The Mourinho Thread

[OhForAGreavsie 6,058]

its not just my opinion, its the fact. want to see the number of goals and the percentages of the total goals we have conceded down the right flank in the last year?

No I don't, I've seen all of the games and that's enough for me to form my opinion.

Seeing is only a part of the the thing. What you don't know is whether any alternative choices would have made things better or worse. You clearly think there were positive alternatives but you do not know. It's just opinion.

No matter how angry anyone gets I'm not going to trade their opinion for Jose's.

[OhForAGreavsie 6,058]

what makes me right is the fact that we conceded both our goals down the right flank.

what makes me right is the fact that iva got raped by montero and sterling.

i guess you need to watch a match to know that. jose has earned the right to have his judgment put into effect cos he always made the hard decisions to back himself up. replacing courtois with cech, replacing lamps etv etc. somehting he is not doing with iva and cesc.

May I ask you something please, something completely off topic?

That r word should not be used casually. Sexual violence has significantly increased in recent years. There are many reasons for that. The normalising of that word may not be one of them but it clearly is not a part of the solution so it may be a part of the problem. The word rape describes an horrific crime. It is not my place to police what words you, or anyone else, uses but I hope you won't be offended if I ask you to join me in trying to find other ways to talk about football. If avoiding that word helps just a little bit then I think that, as men, you and I can take pride in making a contribution to the solution.

[OhForAGreavsie 6,058]

May I ask you something please, something completely off topic?

That r word should not be used casually. Sexual violence has significantly increased in recent years. There are many reasons for that. The normalising of that word may not be one of them but it clearly is not a part of the solution so it may be a part of the problem. The word rape describes an horrific crime. It is not my place to police what words you, or anyone else, uses but I hope you won't be offended if I ask you to join me in trying to find other ways to talk about football. If avoiding that word helps just a little bit then I think that, as men, you and I can take pride in making a contribution to the solution.

The performances of those two, and others besides, do seem to be problematic. The implication of many of your posts is that you don't believe Jose can see that. I do not accept this. If you and I can see it then Jose certainly can too. Diagnosing the problem however is just stage one. Next Jose would need to believe he has better alternatives available. One thing is seeing the problem, another thing is fixing it. This is where judgement comes in.

As you've pointed out, Jose fixes problems. This is part of the reason that he has my confidence. It remains to be seen if my current opinion is right but that opinion is that Jose will be here a long time and that he will make those who are presently frustrated by his decisions very happy in the long run. Very happy indeed. He knows what we know but there is no magic wand. Some of the answers are not available today and may not be available tomorrow either. Jose will move the squad forward in time and we will be better.

[Madmax 9,219]

May I ask you something please, something completely off topic?

That r word should not be used casually. Sexual violence has significantly increased in recent years. There are many reasons for that. The normalising of that word may not be one of them but it clearly is not a part of the solution so it may be a part of the problem. The word rape describes an horrific crime. It is not my place to police what words you, or anyone else, uses but I hope you won't be offended if I ask you to join me in trying to find other ways to talk about football. If avoiding that word helps just a little bit then I think that, as men, you and I can take pride in making a contribution to the solution.

Off topic, but you have a way with words. Do you work in a capacity that has you dealing with people a lot?

[LDN Blue 7,903]

From winning the league to 'transition' hahahahhah what...do you guys know what transition means? so basically from now on every season we are gonna be trophyless is a 'transition'? transition is when your whole team need changing like after 2011-12 season where we bought virtually a whole new team, that is transition. Signing a couple of players to make the squad stronger is not transition, in fact I thought last season was meant to be the start of a 'dominant' period where we win lot of titles.

It is ok just to admit maybe we are not that good if we end up trophyless and it has NOTHING to do with transition as we still have arguably the 2nd best squad in the league behind City and possibly still top 5-10 squad in Europe.

And I kindly disagree with that.

Transition doesn't mean you have to change the whole team, it means you're changing important areas of it. You're denying it to yourself if you don't consider that replacing 3/4 of our back 4 is a transition. Hell you can even argue 5 because this is Courtois' second season but now he's contending with a new look defensive lining. So why isn't that a transition? We've already had one in sorting out our attack, from the days of the horrendously dubbed "Mazacar" or whatever it was, we know seem to have an established attack in Costa, Hazard, Pedro, Willian/Oscar. We built a new team last season but that doesn't mean it's not continuing into this season.

[MrBlueGuy 1,552]

And I kindly disagree with that.

Transition doesn't mean you have to change the whole team, it means you're changing important areas of it. You're denying it to yourself if you don't consider that replacing 3/4 of our back 4 is a transition. Hell you can even argue 5 because this is Courtois' second season but now he's contending with a new look defensive lining. So why isn't that a transition? We've already had one in sorting out our attack, from the days of the horrendously dubbed "Mazacar" or whatever it was, we know seem to have an established attack in Costa, Hazard, Pedro, Willian/Oscar. We built a new team last season but that doesn't mean it's not continuing into this season.

Well we are gonna be signing 3-4 new players every year so looks like we are gonna be in for a lot of 'transition' soon. Transition imo is when you have a new manager with a new system and lot of new players who are not familiar with it so it is understandable if it takes a year or so, most of our starting 11 have been with Mou for sometime so this reason cannot be used anymore imo.

Also even if it is 'transition' it doesn't mean we can't challenge for the title because our transition squad still are 2nd best in the league, if MU who signed even more players than us can challenge then we can too. Let's say Costa does his hamstring again this year and next season we sign Cavani/Higuain/Benzema or whoever or if Oscar/Willian leaves for us to sign Koke/Pogba, are we in for another transition again then?

This is not transition, this is 'gradual improvement' or at least that is what I would have called it, which is an established team getting improvement in small numbers over time. Like I said transition sometime is valid but most of the time it is used as an excuse for an underwhelming season, usually a transition team don't manage to win the league the season before at a canter anyway.

[LDN Blue 7,903]

Well we are gonna be signing 3-4 new players every year so looks like we are gonna be in for a lot of 'transition' soon. Transition imo is when you have a new manager with a new system and lot of new players who are not familiar with it so it is understandable if it takes a year or so, most of our starting 11 have been with Mou for sometime so this reason cannot be used anymore imo.

Also even if it is 'transition' it doesn't mean we can't challenge for the title because our transition squad still are 2nd best in the league, if MU who signed even more players than us can challenge then we can too. Let's say Costa does his hamstring again this year and next season we sign Cavani/Higuain/Benzema or whoever or if Oscar/Willian leaves for us to sign Koke/Pogba, are we in for another transition again then?

This is not transition, this is 'gradual improvement' or at least that is what I would have called it, which is an established team getting improvement in small numbers over time. Like I said transition sometime is valid but most of the time it is used as an excuse for an underwhelming season, usually a transition team don't manage to win the league the season before at a canter anyway.

The only reason I use the word 'transition' is because we've had this back 4 now for a good while now. Terry and Cahill particularly have been in their partnership for years and now it seems as if they're both going to be replaced simulatenously.. That I believe warrants calling it a transition because this in itself does bring a new system. Terry's lack of pace has been accomodated for years, but in Stones and Zouma we've got a backline that's comfortable on the ball and will probably play a higher line.

I never said by this we can't challenge for the title. I truly believe we're going to be in the title race until the end of the season and whether we retain the Premer League or we don't I think we can call it a transition (if Terry and Cahill are being replaced by Zouma and Stones that is.)

[Iggy Doonican 4,186]

I think today's performance has been scrutinised well on the forum so i don't have to much to add. What concerns me again is Mourinho's arrogance resurfacing again. Someone said on this forum that Mourinho's refusal to answer a question was genius or some other ridiculous superlative. He's asked a reasonable question ''Why was Cahill dropped? his answer '' I don't have to answer that''. Err yes you do mate you can be rude and brusque with journalists but you do realise that us as Chelsea fans we would like to know these answers as well. And more then anyone else the 3,000 odd fans who went to West Brom for an early kick off in the pissing down rain they should be entitled to answers to what was a basic team selection question.

[didierforever 7,349]

The performances of those two, and others besides, do seem to be problematic. The implication of many of your posts is that you don't believe Jose can't see that. I do not accept this. If you and I can see it then Jose certainly can too. Diagnosing the problem however is just stage one. Next Jose would need to believe he has better alternatives available. One thing is seeing the problem, another thing is fixing it. This is where judgement comes in.

As you've pointed out, Jose fixes problems. This is part of the reason that he has my confidence. It remains to be seen if my current opinion is right but that opinion is that Jose will be here a long time and that he will make those who are presently frustrated by his decisions very happy in the long run. Very happy indeed. He knows what we know but there is no magic wand. Some of the answers are not available today and may not be available tomorrow either. Jose will move the squad forward in time and we will be better.

nope. you have got it all wrong.

i have always implied that jose can see and jose does know what the problems are. but despite seeing and knowing he is not making the appropriate changes. hence that has made me question his priorities.

for eg - why was cesc on the pitch today but not pedro. how exactly could a slow and tired and defensively poor cesc be a better option to cover for ivanovic's defensive liablity than pedro?

like i said, makes me question his priorities.

in another post u said that there is no knowing is the alternative would be better. fair enough, but playing zouma as a RB instead of iva who is also basically a CB turned RB does not seem a bad option. also, it does not matter if the alternative is better or not. sometimes, u need to do things just for the sake of it. ivanovic should have been dropped no matter what after his disastorous 2 matches to give him a kick up his backside. instead he seems to have got reassurance that his place is confirmed no matter how shit he performs.

anyone on that has been on this forum can attest to the fact that i was a blind jose follower and before today i would have said and agreed everything that u have said. but unfortunately, jose seems to be not following the things he himself recommends. he says every player must earn his place. infact he has transferred players cos they apparently did not want to fight for their place. but on the other hand, our starting 11 does not seem to have an ounce of merit to it. our starting 11 seems to be fixed no matter what if those ABC players are available.no one is asking for a magic wand moment. i am not asking for bamford, RLC, ake to start getting first team minutes every weekend. all i am asking is that our starting 11 to not be written in stone but have some sense of merit to it.

[pHaRaOn 2,131]

I think today's performance has been scrutinised well on the forum so i don't have to much to add. What concerns me again is Mourinho's arrogance resurfacing again. Someone said on this forum that Mourinho's refusal to answer a question was genius or some other ridiculous superlative. He's asked a reasonable question ''Why was Cahill dropped? his answer '' I don't have to answer that''. Err yes you do mate you can be rude and brusque with journalists but you do realise that us as Chelsea fans we would like to know these answers as well. And more then anyone else the 3,000 odd fans who went to West Brom for an early kick off in the pissing down rain they should be entitled to answers to what was a basic team selection question.

On the other hand, I bet opposition managers also would like to know it before the game, so they can adapt their game plan.

[MrBlueGuy 1,552]

On the other hand, I bet opposition managers also would like to know it before the game, so they can adapt their game plan.

Haha ok 10 mins before kick off, lightning change in tactic, all week preparation in the bin anyway. Basically everything he does is defended to death, nothing is ever wrong, nothing at all like for example playing Ivanovic today who was at fault for the 2nd goal and nearly gave away another later when he kept backing off.

[pHaRaOn 2,131]

Haha ok 10 mins before kick off, lightning change in tactic, all week preparation in the bin anyway. Basically everything he does is defended to death, nothing is ever wrong, nothing at all like for example playing Ivanovic today who was at fault for the 2nd goal and nearly gave away another later when he kept backing off.

It was about 40 minutes before kick-off and no one talking about completly change of tactic.

[MrBlueGuy 1,552]

It was about 40 minutes before kick-off and no one talking about completly change of tactic.

OK but point still stand how can he gives a reason about Cahill being dropped will help them? 'I think he wasn't that good last week so today I am giving him a break and Kurt a chance', there you go 1 simple line which no one can question.

[zolayes 14,489]

My idea of transition would be bringing in young players to replace older ,, some would claim we are doing this but Im not convinced

[MrBlueGuy 1,552]

My idea of transition would be bringing in young players to replace older ,, some would claim we are doing this but Im not convinced

Well the young are replacing the older...

on the bench