The Mourinho Thread

[RoyalBlues 4,050]

Winning the League Cup can change our dynamic in certain games / certain times.

We are Chelsea and for a team like us being two consecutive years without winning any trophy would be a big failure.

I see some anxiety about it. Not only in Jose, also in our players. Last year we were eliminated in the semifinals of the Champions League, and we lost the Premier League at the last moment.

Jose and our players know this, and I think they do not want to risk at times for fear that we will do the same as last season.

So in big games we played with intelligence and pragmatism. Step by step and thinking about any kind of risk.

I think if we win the League Cup, in some way, that could relax the anxiety level we have now, and that can free our players and Jose.

The League Cup is a minor trophy, but can help us to manage better our anxiety.

Regards.

Agree, also the fact we're facing Spurs. No matter in a final or friendly match, we cannot afford to lose against those c****

[Rom2013 446]

The same happened in Italy and Spain and the Portuguese don't like him...http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/europe/3696708.stm

Saying that portuguese peope doesn't like Mourinho is something stupid and a lie. Obviously many people doesn't like him...like many people doesn't like Messi in Argentina or Cristiano in Portugal (just bcause they are the best) bit 90% of the people loves them.

About the other countries... yes, England is a lot easier than Italy or Spain mostly because of the press.

[manpe 10,855]

With regards to losing leads. There's a solution to that. Don't rely on one goal to win a match. Push for more when you can. The heart attack inducing pressure of watching your team defend a 1 nil lead in the closing stages alone makes me hate the idea of sitting on one fragile goal. Especially with the way we just sit back and invite pressure, there's always an element of luck involved in keeping a one goal lead.

So we can either learn how to kill off the opposition with goals or their momentum by controlling the game I.e better in game management. Relying on th defence won't cut it.

That's what frustrates me the most. It's fine when we are unpenetrable in defence, but this is not the case, the goal is always in the air when we invite pressure. We make a lot of last ditch tackles, blocks and saves, which actually shouldn't happen if we defended properly... this way we rely solely on a defender's/goalkeeper's skill and luck, those are uncontrollable situations which, when piled upon often enough, stack the odds against us.

There was a time when I felt quite safe doing that, but not anymore. We either don't want to or are unable to (I think it's the latter) take control of the game for at least some periods of the game to relieve pressure, but no, we go into full panic mode where we just lump the ball in random coordinates or somebody misplaces a silly little pass, pull back into our third and repeat the cycle. With the team we have our ball retention simply must be better, Fabregas or no Fabregas.

[We Hate Scouse 10,260]

Saying that portuguese peope doesn't like Mourinho is something stupid and a lie. Obviously many people doesn't like him...like many people doesn't like Messi in Argentina or Cristiano in Portugal (just bcause they are the best) bit 90% of the people loves them.

About the other countries... yes, England is a lot easier than Italy or Spain mostly because of the press.

I imagine most Portuguese fans wouldn't exactly warm to him, unless they are Porto fans, even which some don't (see the link in the other post) I didn't mean to generalise and say every Portuguese persons hates him.

The point I was trying to make was regardless of where he goes he will be hated by the majority and most likely the press.

[RoyalBlues 4,050]

English media would not make Jose their enemy, no matter what Jose did. Most of them are still working as journos at the moment, mainly because of Jose.

[Rom2013 446]

I imagine most Portuguese fans wouldn't exactly warm to him, unless they are Porto fans, even which some don't (see the link in the other post) I didn't mean to generalise and say every Portuguese persons hates him.

The point I was trying to make was regardless of where he goes he will be hated by the majority and most likely the press.

That's a lie. Just here I am a Sporting fan, and there are another one in here from Portugal. You go to Sporting forum and can see that 80 or 90% of peolple adores Mourinho (it's not 100% because Mourinho did something wrong with the shirt of the club one time).

The same with Benfica fans.

In reality he worked in the 3 bigger clubs of Portugal. He was assistant of Robson in Sporting and Porto, and coached Benfica and Porto...

For the press Mourinho is God in Portugal like Cristiano.

The problems of Mourinho were with the press in Madrid, and maybe more with press and the organization in Italy. The press in Spain is horrible, the papers of Catalunia are disgusting, As from Madrid had a problem with the President of Real Madrid because the company that ownes As (Grupo Prisa) wanted to buy Real Madrid and FLorentino didn't let that to happen and they will atack everything Florentino does.They are really bad professionals.

In Italy is different because they are really agressive, many times they defend their teams but they are fair. In Italy Mourinho had more problems with the organization.

In here there is less pressure from the press, and they treat everyone the same way, they just want a good story. And the FA is not that bad in reality compared with the others.

[lionsden 4,689]

That's what frustrates me the most. It's fine when we are unpenetrable in defence, but this is not the case, the goal is always in the air when we invite pressure. We make a lot of last ditch tackles, blocks and saves, which actually shouldn't happen if we defended properly... this way we rely solely on a defender's/goalkeeper's skill and luck, those are uncontrollable situations which, when piled upon often enough, stack the odds against us.

There was a time when I felt quite safe doing that, but not anymore. We either don't want to or are unable to (I think it's the latter) take control of the game for at least some periods of the game to relieve pressure, but no, we go into full panic mode where we just lump the ball in random coordinates or somebody misplaces a silly little pass, pull back into our third and repeat the cycle. With the team we have our ball retention simply must be better, Fabregas or no Fabregas.

There are so many things that could be done in regards to game management that we fail to do or never do properly such as retaining posession even if it's for posession sake instead of hoofing it upfield, if your opponent don't have the ball, they can't hurt you, that was Pep's barca biggest weapon during their dominant years.

If you do choose the more convenient option of hoofing it, it should be done with more tact and precision by having one or two strong player upfield to hold the ball up and either lay it off to a team mate to maintain posession or draw the foul to waste time or pacy players to stretch their defence and give them something to worry about.

There's another method of pressing high up the pitch, when you do this, not only does it make life difficult for the opponent,disrupts their flow and make them more likely to surrender posession, it also means they have to work harder to get the ball into dangerous areas to create chances. We rarely do any of these things in big games.

Just sitting back against teams that attacks relentlessly and with defenders like Ivanovic and Cahill who have been as unreliable and mistake prone this season is just a bad idea.

[manpe 10,855]

There are so many things that could be done in regards to game management that we fail to do or never do properly such as retaining posession even if it's for posession sake instead of hoofing it upfield, if yur opponent don't have the ball, they can't hurt you, that was Pep's barca biggest weapon during their dominant years.

If you do choose the safer route of hoofing it, it should be done with more tact and precision by having one or two strong player upfield to hold the ball up and either lay it off to a team mate or draw the foul to waste time. There's another method of pressing high up the pitch, when you do this, not only does it make life difficult for the opponent,disrupts their flow and make them more likely to surrender posession, it also means they have to work harder to get the ball into dangerous areas to create chances. We rarely do any of these things in big games.

Just sitting back against teams that attacks relentlessly and with defenders like Ivanovic and Cahill who have been as unreliable and mistake prone this season is just a bad idea.

Tbh I think in the case of the City game, we were simply unable to do intensive pressing. There were signs of intent in the beginning, but the further the game went, especially in the second half, we simply looked like lacking energy to do it. If we tried the aggressive pressing way, then there is a higher chance somebody concedes a mistake due to mental and physical fatigue. Pressing game requires individuals able to do it, we simply lacked the physical power. Passive compact defending can be handled more through team preparation and organization rather than relying so much on individual sharpness. Had we also had a week for rest and preparation, I am positive the game would have looked different. Maybe not in terms of result, but definitely in terms of matching them physically.

[lionsden 4,689]

Tbh I think in the case of the City game, we were simply unable to do intensive pressing. There were signs of intent in the beginning, but the further the game went, especially in the second half, we simply looked like lacking energy to do it. If we tried the aggressive pressing way, then there is a higher chance somebody concedes a mistake due to mental and physical fatigue. Pressing game requires individuals able to do it, we simply lacked the physical power. Passive compact defending can be handled more through team preparation and organization rather than relying so much on individual sharpness. Had we also had a week for rest and preparation, I am positive the game would have looked different. Maybe not in terms of result, but definitely in terms of matching them physically.

I'm not just talking the City game because I recognize the fatigue issue but this is not a rare occurrence either. We do this in literally every big game under Jose.

[The Chels 2,502]

Just sitting back against teams that attacks relentlessly and with defenders like Ivanovic and Cahill who have been as unreliable and mistake prone this season is just a bad idea.

I don't think sitting back is such a bad idea if done properly but when we do it the defensive shape tends to be poor, the defending is completely passive and we essentially invite the opposition close to our box against our error-prone defenders. If we had 2 clear banks of four with all the spaces controlled and the front players pressed the opposition as soon as they got into our half then our defending in these games would rely less on individual ability (and hence fewer costly individual errors) and more on the system - which is how it should be.

Defensively diligent or not, it was Hazard's job to mark his man and he didn't, regardless of whether it was in our own penalty box or outside of it on the left flank.

Hazard failed in his role, granted. But as a winger who isn't good defensively and who had just returned from injury, he should not have been given that role. Jose would have been well aware of the importance of FBs in Atletico's game and yet he somehow expected Hazard to single-handedly carry our entire attack and nullify the opposition attack by tracking the opposition FB relentlessly, all the way back into our box. Personally I consider this a tactical oversight on Jose's part which the opposition manager and team fully exploited (which does tend to happen to him very often in CL SFs...) while you consider it all Hazard's fault and I find that surprising.

[the wes 7,212]

mourinho is the new del boy off the transfer window

[xPetrCechx 13,546]

[St Abramovich 175]

And how much money did this team go for?

[zolayes 14,489]

not ALL were sold .. but still an interesting team I guess Torres is on the bench

[xPetrCechx 13,546]

not ALL were sold .. but still an interesting team

essien, schwarzer, cole for free no? maybe bruma too?

[zolayes 14,489]

essien, schwarzer, cole for free no? maybe bruma too?

and lampard

[xPetrCechx 13,546]

and lampard

[supporter 3,088]

Of all those players that appear in the starting eleven players sold by Mourinho in these two years, NONE OF THEM would play in our starting eleven. Perhaps only De Bruyne, the rest do not have level currently to play for Chelsea.

With the rules of the Financial Fair Play is impossible to have a team with many backups, excepting for teams with a great history / own economic capacity as Bayern, Real Madrid or Manchester United.

I think Jose is behaving like a perfect Manager. He is leading the team taking into account the rules of the Financial Fair Play, and at the same time creating a great team.

That starting eleven of our sales only reflects the good work of Jose and club officials.

We are slowly creating a great team.

Regards.