucial positions – centre midfield and striker.

‘As we were expecting they have adapted to the team so easily, and the team is adapting to them. The players that are not with the team now – Willian, Oscar, Schurrle, Hazard – are in the same position and will be in contact with Fabregas and Diego on the pitch.

‘The feeling from me, and from the players, is that we are going to be really strong.’

Our opponents Vitesse included in their team two players, Bertrand Traore and Wallace, on loan from Stamford Bridge. Mourinho said he was pleased with what Vitesse could offer some of our young players in a league where everybody tries to play ‘offensive, passing football’.

The manager also spoke on the departure of Romelu Lukaku, whose transfer to Everton was confirmed shortly after the final whistle.

‘First of all, Romelu was always very clear in his mentality. He wanted to play for Chelsea but he wanted to be clearly the first-choice striker which, in a club of our dimension, is very difficult to promise to a player.

‘After that Everton came in with an important offer. As I always say, because it’s the reality, our club wants to do things really well. We want to always be inside of the rules. Financial Fair Play is something that is always in the thoughts of Chelsea’s board.

‘When you have the chance to make some movements that create a positive impact in Financial Fair play, Chelsea always analyse this situation. This season, in this transfer window, the situation of David Luiz and Romelu leave Chelsea in a great position even knowing that we also bought a few players.

‘The important thing is that he is happy and things work well for him. He is a good kid. He has a way of organising his career project. The only thing we can do is to wish him well because we had him here last season and he’s a good kid. He deserves luck, he deserves to be happy. Chelsea Football Club wishes him well.’

http://www.chelseafc.com/news/latest-news/2014/07/mourinho--feeling-strong.html

[stroey 2,525]

http://www.chelseafc.com/news/latest-news/2014/07/mourinho--feeling-strong.html

Hmmm based on his words, he's happy with the current squad including the 3 strikers. He's also positive about Torres, this basically means that we are starting the season with Costa, Torres and Drogba.

[zolayes 14,489]

Hmmm based on his words, he's happy with the current squad including the 3 strikers. He's also positive about Torres, this basically means that we are starting the season with Costa, Torres and Drogba.

We had better pray Costa doesn't pick up an injury

[bababoom 4,478]

People never learn, do not take Jose' words too seriously, he said the same last season and what did we go and do? sign Willian. Lets wait and see.

[DanishBlue 426]

Damn, no Pogba then! Well, I kinda knew that anyways..

[Fernando 6,491]

People never learn, do not take Jose' words too seriously, he said the same last season and what did we go and do? sign Willian. Lets wait and see.

To be fair, I'm not even worried about Torres anymore.

With Costa if he gets injured we can play Schurrle or heck Fabregas as false 9.

Might be true this time, that this is what we stay.

[Barbara 15,149]

I'm going to ignore his assessment of Torres (it's probably for media anyway, how do you want clubs to try and buy him if the manager doesn't compliment at least his attitude, when one can't play in the pitch, at least let it be known he has great attitude - something Torres didn't have here anymore and recovered when Mou arrived). There were two - maybe three statements I really liked about this interview

1) we working tactically and training to play with two strikers. One of those could be Schurrle. As a target centered man he doesn't work, but as a second striker he could do some job

2) that he qualified Cesc as a center midfielder, and went further saying that was a crucial position for us to get someone new

3) his repetitive lack of mention of Ramires when he says about players coming back from Brazil. Added to #2, it gives me hope we won't see Ramires starting as many matches as last season.

two strikers, Cesc in the pivot, creating from the deep and Ramires' absence. How much better can it get? Only if the second striker can't possibly be Fernando Torres.

[Sheva. 5,373]

As long as Torres keeps running around like a donkey, Mou won't have a big problem with him.

But if he walks on the pitch plus the fact he can't score, he'll never play again lol.

[RoyalBlues 4,050]

As long as Torres keeps running around like a donkey, Mou won't have a big problem with him.

But if he walks on the pitch plus the fact he can't score, he'll never play again lol.

Lol, exactly. Or if he is starting to moan in front of media, he will be done.