The Mourinho Thread

[CHOULO19 24,332]

That's a true point, I guess it's not for us to pick and choose which youth players are playing. In fact, Aké getting more time is encouraging because he's played more under Mourinho than most of our youth team players.

I think Derby is going to be quite important, for us on here, to see whether Mourinho is going to come good or not. He's given Christensen and Ake their runs out, so let's see if Boga, Brown, Loftus-Cheek or Solanke get into this one!

Derby is no Strawberry, though. There is no difference between Derby and Hull or Burnley. Jose has already said that Zouma will start. I would have guessed that had Ake been available he would have started as well but since he is not I expect no other youngster to start.

I expect a full strength team apart from Zouma except maybe Remy (depending on Costa's fitness) and Schurrle. Hopefully if we get a healthy lead we'll have a couple of youngsters on the bench to bring on.

[Sheva. 5,373]

Derby is no Strawberry, though. There is no difference between Derby and Hull or Burnley. Jose has already said that Zouma will start. I would have guessed that had Ake been available he would have started as well but since he is not I expect no other youngster to start.

I expect a full strength team apart from Zouma except maybe Remy (depending on Costa's fitness) and Schurrle. Hopefully if we get a healthy lead we'll have a couple of youngsters on the bench to bring on.

Why would it be full strength team though?

This is the league cup, not FA cup. This is also December where we have far bigger games coming up, this is a great chance to rest some people imo.

Apart from defence where we don't have a plethora of options, I only expect Willian and one of Matic/Cesc to start if Rammy can't play.

[RoyalBlues 4,050]

Last season, when he asked whose opponent he wanted to meet, Jose replied Galatasaray, and boom we draw against them. This season too when he said PSG. Whether Jose or UEFA who make me scary more.

[CHOULO19 24,332]

Why would it be full strength team though?

This is the league cup, not FA cup. This is also December where we have far bigger games coming up, this is a great chance to rest some people imo.

Apart from defence where we don't have a plethora of options, I only expect Willian and one of Matic/Cesc to start if Rammy can't play.

Because it's the quarter final of the capital one cup when several of the big teams have already gone out so it's a great chance to win a trophy if we proceed. We also have 6 days till the next match on next Monday and Jose has given the whole team 2 days off after the match so recovery should not be an issue especially if you consider than a lot of the usual starters have recently been given a rest either against Sporting or through suspension in the league. So, yes, I expect an almost full strength XI.

[Sheva. 5,373]

Because it's the quarter final of the capital one cup when several of the big teams have already gone out so it's a great chance to win a trophy if we proceed. We also have 6 days till the next match on next Monday and Jose has given the whole team 2 days off after the match so recovery should not be an issue especially if you consider than a lot of the usual starters have recently been given a rest either against Sporting or through suspension in the league. So, yes, I expect an almost full strength XI.

It wouldn't hurt to have more rest considering we have a spell coming up when we play on the 26th, 28th and again on the 1st.

You can't tell me the (unnecessary) minutes played here, won't end up having an impact then.

I would like to win this cup if possible, but we need to use our squad depth at this moment. If our bench players can't beat Derby, then I wonder how we're going to get through December playing the same 11 every game.

[OhForAGreavsie 6,057]

Why would it be full strength team though?

This is the league cup, not FA cup. This is also December where we have far bigger games coming up, this is a great chance to rest some people imo.

Apart from defence where we don't have a plethora of options, I only expect Willian and one of Matic/Cesc to start if Rammy can't play.

Understand your point of course but surely one of the things of which we are all rightly proud is that our club is in it to win it, no matter what it is. We are not Arsenal. I'll be very surprised if this is not the strongest line up possible.

By the way my understanding of Jose's comments, during his Hull press conference on Friday, is that Cesc will definitely start.

[CHOULO19 24,332]

It wouldn't hurt to have more rest considering we have a spell coming up when we play on the 26th, 28th and again on the 1st.

You can't tell me the (unnecessary) minutes played here, won't end up having an impact then.

I would like to win this cup if possible, but we need to use our squad depth at this moment. If our bench players can't beat Derby, then I wonder how we're going to get through December playing the same 11 every game.

The harm obviously is risking getting knocked out of the league cup when we have a good chance of winning it.

It's a risk gain analysis and here the risk of exhausting the players is rather low consider the circumstances I already stated and the gain is high because I do believe we will need our first XI to ensure going through.

Derby are at home, in front of their fans, for their biggest match of the season in a cup game where anything can happen. They will look to sit deep and frustrate us and hit on the counter. It's not that our bench is not better than the Derby team it's the way that the game will likely pan out that we will likely need the likes of Hazard and Fabregas and Matic...etc. to break them down.

This game should be treated the same as an away game at Burnley or Leicester or Hull in the EPL.

[OhForAGreavsie 6,057]

It wouldn't hurt to have more rest considering we have a spell coming up when we play on the 26th, 28th and again on the 1st.

You can't tell me the (unnecessary) minutes played here, won't end up having an impact then.

I would like to win this cup if possible, but we need to use our squad depth at this moment. If our bench players can't beat Derby, then I wonder how we're going to get through December playing the same 11 every game.

Why can we not tell ourselves that? This idea has become received wisdom but is it in fact so? Is there any actual evidence which suggests that the clubs who rotate most are those which are most successful? I'm not sure there is.

[Sheva. 5,373]

The harm obviously is risking getting knocked out of the league cup when we have a good chance of winning it.

It's a risk gain analysis and here the risk of exhausting the players is rather low consider the circumstances I already stated and the gain is high because I do believe we will need our first XI to ensure going through.

Derby are at home, in front of their fans, for their biggest match of the season in a cup game where anything can happen. They will look to sit deep and frustrate us and hit on the counter. It's not that our bench is not better than the Derby team it's the way that the game will likely pan out that we will likely need the likes of Hazard and Fabregas and Matic...etc. to break them down.

This game should be treated the same as an away game at Burnley or Leicester or Hull in the EPL.

OK then. Question though, we have 4 games left this month (another one first day of Jan.), do you expect Hazard, Matic, Cesc to play all these games and consistently play at a high level? I think there will likely be an off performance like against Sunderland, and with 3 of the PL games away from home, that could spell trouble.

Why can we not tell ourselves that? This idea has become received wisdom but is it in fact so? Is there any actual evidence which suggests that the clubs who rotate most are those which are most successful? I'm not sure there is.

I believe clubs with good squad depth end up being the most successful. Of course it's not a fact, but it can't possibly be a bad thing to be able to rest your stars whenever necessary.

[CHOULO19 24,332]

OK then. Question though, we have 4 games left this month (another one first day of Jan.), do you expect Hazard, Matic, Cesc to play all these games and consistently play at a high level? I think there will likely be an off performance like against Sunderland, and with 3 of the PL games away from home, that could spell trouble.

I don't expect the whole XI to play all of them. Jose said after the Sporting match that no one will play more than 5 of the remaining 6 matches till new year. In reality I expect one or two to play all of them. I fully expect to see a couple of changes from one game to the next, but not we got 6 days till the next match.

[RoyalBlues 4,050]

I'm against playing kids in Derby match, but actually we should play our backup for Derby match mixed with our strongest XI. Yes, there is a nice gap of days between Derby and Stoke game, but any rest could make a positive impact in this busy period.

We will play 5 games between today until 1st January.

Away to Derby

Away to Stoke

Home vs West Ham

Away to Soton

Away to Tottenham

If people asked me when you think it is 'okay' to rotate some after seeing those fixtures? I would say away to Derby and home vs West Ham.

Edit : Weird, for a moment I thought I'm sure I posted in Pre Match thread.

[mikeholiday 209]

So much criticism on Jose about not playing the kids more often. Maybe it's true he doesn't care and it's all about winning for him. Can you blame him? Knowing how demanding Mr. Abramovich is?

[RoyalBlues 4,050]

So much criticism on Jose about not playing the kids more often. Maybe it's true he doesn't care and it's all about winning for him. Can you blame him? Knowing how demanding Mr. Abramovich is?

As it has been said countless times now. He will play the kids more next season if we win PL or CL or both this season, as the trophyless pressure is off. At the moment, don't get your hope high too much.

[EMK 7]

The harm obviously is risking getting knocked out of the league cup when we have a good chance of winning it.

It's a risk gain analysis and here the risk of exhausting the players is rather low consider the circumstances I already stated and the gain is high because I do believe we will need our first XI to ensure going through.

Derby are at home, in front of their fans, for their biggest match of the season in a cup game where anything can happen. They will look to sit deep and frustrate us and hit on the counter. It's not that our bench is not better than the Derby team it's the way that the game will likely pan out that we will likely need the likes of Hazard and Fabregas and Matic...etc. to break them down.

This game should be treated the same as an away game at Burnley or Leicester or Hull in the EPL.

I disagree, I think our squad players should be good enough to beat them. One other thing is that we need everybody sharp for the festive season.

If we are scared to give them a chance against Derby then they aren't Chelsea quality. Players Like Salah and Shurrle can't play games once every month if can't give them a chance in the League Cup then ehat the purpose of having them?

[Term-X 7,891]

So much criticism on Jose about not playing the kids more often. Maybe it's true he doesn't care and it's all about winning for him. Can you blame him? Knowing how demanding Mr. Abramovich is?

Not so sure about that, especially after all the investment in the youth setup, and our last CL game was meaningless.

I also found it strange how Jose spoke about how Loftus-Cheek owes him a bottle of wine now; 'he was joking', but it speaks volumes for how the natural integration of youth into the side is non-existent.