The Mourinho Thread

[Blue Colored Sky 1,807]

There was a moment in the game yesterday where Fabregas was pleading with the defence to push up higher and engage the opposition further up the field. I have seen Costa do this numerous times in games.

These tactics have a short life.

You just reminded me of this situation. Yes, the pressing is the very basic thing of any dominant side. I'm worried that during 2 years Jose doesn't learn this side to have proper pressing system. Our players try to win the ball by themself, not as a team. It doesn't help that so many of our players are not athletic and has retreat mentality from old years rooted in their heads though.

[RoyalBlues 4,050]

I don't understand from where the obsessions of so called 'attacking football' coming from..

[CHOULO19 24,332]

Set up perfectly" and "know how to win" are so over played... He set the team up the exact same way we've been playing recently.

No he didn't! Regardless of whether you agree or disagree with the tactics, they were completely different than anything we played recently and the vast majority of the times since Jose returned because we adapted to utd and changed our tactics accordingly.

For example, our usual defensive strategy, after the first phase of pressure, is to try to force the opposition out wide and not allow them into central areas. That is what Jose has tried to do since returning (as opposed to Benitez for instance who tried to 'funnel' the opposition play into central areas and outnumber them there). The exact opposite happened yesterday. We left them huge spaces centrally to deny them spaces on the wings which is half of what their attacks are all about. And it worked because even though there were massive spaces in the middle they just seemed like they didn't want to get in there and often moved the ball backwards instead.

Another example is that we man-marked Fellaini literally all over the pitch, not just in specific areas. We haven't done that often at all this season (last time was Willian on Toure IIRC and even that was not all over the pitch but in some areas until Matic double teams him). Again something we adapted according to utd's system.

I'm not saying that those are the best tactics in the world or that they were a tactical masterclass or something like that, or even that they were implemented perfectly because they clearly weren't, but they weren't by any means "the usual tactics". Obviously a lot of work and thinking went behind them during the week.

[Laugh1ngMan 393]

I'll try to explain the game from a tactical point of view for whoever doesn't get it:

When you are up against a possession based team you have three options:

- run around like amateurs to try and get the ball (what we did in the first 30 minutes)

- press aggressively with the enitre team (which we didn't have the right personal to do, with the absence of Costa/Willian)

- sit back deep and counter (just like Real Madrid did against Bayern last year)

So the way we played was the only viable strategy we had to win the game. Everybody knew we would play Zouma in midfield to counter Fellaini because it was our only option (hell, even the pundits were predicting it)

So anybody who thinks we should/could have played differently is simply wrong and any misgivings about how we won are misplaced.

I believe in Mou, he spotted our faults previous seasons and fixed them perfectly. I have no doubt he spotted our mistakes this season (not being able to see out 1-0 wins/not dominating teams that we should, like against 10 men PSG) and will rectify them by bringing in the right personel

[Styles 9,790]

I don't understand from where the obsessions of attacking football coming from..

I watch Chelsea play almost every game. I miss maybe 2-3 games per season at most, and considering we play upwards of 55 games per season that is a lot of football. So, why wouldn't I be obsessed by the way we perform?

We have had perhaps 2 decent performances in nearly five months of football. It seems some people genuinely don't give a shit about anything but wins and trophies and yet they want to portray themselves as some sort of super fan.

[Blue Colored Sky 1,807]

I'll try to explain the game from a tactical point of view for whoever doesn't get it:

When you are up against a possession based team you have three options:

- run around like amateurs to try and get the ball (what we did in the first 30 minutes)

- press aggressively with the enitre team (which we didn't have the right personal to do, with the absence of Costa/Willian)

- sit back deep and counter (just like Real Madrid did against Bayern last year)

So the way we played was the only viable strategy we had to win the game. Everybody knew we would play Zouma in midfield to counter Fellaini because it was our only option (hell, even the pundits were predicting it)

So anybody who thinks we should/could have played differently is simply wrong and any misgivings about how we won are misplaced.

I believe in Mou, he spotted our faults previous seasons and fixed them perfectly. I have no doubt he spotted our mistakes this season (not being able to see out 1-0 wins/not dominating teams that we should, like against 10 men PSG) and will rectify them by bringing it the right personel

Well, I don't think that anyone here is saying that we should be playing different in order to win the game !

Only big concerns how this will look like going forward when we were promised dominant football with the resources to back the style as well as results.

It doesn't seems long term project for now and that's my concern but 3rd season seems crucial in starting building the platform for the future. I'm sure everyone here is curious how this 3rd season is going to look like.

[blu35_army 550]

just saw PSG being humiliated by Barca, i'm grateful we're defeated by Luiz & co. i'm sorry but this system of play will not survive in CL anymore...

[ZOS 580]

After seeing our performances in the first half of the season, I don't get how people are questioning whether jose can play attacking football. Everybody wants to see his team play a great attacking football but nobody wants to loose important games too.

I read on the DM JT saying after the game that we haven't been in our best form since January. What does that tell you? Jose and everybody else at the club knows we're not playing great recently. But should we let that cost us the title? WTF guys?

[OhForAGreavsie 5,776]

I watch Chelsea play almost every game. I miss maybe 2-3 games per season at most, and considering we play upwards of 55 games per season that is a lot of football. So, wouldn't I be obsessed by the way we perform?

We have had perhaps 2 decent performances in nearly five months of football. It seems some people genuinely don't give a shit about anything but wins and trophies and yet they want to portray themselves as some sort of super fan.

Speaking personally, I don't consider myself a super fan but I do care about the football that's played. I have two issues however:

Although some will disagree, I am convinced that this squad is not good enough to win the league playing on the front foot. I've seen it happen time and time and time again that clubs arrive expecting a battering but become emboldened by the fact that our players keep passing to them. We survive this habit when our shape caters for it but we are horribly exposed when it does not. Our squad is better than it has been in the recent past but it is still not good enough.

I am seldom frustrated by how we play but I often am by how poorly we play. @Blue Coloured Sky won't have it, but the the only difference between our league performances at Man City this season and last, is that in 2013/14 we played well there, while this term we did not. The shape of the side was exactly the same. Atletico are much admired, including by me. They don't play front foot, they play what Jose is now calling strategically but with the difference that their passing is more sound than ours. This allows them to move forward with greater purpose and effect and also allows them time to recover their shape before possession is lost.

When Jose returned I felt we were 8 players short. We've made progress in that regard but there are still too many weak links. If we are still having to play like this three years from now, I will be as angry as some others are. For now however, I am calm and happy. Because we have Jose.

[Iggy Doonican 4,186]

All that Mourinho is concerned about is Mourinho. His one aim is to protect his legacy and if anyone asks him an awkward question he'll just say look at my record. And in that respect you can't argue but when your the self proclaimed special one surely you have to at least attempt to play attacking football. 30% possession at home is a shocking statistic against a team who were ravaged with injury. Now fair enough you could argue that with just Drogba up front he had no option but i don't think if Costa or Remy had started it would been drastically different tactically.

If Man U had taken an early lead through Rooney's chance what would have happened then?. Plan A out of the window what would have Plan B been hit it long to an octogenarian Drogba?. Thank God for Eden Hazard who has been a joy to watch and is carrying the team almost single- handed (hopefully) to the title. The fat lady hasn't sang but she's clearing her throat.

[Thor 2,124]

No he didn't! Regardless of whether you agree or disagree with the tactics, they were completely different than anything we played recently and the vast majority of the times since Jose returned because we adapted to utd and changed our tactics accordingly.

For example, our usual defensive strategy, after the first phase of pressure, is to try to force the opposition out wide and not allow them into central areas. That is what Jose has tried to do since returning (as opposed to Benitez for instance who tried to 'funnel' the opposition play into central areas and outnumber them there). The exact opposite happened yesterday. We left them huge spaces centrally to deny them spaces on the wings which is half of what their attacks are all about. And it worked because even though there were massive spaces in the middle they just seemed like they didn't want to get in there and often moved the ball backwards instead.

Another example is that we man-marked Fellaini literally all over the pitch, not just in specific areas. We haven't done that often at all this season (last time was Willian on Toure IIRC and even that was not all over the pitch but in some areas until Matic double teams him). Again something we adapted according to utd's system.

I'm not saying that those are the best tactics in the world or that they were a tactical masterclass or something like that, or even that they were implemented perfectly because they clearly weren't, but they weren't by any means "the usual tactics". Obviously a lot of work and thinking went behind them during the week.

You mean the team that sat back the whole game figured out a little of what the other team was doing offensively?

Of course they did. The point is we play overly defensive, end of story. This "lack of form" isn't a true lack of form. It is a self inflicted one coming from passive and anxious play, that stems from the possibility of choking away the title. I can guarantee this "lack of form" will magically disappear as soon as we have the title locked up.

You can't sit here and in any way praise the defensive tactics as of recently. At the end of the day, there may be some ambiguity about the specifics of how we defended, in terms of funnelling or sending them to the wings, but we've been far too defensive lately, and it is making the team play worse, not better.

If we played our normal style, we'd be playing Barcelona right now, and we would have thumped this United side 4-2 or 5-2.

[RoyalBlues 4,050]

I watch Chelsea play almost every game. I miss maybe 2-3 games per season at most, and considering we play upwards of 55 games per season that is a lot of football. So, why wouldn't I be obsessed by the way we perform?

We have had perhaps 2 decent performances in nearly five months of football. It seems some people genuinely don't give a shit about anything but wins and trophies and yet they want to portray themselves as some sort of super fan.

What's more important than wins and trophies in football? Isn't that the goals for everyone involved in this industry?

We are winning therefore at least we score in almost every game. What's the ultimate goal of 'attacking football'? Scoring goals. We get the job done in almost every occasions, so I don't get people who more concerned about the process rather than the results.

[Styles 9,790]

Speaking personally, I don't consider myself a super fan but and I do care about the football that's played. I have two issues however:

Although some will disagree, I am convinced that this squad is not good enough to win the league playing on the front foot. I've seen it happen time and time and time again that clubs arrive expecting a battering but become emboldened by the fact that our players keep passing to them. We survive this habit when our shape caters for it but we are horribly exposed when it does not. Our squad is better than it has been in the recent past but it is still not good enough.

I am seldom frustrated by how we play but I often am by how poorly we play. @Blue Coloured Sky won't have it, but the the only difference between our league performances at Man City this season and last, is that in 2013/14 we played well there, while this term we did not. The shape of the side was exactly the same. Atletico are much admired, including by me. They don't play front foot, they play what Jose is now calling strategically but with the difference that their passing is more sound than ours. This allows them to move forward with greater purpose and effect and also allows them time to recover their shape before possession is lost.

When Jose returned I felt we were 8 players short. We've made progress in that regard but there are still too many weak links. If we are still having to play like this three years from now, I will be as angry as some others are. For now however, I am calm and happy. Because we have Jose.

I agree to some extent. But the thing is we can do better than that. You say we don't have the players, but we have enough right now to do better than that; for example we have a quality footballer in Luis on the bench and he can't get a look in. Yesterday we had 30% possession and 71% passing accuracy. Those are dreadful numbers no matter how you look at it. And for Mourinho to say after the game he spent the entire week preparing to play this way and how happy he was the game panned out the way it did was depressing.

The first 30 mins was a complete and utter shambles. There is no way anyone can convince me that this is the way we should play.

Playing well (or better than that) and winning isn't mutually exclusive.

[Styles 9,790]

What's more important than wins and trophies in football? Isn't that the goals for everyone involved in this industry?

We are winning therefore at least we score in almost every game. What's the ultimate goal of 'attacking football'? Scoring goals. We get the job done in almost every occasions, so I don't get people who more concerned about the process rather than the results.

OK, so what's the point of watching entire games and dedicating so much of your time to something you don't actually care about? Why not just read the final result online or wherever and forget about watching the game?

[RoyalBlues 4,050]

OK, so what's the point of watching entire games and dedicating so much of your time to something you don't actually care about? Why not just read the final result online or wherever and forget about watching the game?

Attacking football is just a bonus. I'm more satisfied about how we could try every tactics and strategy to get the results. It is of course different in every occasions, sometimes we could play attacking football against inferior teams, but against certain teams, it is very understandable to have more defensive approach, playing counters to get the results.

This kind of strategy not only works in PL. When we won the CL in 2012, we are not playing the most beautiful football, but we could win it.

[hjperdeath 2,226]

2nd day, people still angry as Chelsea inch closer to the title.

http://www1.skysports.com/football/news/11668/9812705/jose-mourinho-praises-perfect-chelsea-after-manchester-united-win

“When you play in a strategic way you don’t care about the stats, it's about the points.

"We were very well prepared for them, we had a big heart, we fight and we were very focused on what we want,” he added.

“Football is about talent but strategy is very important as well.”

Mourinho’s men, who face second-placed Arsenal next weekend, moved one step closer to the title after victory at Stamford Bridge.

Chelsea need just eight points from their last six matches or six form the next two games to wrap up the league but Mourinho insists his side, despite their advantage, are still fully focused on the job in hand.

He said: "The game was the game we wanted. The only thing we couldn't do was kill the game by scoring a second goal.

“We know they make the pitch big, they pass the ball very well. We decided to play in a certain way and the game was exactly what we wanted.

"We need our points. Today we wanted three points and our opponent lost three points, but we are focused on us"

[Pacquiao 1,834]

Totally agree. Out of the current squad, I think only Hazard will start over anybody ahead of the 2005 Chelsea squad. Perhaps over Duff, but im not even 100% sure.

Ivanovic would start over Ferreira, Azpilicueta would start over Gallas, Matic/Fabregas would start over Tiago, Hazard would start over Duff and Costa would start over the 2005 Drogba

[lucio 5,399]

OK, so what's the point of watching entire games and dedicating so much of your time to something you don't actually care about? Why not just read the final result online or wherever and forget about watching the game?

And if you care only about pure entertainment. Just watch the highlights or goal compilations. Works both ways.