The Mourinho Thread

[Iggy Doonican 4,187]

Anyone holding out for a marquee signing is going to be disappointed i'm afraid. Two weeks to go till the end of the window and the way negotiations drag on these days (Baba) i think it's highly unlikely we are going to buy someone big. Not sure Stones is a marquee signing per se but after yesterday he could find himself an automatic starter. If he is bought Everton are going to ask for a monster fee pushing towards 40 million quid which is extremely risky and on paper not a great bit of business.

[Last Sicarius 610]

We could do with all of KDB, Mata, Luiz, Bertrand & even Lukaku. But yeah net spend eh?

But what if we get them behind Costa, Fabregas or Zouma? It is al in "what if.."

I like Jose when he cares Chelsea, we cant win anything but one thing he need to do: rotation in team.

[kmk108 1,186]

At the time we sold KDB/Luiz/Mata/Schurrle we all thought it was good but i would give a bollock to have atleast KDB and Mata here.

But neither wanted to be anything but a starter, and Jose wasn't willing to do that.

It would be nice to have a bench full of great players, but great players don't want to sit on the bench.

[BlueLyon 9,359]

Did he made one thing right this summer?

He brought great Gk backup but thats it.

He totaly missed with Falcao. He didnt improve our quality or quantity of squad. He still didnt bring CM but insists with Ramires.

Our defense is shit. We only look good because 8 players always defend. Our attacking movement is terrible. What happend to our form from last august_october, I dunno. Mou didnt solve one thing since then.

Im sure we will bounce back after this shit start and pre season but I wouldnt expect us to be this bad. We havent won single game since preseason started ffs.

Anyway I defended Mou despite not always agreeing and he got us many titles, but lets see how he does this year when opponents are actualy doing well.

[LDN Blue 7,903]

But neither wanted to be anything but a starter, and Jose wasn't willing to do that.

It would be nice to have a bench full of great players, but great players don't want to sit on the bench.

I don't buy that, money talks. City have an enormous amount of world-class talent warming their bench, with correct rotation and that it can work. Of course if they specifically want to leave, like KDB, then fine. But I'm sure Mata, Schurrle & Luiz didn't want to leave as soon as they did.

[zolayes 14,489]

I don't buy that, money talks. City have an enormous amount of world-class talent warming their bench, with correct rotation and that it can work. Of course if they specifically want to leave, like KDB, then fine. But I'm sure Mata, Schurrle & Luiz didn't want to leave as soon as they did.

SPOT on Rotation is an option and protects against fatigue and burn out

[kmk108 1,186]

I don't buy that, money talks. City have an enormous amount of world-class talent warming their bench, with correct rotation and that it can work. Of course if they specifically want to leave, like KDB, then fine. But I'm sure Mata, Schurrle & Luiz didn't want to leave as soon as they did.

I completely agree with that. The difference is Mourinho didn't want to rotate nearly as much as City do. If my memory serves correctly, Mourinho was not planning on rotating Mata. He was going to sit him until he turned into the player he wanted.

[Jase 43,479]

Our current starting XI + the squad depth of 2013/14 season would have been the perfect combination. Quality and options aplenty.

[supporter 3,088]

Do you no think we should be playing Azpi at RB and Baba Rahman at LB?

Also how much do you estimate Isco would cost?

Cheers.

Hi friend!

Yes, I think we should place Azpilicueta as right-back and Baba as left-back mainly because Ivanovic is completely overwhelmed as right-back since a long time ago. His best years as a right-back are gone and he should be refocused to play as centre-back to take the role of John Terry (c) as a veteran centre-back. Iva has been a great right-back, but he can no longer continue playing in our starting eleven as right-back.

And Azpilicueta is a multipurpose, he can play in left or right side with great performance. Azpilicueta is like Philipp Lahm: A versatile and perfect player.

Regarding Baba, Jose has trusted him and perhaps we can give him confidence from the beginning to play on our starting eleven. But, to be sure, I would sign another left-back of a low profile like Telles. So we could get him and Baba fighting for a place in our starting eleven, increasing competition and having Ivanovic (with Azpilicueta on the left side) as emergency solution.

About Isco I think we could sign him for about 50 or 60 million euros (35.50 / 42.60 million pounds). To me 35 million pounds (50 in euros) should be enough to sign him.

And Real Madrid is very close to signing Kovacic for around 35 million euros (24.86 million pounds).

Reports say that the price of Isco could be 33.7 million pounds. Maybe this could be a reasonable price considering that Real Madrid has just spent almost 25 million pounds to sign Kovacic. For me, 35 million pounds would be fine in terms of quality / price.

For example, two years ago Real Madrid sold Mesut Özil (when he was 24 years old) to Arsenal for 45 million euros (32 million pounds). I think that Ozil and Isco (23 years) could / should have a similar price. Another example is when Manchester City bought David Silva when he was 24 years for about 35 million euros (25 million pounds) in 2010, just after David Silva won the World Cup with Spain.

In the last days of the market, if Jose convinces Isco, and if Isco "requires" an exit I think that the final price could be more or less 35 million pounds. And,at most, Real Madrid could require 42/44 million pounds. But 35 million pounds could be enough.

Regards.

[LDN Blue 7,903]

I completely agree with that. The difference is Mourinho didn't want to rotate nearly as much as City do. If my memory serves correctly, Mourinho was not planning on rotating Mata. He was going to sit him until he turned into the player he wanted.

Yeah I for sure I guess. But the root of it comes down to the fact this club went a little too overboard concerning themselves with FFP when clearly there was much more dynamic way of approaching it which City found.

& if the case is true that transfer investment is going towards a new stadium instead.. Well looks like we'll be following an Arsenal approach then

[Gilvorak 3,734]

Our current starting XI + the squad depth of 2013/14 season would have been the perfect combination. Quality and options aplenty.

All we had to do was rotate more instead of alienating top class players. We could've easily kept most of those players & still signed Cesc, Costa & Matic.

[kmk108 1,186]

Yeah I for sure I guess. But the root of it comes down to the fact this club went a little too overboard concerning themselves with FFP when clearly there was much more dynamic way of approaching it which City found.

& if the case is true that transfer investment is going towards a new stadium instead.. Well looks like we'll be following an Arsenal approach then

FFP is what we kept hearing about last year, and all was good when we were winning the title. Wonder if we would have had the restrictions dropped like City did...

I thought the idea was that Roman was going to finance the stadium so that our transfer activity wouldn't be affected. Maybe it was just a nice idea rather than an actual plan?

[DYC. 7,542]

I don't buy that, money talks. City have an enormous amount of world-class talent warming their bench, with correct rotation and that it can work. Of course if they specifically want to leave, like KDB, then fine. But I'm sure Mata, Schurrle & Luiz didn't want to leave as soon as they did.

Who are these players?

[Tomo 21,754]

Our current starting XI + the squad depth of 2013/14 season would have been the perfect combination. Quality and options aplenty.

We only really had depth in attacking midfield thst season. Schwarzer was average, defense and mid field lacked depth and our only good striker was a 33 year old Eto'o.

[Iggy Doonican 4,187]

We only really had depth in attacking midfield thst season. Schwarzer was average, defense and mid field lacked depth and our only good striker was a 33 year old Eto'o.

Good point Tomo in the 3 seasons he's been back Mourinho has bought Eto, Drogba and now Falcao everyone single one of them a shadow of there former selves. Why? i just don't see the point.

[Jase 43,479]

We only really had depth in attacking midfield thst season. Schwarzer was average, defense and mid field lacked depth and our only good striker was a 33 year old Eto'o.

Not exactly. We had Luiz and Lampard in midfield (the former some times in defence) too. It speaks volume that we have a good squad depth back then but right now, it's almost non-existent. We have done nothing but weaken the squad as a whole since 2014. A better management of the squad from Mourinho and we wouldn't really be in this position right now.

[Tomo 21,754]

Not exactly. We had Luiz and Lampard in midfield (the former some times in defence) too. It speaks volume that we have a good squad depth back then but right now, it's almost non-existent. We have done nothing but weaken the squad as a whole 2014. A better management of the squad from Mourinho and we wouldn't really be in this position right now.

Luiz didn't play in midfield until Liverpool under Jose so for the first 6 months we were picking between Mikel, Lampard and Rami, which were awful options for a club our size, in defence we have the same as now just Zouma instead of Luiz and Baba instead of Cole, were better in attack although I do prefer the Eto'o of 13/14 over Remy. Only attacking midfield we are significantly weaker than 13/14, tbh we haven't really had a super strong squad of 23 since 2008.

[Tomo 21,754]

Good point Tomo in the 3 seasons he's been back Mourinho has bought Eto, Drogba and now Falcao everyone single one of them a shadow of there former selves. Why? i just don't see the point.

Eto'o was a masterstroke, we couldn't find a marquee striker that summer in fact Jose knew that Costa was coming next summer by all accounts so brought him in, wasn't prime Eto'o but gave a lot to the team and saved us a season of Torres playing most weeks.

Drogba was for the dressing room influence, a lot of the squad didn't have the winning mentality as of that time, and as you could see in the title celebrations Didiers influence was paramount in the dressing room.

Falcao however, looks a completely pointless signing.

[Jase 43,479]

Luiz didn't play in midfield until Liverpool under Jose so for the first 6 months we were picking between Mikel, Lampard and Rami, which were awful options for a club our size, in defence we have the same as now just Zouma instead of Luiz and Baba instead of Cole

It still doesn't change the fact that Luiz was an option in midfield and defence and not to mention, some of our best performances against the big teams came when Luiz played in midfield, like the 2-1 win over Liverpool. The 1-0 at Man City and 6-0 against Arsenal were also impressive, with Luiz and Matic patrolling the midfield zone in front of the back 4.

Only attacking midfield we are significantly weaker than 13/14, tbh we haven't really had a super strong squad of 23 since 2008

I can give and take certain players from the 2013/14 squad leaving but the biggest mistake here is that we have not signed adequate replacements for them/brought in proper quality players. A number of them are short-sighted and ill-thought-out signings.

although I do prefer the Eto'o of 13/14 over Remy

Gosh. What has Remy done to you that he doesn't deserve some love from you?

[couris 232]

All his argumentation is based on the defense of Jose.