The Mourinho Thread

[OhForAGreavsie 6,057]

That results are not normal for a big team, and only teams like Real Madrid, Barcelona can do something lie that. Real Madrid because they spent more than 500M€ in players, Barcelona because they had 3 or 4 incredible players in the cantera like Messi, Xavi and Iniesta and they spent millions in the last years with 100M€ for Neymar, 80M€ for Suarez, 80M€ for Ibra, etc.

Chelsea never had something like that in the last 12 years, Arsenal also, Man United even with ROnaldo and ROoney coudn't do that.

That's not normal and you need a ton of money to have a team like that.

ANd yes... having Bale, Ronaldo, James, Isco, Benzema, Jesé, Modric, Kroos, or having Ozil, Di Maria, Ronaldo, Modric, or Messi, Xavi, Iniesta, Neymar, Suarez, garantees you a standard of football that you can'r reach without those players.

It's the reality. Stop dreamming about Madrid when we spend half the money they spend.

Well said, and it's not just the money. As we all know, these clubs have an attraction that others can't match.

While Roman was once free to pay whatever fees and salaries he wanted, any player with the opportunity to join one of the Spanish giants would virtually always take it. Throw in a cultural preference for Spain among the best Latin players, FFP, the once very favourable Spanish tax system, plus UK work permit regulations and our clubs are not competing on a level playing field.

It is a simple truth that truly great teams are based on the talents of great players. When the majority of such players prefer to play for the same sides, the notion that other clubs can outmatch them over a sustained period is unrealistic.

[kellzfresh 7,229]

It's not just the money spent, it's the quality of players in the starting line-up and on the bench.

[Iggy Doonican 4,186]

What's that got to do with the price of cheese? You can only beat what's put out in front of you. I'd be more concerned if he was only beating teams of that ilk by the odd goal in three, but instead his sides show they can absolutely ravage sides when in the mood (Swansea home and away this season are perfect examples).

But that's exactly what we've been doing.2-1 against Stoke, 3-2 against Hull, 1-0 against West Ham, 2-1 against Villa, 1-0 against QPR 2-1 at the Bridge , 2-1 against Palace , 2-1 against the might of Shrewsbury, 1-1 against Burnley. We've hardly been putting these so called lesser clubs to the sword have we?

[stroey 2,525]

But that's exactly what we've been doing.2-1 against Stoke, 3-2 against Hull, 1-0 against West Ham, 2-1 against Villa, 1-0 against QPR 2-1 at the Bridge , 2-1 against Palace , 2-1 against the might of Shrewsbury, 1-1 against Burnley. We've hardly been putting these so called lesser clubs to the sword have we?

Your glass of water is always half empty, forget about 6-0 vs Arsenal last season.

This season:

3-0 Aston villa

6-3 Everton

5-0 Schalke

5-0 Swansea

3-0 Spurs

6-0 Maribor

And a bunch of matches won with 2 goals difference.

[CurlyHairLikeLuiz 1,625]

But that's exactly what we've been doing.2-1 against Stoke, 3-2 against Hull, 1-0 against West Ham, 2-1 against Villa, 1-0 against QPR 2-1 at the Bridge , 2-1 against Palace , 2-1 against the might of Shrewsbury, 1-1 against Burnley. We've hardly been putting these so called lesser clubs to the sword have we?

When we played Hammers they were talking about making the Champions League, Stoke had a one in a million goal and Hull were gifted one goal. Palace are currently in fantastic form, Shrewsbury wasn't exactly our strongest team, and Burnley have been doing one over nearly all of the top 8 sides.

[Iggy Doonican 4,186]

When we played Hammers they were talking about making the Champions League, Stoke had a one in a million goal and Hull were gifted one goal. Palace are currently in fantastic form, Shrewsbury wasn't exactly our strongest team, and Burnley have been doing one over nearly all of the top 8 sides.

The point is Alex said he'd be worried if we were only beating teams by the odd goal and that's exactly what we are doing. We played West Ham on the fourth of March they might have had an outside chance of the Europa League then but the Champions League that's laughable. I've got a couple of West Ham mates and not once did they mention making the Champions League. You don't think Remy's goal against Hull wasn't a gift to cancel out Courtois one?. (Sorry fucked up the editing this is a reply to Curly)

[Jase 43,479]

But that's exactly what we've been doing.2-1 against Stoke, 3-2 against Hull, 1-0 against West Ham, 2-1 against Villa, 1-0 against QPR 2-1 at the Bridge , 2-1 against Palace , 2-1 against the might of Shrewsbury, 1-1 against Burnley. We've hardly been putting these so called lesser clubs to the sword have we?

This.

Your glass of water is always half empty, forget about 6-0 vs Arsenal last season.

This season:

3-0 Aston villa

6-3 Everton

5-0 Schalke

5-0 Swansea

3-0 Spurs

6-0 Maribor

And a bunch of matches won with 2 goals difference.

And are people seriously going to 'cry' over 1-goal margin victories? People are acting as if the big teams don't win games by the odd goal in a season. All the big teams have that every year and yet from the constant moaning, you would think we are the only ones winning by 1 goal and doing so in every game. What's worse is that, it feels people have forgotten what happened in the first half of the season when we were blowing teams away and winning 2-0s (bigger margin wins). It's like they are only looking at the second half of the campaign and use it to justify whatever perception they have formed beforehand on Mourinho - to say he's being defensive, only bother with winning games 1-0 etc.

[BlueLion. 21,491]

But that's exactly what we've been doing.2-1 against Stoke, 3-2 against Hull, 1-0 against West Ham, 2-1 against Villa, 1-0 against QPR 2-1 at the Bridge , 2-1 against Palace , 2-1 against the might of Shrewsbury, 1-1 against Burnley. We've hardly been putting these so called lesser clubs to the sword have we?

And yet we've still beaten them, especially at times when it means the most. That's what good things do.

If you want style and substance all year round then the Prem ain't the league for you, I'm afraid. It just doesn't happen, for a multitude of reasons including the fact that the so-called "lesser teams" aren't even that bad, and the so-called "big teams" are, in truth, little better than bang average compared to the likes of this season's UCL semi-finalists.

If our season was flipped around and we started with 1-0s and ended up with 6-3s and 4-2s, we'd be called the most exciting team in England. That's exactly what happened in 2009/10. We beat Hull 2-1 on the opening day, we then went to places like Wigan and Villa and got flogged. We just happened to end the season with a string of 7-0s and 8-0s against abysmally shit teams with nothing left to play for. 38 games of 5-3 scorelines just doesn't happen in England.

I don't know about you, but I enjoy tight and tactical 1-0s, like last weekend's game against United, far more than a 4-3.

[Iggy Doonican 4,186]

This.

And are people seriously going to 'cry' over 1-goal margin victories? People are acting as if the big teams don't win games by the odd goal in a season. All the big teams have that every year and yet from the constant moaning, you would think we are the only ones winning by 1 goal and doing so in every game. What's worse is that, it feels people have forgotten what happened in the first half of the season when we were blowing teams away and winning 2-0s (bigger margin wins). It's like they are only looking at the second half of the campaign and use it to justify whatever perception they have formed beforehand on Mourinho - to say he's being defensive, only bother with winning games 1-0 etc.

This all stemmed from Alex saying we are not winning by the odd goal in games when clearly we are. It would be pretty churlish to argue with any win regardless of how a game pans out. But the fact is winning and playing negative football the ends justify the means but next season questions will be asked if we play negative football and lose.

[Blue Colored Sky 1,807]

This.

And are people seriously going to 'cry' over 1-goal margin victories? People are acting as if the big teams don't win games by the odd goal in a season. All the big teams have that every year and yet from the constant moaning, you would think we are the only ones winning by 1 goal and doing so in every game. What's worse is that, it feels people have forgotten what happened in the first half of the season when we were blowing teams away and winning 2-0s (bigger margin wins). It's like they are only looking at the second half of the campaign and use it to justify whatever perception they have formed beforehand on Mourinho - to say he's being defensive, only bother with winning games 1-0 etc.

But it's very important to keep in mind that we were good as long as Fabregas was good. Everybody knows that he's fantastic player in first half of the season but drops very significantly in the second half. And that's the story about Chelsea.

It's not another rock to Mourinho's garden (I don't know if in English is such phrase ?_) but I want to say that we still need 2 quality midfielders to prevent such huge drop.

Fabregas will always be half-season player, sadly.

[BlueLion. 21,491]

This all stemmed from Alex saying we are not winning by the odd goal in games when clearly we are. It would be pretty churlish to argue with any win regardless of how a game pans out. But the fact is winning and playing negative football the ends justify the means but next season questions will be asked if we play negative football and lose.

The point is Alex said he'd be worried if we were only beating teams by the odd goal and that's exactly what we are doing. We played West Ham on the fourth of March they might have had an outside chance of the Europa League then but the Champions League that's laughable. I've got a couple of West Ham mates and not once did they mention making the Champions League. You don't think Remy's goal against Hull wasn't a gift to cancel out Courtois one?. (Sorry fucked up the editing this is a reply to Curly)

No you totally missed my point. I was referring to your comment when you talked about his goalscoring record at Madrid. Seems you got the wrong end of the stick, but maybe I didn't make myself very clear. My point was at Real, with that team, you'd be worried if he wasn't killing teams because of his team. I'm saying Mourinho's tactics are indicative of the squad he has - at Madrid, he had a bunch of world-beaters and he massively underperformed, IMO, although Barcelona were in their absolute pomp at that time. At Chelsea he has several "functional" players at best which severely limits our attacking ability. The fact we're only beating these sides in the manner we are is down to Mourinho making a fist out of a relatively bad hand. I have no idea how we're 9 points clear, I truly don't.

[Jase 43,479]

This all stemmed from Alex saying we are not winning by the odd goal in games when clearly we are. It would be pretty churlish to argue with any win regardless of how a game pans out. But the fact is winning and playing negative football the ends justify the means but next season questions will be asked if we play negative football and lose.

Well, that part is down to interpretation. It's not a fact.

But it's very important to keep in mind that we were good as long as Fabregas was good. Everybody knows that he's fantastic player in first half of the season but drops very significantly in the second half. And that's the story about Chelsea.

It's not another rock to Mourinho's garden (I don't know if in English is such phrase ?_) but I want to say that we still need 2 quality midfielders to prevent such huge drop.

Fabregas will always be half-season player, sadly.

To say we only played well because of Fabregas is absolute nonsense. There are other several factors as to why our performances have dropped off in 2015.