The Mourinho Thread

[didierforever 7,349]

With players like Costa, Hazard, Willian, Oscar, Fabregas and so on, I can understand and relate to the frustration of our style of play in this match. If football was solely about results then no one will have any qualms about the way we played today. But unfortunately, for one of the biggest clubs in the world, with fans all around the world, it isn't. No one is questioning Mourinho's record as a manager. His managerial record shows he is one of the best managers not only of this era but in history.

But he's not perfect. And part of his defects were shown today. We were clearly set up to play counter-attacking football (as is almost always the way with Jose away from home) and the problem with that is that when it doesn't work, we produce one of the most turgid brands of football among the big European clubs.

Mourinho's tactics were ineffectual today, at least part of it. He said it himself in the post match interview. The "final phase" of attack never happened. But it never happened vs Man United away, vs Atletico away, vs Man City FA cup loss away, vs Arsenal in the league away. He's going to have to brainstorm and come up with some new ideas in these big matches away from home. We have to start playing like a big team now, not just at home but away to other big teams. No excuses.

Can't wait for the next game so I can forget how we played in this one.

so you basically want us to do what arsene wenger and brendan rodgers do. play "their own game" without a care of who, where and under what circumstances we are playing?

[ballackstothat 43]

now where was i when see barca held by 10 men good and blue! o yes the camp nou?

and who was that traitor with the inch perfect thru ball?

[ballackstothat 43]

thru ball took out three players do that gerrard you dipper wanker

[Thendo 1,088]

José seemed genuinely upset about Lampard in his post match interviews.

[didierforever 7,349]

Best coach in the world....we have been brainwashed. He is brilliant for sure, but he does mistakes more often than he used to.

HIs inclusion of Drogba cost us 2 points vs Schalke and it very well might have cost us again.

totally agree. brainwashed!!!!

i mean 2 games against united (4 points), 2 games against arsenal (4 points), 3 games against city (7 points), 2 games against pool (6 points), 2 games against spurs (4 points). this is what jose has done against the other "big teams" in PL since coming back. not losing a single game against them.totally brainwashed.

starting DD against schalke was a mistake, but one mistake does not mean he is not the best in the world.

[Belgiannutt 3,201]

you don't press a team with ten men, you work the ball, that is keep possession, passing around, and force them out.

Yes when we had the ball that's what we should have done. Pass the ball around, make good use of the extra man, basically make them chase the ball.

AND when City had the ball we should have pressed them so that they had to kick the ball long. We should have imposed ourselves on them and starved them of the ball. If they don't have the ball they can't score.

[ballackstothat 43]

i cannot believe some of the shit posted on here!

[Daniel1980 1,425]

so you basically want us to do what arsene wenger and brendan rodgers do. play "their own game" without a care of who, where and under what circumstances we are playing?

The thing is, there's a fine line between attacking recklessly and creating 2 chances in the entire game because of being too cautious and parking the bus. Our players are good enough and creative enough to attack and get the result, but we gave City the ball from the very beginning, and you can't say it was the players' fault. It was clearly Jose's instructions to be cautious and wait for an opportunity to counter-attack. But I think we were too cautious.

I'm not saying we should become Barcelona 2.0, but Jose should make the team practice tactical short-passing to keep the possession. Defending 90 minutes is extremely exhausting, especially for midfielders who cover the most distance in the game. Because of this, towards the end of the game our players looked knackered and started making mistakes and had trouble playing even against 10 men. Despite having the advantage, our players were both mentally and physically exhausted by all the defending while City's defenders were reasonably fresh, since they had been barely troubled the entire match. IMO, that's partly why we couldn't dominate them in the last fifteen minutes.

I don't want us to become like Arsenal, but I feel we would have achieved a better result if we attacked and intimidated them from the very beginning instead of sitting deep. We have the attacking talent. We have the players. Parking the bus away against every good team can't be an answer. 1-1 against City is good enough, but we could have easily lost this game.

[ballackstothat 43]

i see it like this: we go where we want and get results we want, like not getting beat at man city, utd and arsenal, these same teams come to us and try and do the same but we roll them over. utd,arsenal and city all tried last season and failed, arsenal miserably. man city nearly did it and man u did it for 20 mins before capitulating, and that is a mark of a good team full stop. what cost us the title last year was complacency against the small teams. man city did not win the title last year, chelsea won it for them. that's why they played at such a high tempo. they know as a team they won by luck and not skill. do you think they will come to the bridge and get a result? not likely.

[MrExcalibur100 7,124]

i see it like this: we go where we want and get results we want, like not getting beat at man city, utd and arsenal, these same teams come to us and try and do the same but we roll them over. utd,arsenal and city all tried last season and failed, arsenal miserably. man city nearly did it and man u did it for 20 mins before capitulating, and that is a mark of a good team full stop. what cost us the title last year was complacency against the small teams. man city did not win the title last year, chelsea won it for them. that's why they played at such a high tempo. they know as a team they won by luck and not skill. do you think they will come to the bridge and get a result? not likely.

Another thing that cost us the title last season was negative tactics in the league at Old Trafford and The Emirates. Two beatable teams.

[duren batu 15]

Another thing that cost us the title last season was negative tactics in the league at Old Trafford and The Emirates. Two beatable teams.

Nope, it's against the small team. We don't grind result enough.

This match was like MU vs chelsea last season.

Away game, against league champion, and we got a draw.

Will it only become worse or better? I don't know, but hey at least Brendan and wenger are more stubborn than mou.

[ballackstothat 43]

Another thing that cost us the title last season was negative tactics in the league at Old Trafford and The Emirates. Two beatable teams.

that was 4 points. losing away to newcaste ,villa,stoke, and crystal palace cost us 12points, very beatable teams, drawing home and away 2 w.b.a, losing at home to sunderland, thats 19 points. losing away 2 everton what did they win it by 4points if we would have won four of those games never mind the draw at home to norwich!

[Thor 2,832]

Anyone trying to justify last nights tactics and performance... Just stop.

There is no excuse for it, absolutely none. Think about it from a purely logical standpoint. They have 10 men, they need to score, they will be short up the back at times, you have more opportunity to score. How about the fact we have an extra man, and as much quality as they do on the pitch? Use that extra man.

How about the fact if this was a home and away spread in a cup game, and we get such an advantage, even away from home, we'd continue to push the issue, capitalize on it, and score as many as we can to try and boost up the aggregate for the next game?

I don't think anyone would be arguing if we scored that goal with 11 men on the field for City, and kept defending. Would have been fine with it. Maybe not so pleased with the tactics, but I could appreciate the thought behind it. The fact here is though, playing like that against 10 men? That is flat out bullcrap, incorrect tactics, and he should get absolutely slated for it considering we could have done a great job right now in making this thing near impossible for anyone else to win. 8 points ahead of the only team that will probably catch us at the end of the season, with one game against them out of the way? That would have been brilliant, but whatever. Continue to play negative against even 10 men... Clearly it worked...

[Barbara 15,149]

people who wanted a different approach would be moaning here about our shaky defense (they already were before this match) that would probably have conceded more and gave City unnecessary confidence to try to catch up. But hey, let's play more offensive football. It's the same old discussion... until you're balanced there isn't the fine line in the between. We aren't ready, we aren't sharp yet, we aren't the well oiled machine I can see us being in a couple of months. There are a lot of adjustments to do.

Mourinho did what he had to do, we didn't have a trustworthy defense coming to this match, release our attack players against one of the best defenses there and we could be frustrated by not scoring and also conceding a couple. Diego Costa struggled A LOT with both Mangala and Kompany. Yes, he's scored seven goals in four matches, but today he was up very physical defenders and he actually struggled. We don't know if Cesc and Hazard had been released of some of their defensive work how things would work ou. Our own defense looked better today, but that's because it was too protected. To find the balance between attack and defense to play against the big teams will take a longer while.

This reminds me a lot of Mourinho's second season at Real Madrid... he's made mistakes - exclusively about DD imo - and the team was quite affected by Lampard's goal. We could have gone 2-0 if Diego's shot had not hit the post... it wasn't as bad as some are making it out to be imo. So Pellegrini called us a small team as Stoke... the smalls teams led him to drop 2 and 3 points respectively and one of them is 5 points ahead of his big team. Let's give the team and Mourinho time, I'm more than satisfied with a point away at Etihad. People seem to forget that we were City's little bitch until Mourinho came back.

Of course I wanted the win and I think we should have capitalized when we were playing against 10 men, but people think we were playing Burnley or QPR down to 10 men instead of the current champions... why so quick to jump on the manager? why so quick to talk bollocks? I've read all kind of shit in this thread. Just like in the Lampard episode, I'm glad the fans that actually go to the stadiums chant Mourinho's name a few times through every match instead of the shark jumpers we have around here.

Forget the amazing transfer window, forget the more attacking minded style he's putting in place, forget being top of the table with by far the best attack, forget that we have key players still reaching fitness, forget it's been only five matches and forget the season started barely a month ago. Forget everything about common sense and let's react emotionally after a draw away at the current champions. Writing this last paragraph gives me feels about stupidity. Either I am too stupid or the people forgetting all those things are. One of us has to be.

[Thor 2,832]

people who wanted a different approach would be moaning here about our shaky defense (they already were before this match) that would probably have conceded more and gave City unnecessary confidence to try to catch up. But hey, let's play more offensive football. It's the same old discussion... until you're balanced there isn't the fine line in the between. We aren't ready, we aren't sharp yet, we aren't the well oiled machine I can see us being in a couple of months. There are a lot of adjustments to do.

Mourinho did what he had to do, we didn't have a trustworthy defense coming to this match, release our attack players against one of the best defenses there and we could be frustrated by not scoring and also conceding a couple. Diego Costa struggled A LOT with both Mangala and Kompany. Yes, he's scored seven goals in four matches, but today he was up very physical defenders and he actually struggled. We don't know if Cesc and Hazard had been released of some of their defensive work how things would work ou. Our own defense looked better today, but that's because it was too protected. To find the balance between attack and defense to play against the big teams will take a longer while.

This reminds me a lot of Mourinho's second season at Real Madrid... he's made mistakes - exclusively about DD imo - and the team was quite affected by Lampard's goal. We could have gone 2-0 if Diego's shot had not hit the post... it wasn't as bad as some are making it out to be imo. So Pellegrini called us a small team as Stoke... the smalls teams led him to drop 2 and 3 points respectively and one of them is 5 points ahead of his big team. Let's give the team and Mourinho time, I'm more than satisfied with a point away at Etihad. People seem to forget that we were City's little bitch until Mourinho came back.

Of course I wanted the win and I think we should have capitalized when we were playing against 10 men, but people think we were playing Burnley or QPR down to 10 men instead of the current champions... why so quick to jump on the manager? why so quick to talk bollocks? I've read all kind of shit in this thread. Just like in the Lampard episode, I'm glad the fans that actually go to the stadiums chant Mourinho's name a few times through every match instead of the shark jumpers we have around here.

Forget the amazing transfer window, forget the more attacking minded style he's putting in place, forget being top of the table with by far the best attack, forget that we have key players still reaching fitness, forget it's been only five matches and forget the season started barely a month ago. Forget everything about common sense and let's react emotionally after a draw away at the current champions. Writing this last paragraph gives me feels about stupidity. Either I am too stupid or the people forgetting all those things are. One of us has to be.

You're usually spot on, but even you are letting your love for the club and Mou dictate your response.

They had 10 men... Sure we are shaky currently, but as a shaky defense, you don't give the other team the ball and allow them to dictate where it goes on the pitch with one man less. No one asked us to be super attacking with 1-0 up. Just to hold the ball and let the game form organically, and not sit back in a shell.

Costa did not struggle one bit on the pitch. He was no where to be seen because we attacked with 3 or 4 players max. Anyone notice as soon as Zabaleta went off he somehow magically was causing havoc all of a sudden and looking like his general beasty self? Reason? Because the rest of the team actually pushed forward and gave him something to work with, and he made them look very shaky. As soon as we scored though, it didn't take long for the team to go back into their shell again, and he became ineffective once more. No one up front helping him try to attack, or even giving him options to hold the ball and pass it around.

Yeah, we are top of the table. Yeah, we are five matches in. Yeah we have the best attack. But to sit here and pretend like we don't get to be outraged by the way we played and that we should be happy with one point? That's rich. We could be playing the world 11 for all I care, I expect to be better with 11 on the pitch compared to their 10. That's all anyone is saying. No one would be complaining if they had 11 on there, and we sat back, and allowed a goal. The fact is, they made us look terrible, with just 10 on the field.

[nono 791]

people who wanted a different approach would be moaning here about our shaky defense (they already were before this match) that would probably have conceded more and gave City unnecessary confidence to try to catch up. But hey, let's play more offensive football. It's the same old discussion... until you're balanced there isn't the fine line in the between. We aren't ready, we aren't sharp yet, we aren't the well oiled machine I can see us being in a couple of months. There are a lot of adjustments to do.

Mourinho did what he had to do, we didn't have a trustworthy defense coming to this match, release our attack players against one of the best defenses there and we could be frustrated by not scoring and also conceding a couple. Diego Costa struggled A LOT with both Mangala and Kompany. Yes, he's scored seven goals in four matches, but today he was up very physical defenders and he actually struggled. We don't know if Cesc and Hazard had been released of some of their defensive work how things would work ou. Our own defense looked better today, but that's because it was too protected. To find the balance between attack and defense to play against the big teams will take a longer while.

This reminds me a lot of Mourinho's second season at Real Madrid... he's made mistakes - exclusively about DD imo - and the team was quite affected by Lampard's goal. We could have gone 2-0 if Diego's shot had not hit the post... it wasn't as bad as some are making it out to be imo. So Pellegrini called us a small team as Stoke... the smalls teams led him to drop 2 and 3 points respectively and one of them is 5 points ahead of his big team. Let's give the team and Mourinho time, I'm more than satisfied with a point away at Etihad. People seem to forget that we were City's little bitch until Mourinho came back.

Of course I wanted the win and I think we should have capitalized when we were playing against 10 men, but people think we were playing Burnley or QPR down to 10 men instead of the current champions... why so quick to jump on the manager? why so quick to talk bollocks? I've read all kind of shit in this thread. Just like in the Lampard episode, I'm glad the fans that actually go to the stadiums chant Mourinho's name a few times through every match instead of the shark jumpers we have around here.

Forget the amazing transfer window, forget the more attacking minded style he's putting in place, forget being top of the table with by far the best attack, forget that we have key players still reaching fitness, forget it's been only five matches and forget the season started barely a month ago. Forget everything about common sense and let's react emotionally after a draw away at the current champions. Writing this last paragraph gives me feels about stupidity. Either I am too stupid or the people forgetting all those things are. One of us has to be.

We were completely dominated from the very first whistle. It is very hard to be happy with a point. If this is the mentality of our manager then what is the use of buying players like Fabregas, Hazard and Costa ? We had an extra man but still couldn't put two passes together. This was a shameful performance. Basically treated a City team that had just been clowned by Dortmund as if they are Barcelona. A point is a point but whatever. Shit on a stick is great if it wins titles. But last season we didn't even do that. The football stays the same this year but hopefully the trophies will come. The last time I was this frustrated by a performance is when we lost to the 10 man Barcelona.

[RoyalBlues 4,050]

Reading all the post here since City game, strangely rather than feeling annoyed, angry or anything, I just laughing instead..

[RoyalBlues 4,050]

We were completely dominated from the very first whistle. It is very hard to be happy with a point. If this is the mentality of our manager then what is the use of buying players like Fabregas, Hazard and Costa ? We had an extra man but still couldn't put two passes together. This was a shameful performance. Basically treated a City team that had just been clowned by Dortmund as if they are Barcelona. A point is a point but whatever. Shit on a stick is great if it wins titles. But last season we didn't even do that. The football stays the same this year but hopefully the trophies will come. The last time I was this frustrated by a performance is when we lost to the 10 man Barcelona.

You can't expect to play the same system for every opponents you face, don't you?

Take Everton and Burnley away as a comparison. If we park the bus every time we went away, at least, then I understand if you said that, why we buy Costa, Fabregas, etc. We didn't.

Every different match needs different strategy and different approach. Against City, I think this is the best strategy.

[didierforever 7,349]

The thing is, there's a fine line between attacking recklessly and creating 2 chances in the entire game because of being too cautious and parking the bus. Our players are good enough and creative enough to attack and get the result, but we gave City the ball from the very beginning, and you can't say it was the players' fault. It was clearly Jose's instructions to be cautious and wait for an opportunity to counter-attack. But I think we were too cautious.

I'm not saying we should become Barcelona 2.0, but Jose should make the team practice tactical short-passing to keep the possession. Defending 90 minutes is extremely exhausting, especially for midfielders who cover the most distance in the game. Because of this, towards the end of the game our players looked knackered and started making mistakes and had trouble playing even against 10 men. Despite having the advantage, our players were both mentally and physically exhausted by all the defending while City's defenders were reasonably fresh, since they had been barely troubled the entire match. IMO, that's partly why we couldn't dominate them in the last fifteen minutes.

I don't want us to become like Arsenal, but I feel we would have achieved a better result if we attacked and intimidated them from the very beginning instead of sitting deep. We have the attacking talent. We have the players. Parking the bus away against every good team can't be an answer. 1-1 against City is good enough, but we could have easily lost this game.

accepted that we should be playing a little more expansive football. but lets take somethings into consideration.

we were 5 points ahead of our only real title rivals.

if we got a draw, we would be 5 points ahead with having played at goodison and etihad.

also, we had a system to play under after the last season's brilliant performance against the same team. why would we change it? city adapted really well. the onus was on them to not make the same mistake twice like arsenal do or pool do.

they dint let us counter, they dint over commit. they were prepared to take yellows instead of having hazard and willian run a feet more with the ball than necessary. so we were set up to counter meanwhile city were set up to thwart our counters no matter what.

also, i dont think we would be this defensive away from home against all "big" teams. look at everton away. i will be suprised if we play this way against spurs and arsenal away. but this match was a 6 pointer in the title race. also, as good as our squad is, city still has a better squad. they have one of the best squads in europe without a doubt. so i dont think there should be any shame in curbing our attacking play for one game.

[didierforever 7,349]

We were completely dominated from the very first whistle. It is very hard to be happy with a point. If this is the mentality of our manager then what is the use of buying players like Fabregas, Hazard and Costa ? We had an extra man but still couldn't put two passes together. This was a shameful performance. Basically treated a City team that had just been clowned by Dortmund as if they are Barcelona. A point is a point but whatever. Shit on a stick is great if it wins titles. But last season we didn't even do that. The football stays the same this year but hopefully the trophies will come. The last time I was this frustrated by a performance is when we lost to the 10 man Barcelona.

hence proved that, football knowledge + football know how = 0.