The Mourinho Thread

[RoyalBlues 4,050]

Final whistle verdict: Very mature victory

Jose Mourinho was delighted after seeing his side crowned Capital One Cup kings courtesy of a 2-0 victory over Tottenham Hotspur at Wembley, the clubs fifth success in the competition in our history.

Man of the Match John Terry, outstanding throughout, set us on our way with a goal on the stroke of half-time, reacting quickest to pounce on a loose ball inside the Tottenham penalty area after theyd failed to deal with a Willian free-kick, and firing into the back of the net.

In truth, there had been little to choose between the teams up until that point, but 11 minutes into the second half we extended our advantage when Diego Costa, a constant threat, took a Cesc Fabregas pass in his stride and beat Hugo Lloris at his near post with a left-footed strike which deflected off the leg of Kyle Walker.

Eden Hazard came closest to adding a third when he curled an effort inches wide of the far post, and ultimately we were able to see the game out with Petr Cech seldom called into action.

Speaking to the media after the game, Mourinho started by praising the opposition.

First of all I want to say that in the middle of my happiness is space to think about Mauricio Pochettino, his staff and Tottenham as a team and a club, said the Blues boss. I met him in Spain many years ago as a player and then when he was a young manager when I was at Real Madrid. He came to England, proved himself, nobody game him anything for free.

He did fantastic work at Southampton, came to a big club like Tottenham and is building a fantastic team. They gave us a hard final, they made us be humble and think about the game strategically.

The second thing I want to say is that now I dont think about John Terry, Azpilicueta or Diego Costa. I think about Courtois, because without him there would have been no final, we would have lost against Liverpool. I think about Matic, Filipe Luis and Oscar, the guys who didnt have a chance to play. I think about Schwarzer, Salah, Schurrle, all the guys that started the season with us, they are all winners.

He then analysed the game itself

We played to win, they were the team they are and we were strategic. We were comfortable and found a solution to keep the stability after Matics suspension. Im very happy because a team that isnt very mature, a team with lots of young players, adapted very well. We changed the position of the triangle in midfield, the game we played was one of a very mature team, which we are not, so Im very happy.

Mourinho spoke about the importance of the victory for all connected with the club

For me its important to feel like Im a kid, before the game I had the same feelings as my first final. Its important to feel the same happiness after the game. I know I have a team to build, which is what we are doing but its difficult for me to live without winning things even if we are doing the work to be stable for many years. Its important for me, the boys and for the club its another cup.

Its the first trophy for a new group of players. You have Cech, Terry and Drogba but after that everyone belongs to a new group of players, so for the team its very important.

Mourinho was full of praise for Kurt Zouma, who played in defensive midfield

Its very difficult for a central defender to play there, they are pressed in their faces, you have to think quicker and make decisions quicker, but our new Marcel Desailly worked very hard during the week and the kid did a fantastic job for us.

With just Fabregas and Ramires against a team like Spurs, we would have been in trouble because they move the ball very well. From the first minute we pressed them high, Lloris was building high instead of short. We didnt give them the game they were expecting.

The Portuguese explained why Petr Cech started ahead of Thibaut Courtois

I chose him because this was his competition, we made a decision to make Courtois our first-choice keeper because he is the young one, the future and he is amazing for his age. We said this would be Petrs competition, but when I started giving him a Champions League or Premier League match now and again, I opened the door for myself to play Courtois in this competition. I wanted to play him away at Liverpool and we were successful with that. They are both doing so well that everybody feels comfortable with every decision. I try to be fair and Petr deserved to play today but we all know Courtois deserves the cup as much as him.

He also spoke about Nemanja Matic, who missed the game through suspension

The boy was sad, we were sad for him. He made the speech in the dressing room where he expressed his pain and asked the players to have the pleasure he couldnt have. For me the real pain was to see a player [Ashley Barnes] play yesterday and Matic not to play today.

He admitted he had difficulties keeping news of Liverpools win over Manchester City away from the players

The perfect day was to win the final. I prepared them for an impossible mission, which was to not know the Man City result. I didnt want a television in the hotel or on the bus. I didnt want any reactions to that, we were successful but one member of my staff, Silvinho, jumped up on the bus. I wanted to kill the guy, a member of my own staff broke the rule. I wanted to stop them having a reaction and focus on what they had to do, we had a very difficult job against Tottenham.

Mourinho felt Zoumas inclusion allowed Cesc Fabregas to influence the game higher up the pitch, where he laid on our second goal

It was important Fabregas had the freedom to put his feet in that area. If we played without Zouma I would have needed to play Fabregas and Ramires in a position to keep the stability for the team and he wouldnt have been there. Sometimes you are not happy with yourself but Im very happy with myself because knew it was a decision whereby if I lost the final the experts, the ones who know more than me, would kill me.

It wasnt cautious. When you are going from the first minute to reach Mason and Bentaleb in their half, so they cannot build from the back, its not cautious.

He also spoke about the character shown by Diego Costa

He needs the team, without them its difficult to do anything. He needs to keep his nature as a person and a player. He played a final at the top of his motivation, there was no yellow card because he did nothing to deserve a yellow card.

Diego has to be Diego, to feel the differences between playing in a Latin country and playing here, and I think hes doing it very well for us.

http://www.chelseafc.com/news/latest-news/2015/03/final-whistle-verdict--capital-one-cup-final.html

The real Jose is back. The happy one is back. I'm almost crying seeing that Matic part. Lol at Silvinho.

[MrExcalibur100 7,124]

My point of view is that we do not yet have the squad to play beautifully all the time, and expect to be successful doing it. In my opinion, the squad does not contain enough depth of quality to make that possible.

With all due respect, that's just completely false.

[Special Juan 27,103]

The bus with Silvinho

His words are a thing of beauty

[MrExcalibur100 7,124]

I didn't watch the match live because I had other important commitments, but now that I've watched it, I can see how some people will feel a certain way about the performance. The fresher team, with the better players won, there was nothing tactically brilliant about it. Zouma for instance looked hopelessly lost in midfield and I thought the football was appalling, not for the first or last time this season.

So despite the trophy, (which is a trophy we should EXPECT to win given our current squad), I can understand the bittersweet feeling some people might have. The style of football is not sustainable in the long run. It's as simple as that.

[OhForAGreavsie 5,776]

With all due respect, that's just completely false.

Thanks MrExcalibur100.

The beauty of this is that it's a straight binary proposition. Either there is enough quality in the squad to play as I described, or there is not. Either you are right or I am, there can be no grey area on this question. The problem is, how do we decide which is which? We both watch the team so we've both seen exactly the same evidence. The fact that we assess this evidence differently sounds like an honest disagreement to me.

[BlueLion. 21,491]

I just can't believe the attitudes of some people. The criticism would be warranted had we lost, but we fucking won the cup. I'm still buzzing, absolutely delighted. No-one cares how you play in finals; people care if you win finals. We did. Be happy.

[Tautvix 1,321]

THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN MOURINHO AND WENGER!

JOSE STANDS UP AS A WINNER!

[Jase 43,479]

Chelsea 2 Tottenham 0: Jose Mourinho takes the Ho Chi Minh trail to Capital One Cup victory at Wembley

[Azpinator 2,325]

[Special Juan 27,103]

"It's my club"

[Azpinator 2,325]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VO6_C3X2B1s

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aBjEHFxyryo

[RoyalBlues 4,050]

I couldn't understand from where is the obsessions of 'beauty football more important than the result' coming from?

Well I think I know, f*** you Guardiola

[Blue Colored Sky 1,807]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VO6_C3X2B1s

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aBjEHFxyryo

Fantastic press conference, can't describe enough how good is to have this back.

I love Jose but the way how he approached the media, press conferences, everything was so dull this season and I'm the one who loves his personality very, very much. And one thing why I wanted to have him back is because he give me buzz before the game in a way that I watch the match with huge exitement. But this season in particular it was so boring, non-thrilling ... And he won a trophy and instantly he comes back to his best. Compare this video above with his press conference on Friday witch was so boring and meh. I see passion again in this man, the way he celebrated, the interview. It's fantastic. Let's see if he keep that up in the next press conference.

[Milan 17,835]

[RoyalBlues 4,050]

Watching him in a good mood before, during and after the match. No way he will lose the match, he is very confident about it. And in here we're still fuming about Matic absent will lead us to doomsday.

[LondonsFinest 692]

People to fail undestand something. There is a reason why Wenger/ Pellegrini are tactically inferior to Mourinho. It is the way they approach games. Beatiful football is for when we play small teams(on paper). That is where you need beautiful football. Where you need to crush the opposition. Bigger teams, with tactically adept managers analyze weaknesses better and are able to exploit them. Hence Ivanovic and Cahill at the 5-3. Why Mourinho approaches games against bigger opponents cautioutisly: Because he very well knows that when teams like City, PSG, Liverpool when given the ability to attack a lot, they over commit. And by overcommiting they leave areas unprotected, and that is where Mourinho hurts them. We may have lost points at City, United, PSG, but fact is we had oner or two attacks, and we had a goal. We are deadly, clinical. And that is why approaching games differently is better, than going all out, over commiting and getting slaughtered, because Ivanovic's zone would have been a massacre, had we tried to attack constantly, yesterday.
All hail, Jose.

[RoyalBlues 4,050]

Chelsea 2 Tottenham 0: Jose Mourinho takes the Ho Chi Minh trail to Capital One Cup victory at Wembley

The methods of Jose Mourinho form a sizeable section of Alastair Campbell’s new book Winners: And How They Succeed and, during a talk at the Bath Literature Festival on Friday, he explained why politicians could learn so much from the Chelsea manager.

Specifically, he compared Mourinho to Ho Chi Minh, the Vietnamese leader from 1945 until his death in 1969, “because he is so pragmatic”. Campbell said: “Does Jose play the beautiful game? He can do but he doesn’t if he doesn’t have to. He just wants to win.”

hear, hear

[Blue Colored Sky 1,807]

I couldn't understand from where is the obsessions of 'beauty football more important than the result' coming from?

Well I think I know, f*** you Guardiola

LOOOL why people acting here like if this is exclusively to either play good or win ??

That was no classic performance, far from it. I'd run a rant here how pissed off I'm now to watch any big game Chelsea play, how coward approach is getting on my nerves, how I sometimes doesn't care if we will have a luck or not. I'm sorry but you can't say to me that we play good or anything. We relies on set-piece, luck, isolated situation from Hazard. Every big game is the same. The line which on we step is very thin. PSG game, woow 1:1 good away result, not to mention that if we were a bit more unluckier it'd have been 4:1 down. Yesterday we scored a goal from a completely isolated situation, set piece which lucky rebounds under JT leg 6 metres from goal. And even after he shot there is ricochet from Spurs player. The goal number 2 was again isolated situation with Spurs throw the ball into their own net. We relies hugely on luck, on isolated situation on defenders playing like snipers, on Cahill's flick, on Hazard moment of magic, on rebounds.

But! I don't care how we win this season as long as we win. I want us to wrap this title up in the league. 2 trophies would be fantastic return from this team. As I said I love Jose and I know it's not his team still. There's still over half of our players who weren't bought by him. The videos above keep me strongly in position that this fantastic manager is still there, the one who I fell in love long time ago. And he often wasn't usual self during his drought, which for him was eternity. And while I still don't enjoy us play this season in any sort of big game and don't fancy to change that until the next season, it's fantastic that we're winning the trophies while being far from finished team. Because Jose said that we're far from done, so I let him do his work in the summer to bring another 3 or 4 fantastic and importantly "his" players to this club. For sure I'll be pissed off in the way we play our next big game this season because I know we can much better but I know Jose so well to expect that if he doesn't have 100% confidence in his team (and he for sure doesn't) he will play as safe as possible, even cowardly (he himself calls this "strategic" each to his own I guess), which pisses me off to death but at the same time I know how genius of manager is there and I know he's team can play beauty and win at the same time. They're all kinds of beauty and personally I love deadly counter-attacking football and at the same time I love Guardiola-style football. I saw Jose teams many times and I saw them play beauty counter-attack at pace, where almost any transition was dangerous. What we play I can't call counter-attack, I'm sorry. We try but we're far from being good at this at the moment. But ok, Jose'll buy his players who won't ruin almost every counter instead the ones that will play forward with pace and precise. It will be epic soon. AND IT'S SO FUCKING GOOD TO WIN TROPHIES WHILE WAITING FOR THAT TIME TO ARRIVE