The Mourinho Thread

[LDN Blue 7,903]

It's annoying really. Hazard cuts inside, then the leftback is right-footed so he comes inside too. Willian also stays inside so the only winger we have is ivanovic lol.

City just stayed wide and created so many chances from crosses to aguero. We on the other hand have this unnecessary urge to play through the middle like against PSG. Slow passing, slow movement because the middle is obviously congested.

We need our wingers and fullbacks to have some linkup play between them so that we stretch play. We're the only top team in the world that doesn't play from wings at all.

See that's why I understood Mourinho's decision to take Terry off and bring on Zouma. It freed up Azpilicueta and finally we had a full-back who was actually playing like a modern fullback. So Mourinho does want to use our fullbacks as attackers but our defensive set up just doesn't allow it. I hope that in his intent to sign Stones and use Zouma a lot more we'll see our full backs making those overlapping runs.

This is the same discussion they had on Monday Night Football tonight lol. Gary Neville highlighted the relationship that Kolarov-Sterling and Navas-Sagna have that was so influential.

It would truly be great to see Rahman and Hazard spurring a relationships which means our left side of attack will be much more aggressive and give us better options to score.

[LDN Blue 7,903]

Fair enough mate not trying to piss on anyone's chips. I'm old enough to remember getting beaten by the likes of Shrewsbury and Bristol Rovers. So it's siege mentality for all Chelsea fans especially on this forum. WHEN OUR BACKS ARE AGAINST THE WALL WE COME OUT OUT FIGHTING WHY?.

because WE ARE THE FAMOUS CFC AND WE DON'T GIVE A FUCK WHERE EVER YOU MAY BE because WE ARE THE FAMOUS CFC.

Preach mate!

It's amusing how quick our rivals are to pile it on, how we've started our season. Arsenal fans couldn't get enough of it! Well we'll see who's laughing at the end of the season when we're fighting for the title and on several other fronts while Arsenal are content to finish 4th

Up the Blues!

[kmk108 1,186]

Why not try Hazard as an AM/CF and get a proper left winger? Hazard cuts in and loves to use both feet to take on defenders. He has the best burst speed for it, so why not let him lose in the off center for some creativity?

[CMS 382]

Jesus calm down everybody - we all get that nobody is pleased about our start to the season

Luckily for us a season is played over 38 games - not 2.

Chill out a little and stop fighting each other

I'm not bothered by the likes of him. He's on the ignore list. This is forum to discuss and share opinions. Everyone is free to share theirs. No one has a right to tell anyone to muzzle up, because they don't share the same views, then its no longer a forum. We can agree to disagree.There are no bosses here. That said, I'm off to respond to my fellow Chelsea fans.

[CMS 382]

Why not try Hazard as an AM/CF and get a proper left winger? Hazard cuts in and loves to use both feet to take on defenders. He has the best burst speed for it, so why not let him lose in the off center for some creativity?

Since he hardly defends, it will create a hole in the spinal column of the team. Most coaches prefer the absence of defensive input to come from the sides. First thing you are taught in a tactical game is to show your attackers to the outside, there you will have another defender, which is the touchlines.

[CMS 382]

Dude, him not being a starter at bayern doesn't change the fact that he was one of the absolute stars at Dortmund... Please.

Key word "Was" just like Mata" was" a starter on every team sheet before Jose. He went to Man U. Struggled in the first season and now he's back to being a starter again. Falcao was a starter at PSG until injury. Each team to his own needs. Higuian was at Madrid, but he was sold too. E'too was at Barca, but was sold too at one point to Inter. The list goes no and on. Players come and go. The season is too early to be dumping players left and right. The team is not in shape. They are one to two weeks behind. We are still good to go. But if there was a choice of managers between Klopp and Jose, its a no contest.

[CMS 382]

Possibly but it was the same in 13/14, we were chasing and whenever there was a serious chance to close in on top position we pissed it up the wall, like against Sunderland especially.

Just like Jason alluded to earlier in your dialog, United under Sir Alex, United were always slow starters, but they won the league so many times in a not so fancy position on the table. Aside from Chelsea who led for some 274-5 days last year, most teams in the prem., do not maintain the lead from day one till the end. Its a marathon not a sprint. I'm pretty confident of our team. No worries here.

[CMS 382]

Watching us against mancity got me thinking, why don't we use wings when we attack??

For some reason we always want to go through the middle, making our gameplay so slow and easy to defend against. If we play with more wingplay, we would create more chances easily by stretching the play and we would play at a faster tempo.

Because we have no one that can cross effectively from the left side into the box. Ivannovic used to be our go to guy, on the right side. On the left we often used dribble penetration with Hazard, or combination plays with Oscar, Cesc, Willian and/or Oscar. David (Aspi) can play with he left, but he quite often switches foot to the right to cross the ball.

This deficiency makes it an easy pick up for the opposing GK, (in-swingers as opposed to out-swingers) and a quick restart for counter attacks against us. But lately, since Ivan's crosses are being blocked from the outsides, the services are piss poor into our attackers from the right side. Baba Rahman solves that issue. His biggest strength are his crosses into the box. Its a thing of beauty to watch. Falcao will thrive more from those crosses than Costa, as he is awesome in attacking flighted balls.

I think Jose had all these in mind in assembling the team. If people are patient enough to wait for his final product, this is going to be a very new Chelsea tactical side. Cesc will be the new talisman, with the diagonal penetrating passes through to Baba and one touch flighted crosses from Baba into opposition boxes. Baba is a younger version of Ashley Cole.

[bluephoenix 1,135]

I live right on the beach .. Jealous?

[kellzfresh 7,229]

Because we have no one that can cross effectively from the left side into the box. Ivannovic used to be our go to guy, on the right side. On the left we often used dribble penetration with Hazard, or combination plays with Oscar, Cesc, Willian and/or Oscar. David (Aspi) can play with he left, but he quite often switches foot to the right to cross the ball.

This deficiency makes it an easy pick up for the opposing GK, (in-swingers as opposed to out-swingers) and a quick restart for counter attacks against us. But lately, since Ivan's crosses are being blocked from the outsides, the services are piss poor into our attackers from the right side. Baba Rahman solves that issue. His biggest strength are his crosses into the box. Its a thing of beauty to watch. Falcao will thrive more from those crosses than Costa, as he is awesome in attacking flighted balls.

I think Jose had all these in mind in assembling the team. If people are patient enough to wait for his final product, this is going to be a very new Chelsea tactical side. Cesc will be the new talisman, with the diagonal penetrating passes through to Baba and one touch flighted crosses from Baba into opposition boxes. Baba is a younger version of Ashley Cole.

I actually didn't see anything complicated in how mancity attack. They used wingplay like manutd during Ferguson time wherever evra and Nani on the left, while Rafael and valencia on the right combine... And everyone praised them as a very attractive attacking team.

If Mourinho drops his son ivanovic, we can play baba on the left for crosses like kolarov showed us how to do. While Azpilicueta and Willian combine on the right.

The way we played against City reminded me of what we did against PSG, trying to force our way through the middle which is obviously congested and making us play so slow instead of combining on the wings where there is space and crossing to costa.

Hopefully we stop suffering ourselves in terms of creating chances through the congested middle and play through the wings, that's what fullbacks are there for.

[Jase 43,479]

Finally. It's going to be interesting.

I wouldn't get my hopes up. Have a feeling it's going to be one BIG disappointment come September 1.

[johnnythefirst 1,076]

Key word "Was" just like Mata" was" a starter on every team sheet before Jose. He went to Man U. Struggled in the first season and now he's back to being a starter again. Falcao was a starter at PSG until injury. Each team to his own needs. Higuian was at Madrid, but he was sold too. E'too was at Barca, but was sold too at one point to Inter. The list goes no and on. Players come and go. The season is too early to be dumping players left and right. The team is not in shape. They are one to two weeks behind. We are still good to go. But if there was a choice of managers between Klopp and Jose, its a no contest.

This reply makes no sense whatsoever...Gotze WAS a defining player up until the moment he left, Mata was not being played at all and was losing his value...

[Clockwork 1,794]

Because we have no one that can cross effectively from the left side into the box. Ivannovic used to be our go to guy, on the right side. On the left we often used dribble penetration with Hazard, or combination plays with Oscar, Cesc, Willian and/or Oscar. David (Aspi) can play with he left, but he quite often switches foot to the right to cross the ball.

This deficiency makes it an easy pick up for the opposing GK, (in-swingers as opposed to out-swingers) and a quick restart for counter attacks against us. But lately, since Ivan's crosses are being blocked from the outsides, the services are piss poor into our attackers from the right side. Baba Rahman solves that issue. His biggest strength are his crosses into the box. Its a thing of beauty to watch. Falcao will thrive more from those crosses than Costa, as he is awesome in attacking flighted balls.

I think Jose had all these in mind in assembling the team. If people are patient enough to wait for his final product, this is going to be a very new Chelsea tactical side. Cesc will be the new talisman, with the diagonal penetrating passes through to Baba and one touch flighted crosses from Baba into opposition boxes. Baba is a younger version of Ashley Cole.

Mou final product? Lol

People still thinking mou is a team builder, he is the ultimate short term manager. Look at his side at Madrid. Their fans had the same sinking feelings most are having here. Mou team progressively gets worse

Think about it what you are saying about baba, you do realize he had Luis last year. If mou had any long term vision he would have dropped Ivanovic long time ago and kept Luis. He doesn't if he did we wouldn't have any FB dilemma.

A few singings will help this team, like a band aid that usually does but there is a bigger problem.

[The Mak 4,459]

Chelsea transfers: Signings of AT LEAST three players approved by Roman Abramovich after sloppy start

It would be great if true, but I doubt it.

We're now in a position where Everton have us over a barrell with Stones because of the recent performance, while top-quality players like Schneiderlin and Pedro have been snapped up by United, leaving us looking for scraps. We'd rather spend time signing players like Kennedy who will probably never get in the first team under Mourinho. Dreadful window. The only positive can be that the board realise how naive they've been this summer and not to do it again.

[blues.bridge 343]

Mou vs marina?

[kmk108 1,186]

Mou final product? Lol

People still thinking mou is a team builder, he is the ultimate short term manager. Look at his side at Madrid. Their fans had the same sinking feelings most are having here. Mou team progressively gets worse

Think about it what you are saying about baba, you do realize he had Luis last year. If mou had any long term vision he would have dropped Ivanovic long time ago and kept Luis. He doesn't if he did we wouldn't have any FB dilemma.

A few singings will help this team, like a band aid that usually does but there is a bigger problem.

I hate seeing this. Not because I disagree, because the truth hurts. We all received Jose back thinking he had changed and learned from his time at Inter and Real. Just like getting back together with and ex, you hope everything will be all good and the mistakes from the past will be reconciled. But the writing is on the wall. Jose is unhappy and it is affecting he team.

I'm hoping it's not that, as we don't know what really goes on behind the scenes. Hopefully it's just a rough start to the season and everyone comes together.

[Fernando 6,743]

The champions are reeling after a dismal start to the season but José Mourinho did not get where he is by crumpling at the first hint of trouble

http://www.theguardian.com/football/blog/2015/aug/17/chelsea-losses-stack-up-jose-mourinho

Pretty much what I believe.

We are still good, will recover and win it.

City don't scare me right now despite beating us. Getting KDB might level the playing field for them and give us a better challenge, but even then I still think we are good enough to win it again.

So not really worried.

[NishC300 1,865]

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 © 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.

Thank you for your response!

Indeed. I personally was surprised (including a few British friends I have) about why Mourinho wasn't playing Filipe Luis at LB and Azpi at RB? Surely it would have been a far more sensible thing to do? Although I love Ivanovic!!

Yes Ivanovic does an excellent job at CB and a role as a veteran CB is one he'd flourish in.

What do you think about promoting our younger players who play in those positions you believe we need to strengthen? Many are calling for a robust CDM to partner Matic but we don't need to look further than Loftus Cheek tbh.

42 Million pounds does seem a lot for Isco but if we can get him for 35, then not too bad I guess as he has great positional versatility.

Yes some late transfer window pressure can often cause teams to panic and make rash decisions.

Do you think a guy like Moutinho might demand a move too soon? I know he's out for a month but once fit - how much do you value him at?

[supporter 3,088]

Thank you for your response!

Indeed. I personally was surprised (including a few British friends I have) about why Mourinho wasn't playing Filipe Luis at LB and Azpi at RB? Surely it would have been a far more sensible thing to do? Although I love Ivanovic!!

Yes Ivanovic does an excellent job at CB and a role as a veteran CB is one he'd flourish in.

What do you think about promoting our younger players who play in those positions you believe we need to strengthen? Many are calling for a robust CDM to partner Matic but we don't need to look further than Loftus Cheek tbh.

42 Million pounds does seem a lot for Isco but if we can get him for 35, then not too bad I guess as he has great positional versatility.

Yes some late transfer window pressure can often cause teams to panic and make rash decisions.

Do you think a guy like Moutinho might demand a move too soon? I know he's out for a month but once fit - how much do you value him at?

Hi friend!

Also for me it was a surprise that Jose did not bet stronger in Filipe as left-back and Azpi Right-back as. Maybe last season Ivanovic could have more options as right-back, but this season Filipe could have remained with us perfectly.

On our young players, I trust Ruben Loftus-Cheek and Nathan Aké as more credible to be in our starting eleven options. Aké can be important in Watford, but RLC is a big mystery now. He has unique qualities, one of those selected players, but he has to change certain aspects of their behavior, being more aggressive and fight every play like it's the last play of his life.

After them there are players like Kenedy, Nathan, Traore, Solanke .... which are very interesting, but in the short term (one year) they (IMO) will not have many opportunities with us.

I think we still have time to sign Isco. He has a salary of two million euros a year with Real Madrid. For example, Coentrao (a totally useless player) has a salary of four million per season. Isco has a very low wage. With a normal salary inside our squad he would improve his salary significantly. And we could offer him a fixed place in our starting eleven.

But I think that a signing as Willian Carvalho, despite his small injury, would be fantastic. A player to play close to Matic, and to be his backup. A player to win trophies.

There are few market days, but I think that Roman and Jose have reacted in time.

Regards.

[ice-boy 165]

The champions are reeling after a dismal start to the season but José Mourinho did not get where he is by crumpling at the first hint of trouble

http://www.theguardian.com/football/blog/2015/aug/17/chelsea-losses-stack-up-jose-mourinho

Pretty much what I believe.

We are still good, will recover and win it.

City don't scare me right now despite beating us. Getting KDB might level the playing field for them and give us a better challenge, but even then I still think we are good enough to win it again.

So not really worried.

Totally agree with u mate. We just need to win 2-3 next games and we are all set. I hope we will see new arrivals.