The Mourinho Thread

[xPetrCechx 13,573]

...

[Ainsley Harriott 2,732]

Might be losing some of his mojo I'm afraid..

[OneMoSalah 8,886]

Needs to stop picking Lampard and Ivanovic for a start and needs to play Mata and Azpi. Team choices have been very strange at times. Obviously early days but it makes absolutely no sense to utilize Ivanovic at RB when he offers next to nothing going forward and is up against a very speedy player like Stocker or Salah. I hope Jose isn't just not playing Mata, Azpi and Torres to prove a point after all the problems with Spaniards in Madrid because if thats the case he might as well sell them.

[NishC300 1,865]

We just don't have much variety in the front 3. It's 3 of the same individual players, no team work, no fluidity.

[Muzchap 8,966]

For gods sake - MASSIVE overreaction again - Basel did this to Utd... They are in the CL - there are NO easy games.

It's gonna take time to get this squad playing as a cohesive unit

Keep the faith and stop bashing everything and everyone - it WILL work out - so what if we have a few more dogshit performances... That's what football is all about, supporting your team through thick and thin...

[Kojo 4,676]

He is no Harry Potter, he isnt a quick-fix manager.

[Blue Armour 4,448]

You win some, you lose some. In our case twice. In a row. Time to move on.

[Bosnian Blue 2,471]

Fair to say we looked better under Robbie, especially in terms of offence.

Jose has done all the talking, so many pressers, interviews, discussions, but on the pitch we don't see any potential sign of improvement. First 20 minutes against Hull and that was it. After that, we've seen the same old shit.

[Heisenberg 1,824]

We didn't need a quck fix.

That was what Benitez was for.

He had to endure all that shit leftover from RDM.

And we started to get better towards the end.

Now with Mourinho we gone totally backward. Playing a headless chicken game!

This is shit!

Benitez is a quick fix.

Mourinho is a builder, he'll build Chelsea, give him two years and we'll be again unstoppable.I thought you were mature enough to know that a fotoball team is a process, and now we are not ready to fight for anything, just like United back in 2004 for example.

[kellzfresh 7,229]

I'm now scared for us to play any team that sits back and counter attack.

We can't create a thing when this happens.

Anytime we put 2 strikers on, I change the channel cos I know we've lost the match. There's never any shape when that happens, never.

Our team has the lowest crossing among all europe's top football teams from what I've seen. And this is because mou has probably told our fullbacks not to bomb forward to provide width. All our Full backs especially ashley cole, have decided to do fuck all in attack. No communication between cole and hazard. I have never seen such poor understanding between two on the same flank, never.

Jose's subs are frustrating me like benitez now, honestly, we lose our shape and look clueless whenever he does that.

He should pick a starting 11 and stick with it, till some team chemistry is formed.

[xPetrCechx 13,573]

Fair to say we looked better under Robbie, especially in terms of offence.

Jose has done all the talking, so many pressers, interviews, discussions, but on the pitch we don't see any potential sign of improvement. First 20 minutes against Hull and that was it. After that, we've seen the same old shit.

Exactly.

[1chelsea 864]

This is what I call a good sign, let's go

[zolayes 14,489]

smell the coffee or the roses ,,but tonight it was just the stench of Hydrogen Sulphide

[Tomo 21,751]

We have never had fast starts under Mourinho. 04/05 upto Blackburn results covered some very sketchy performances and in 05/06 yes i know we won our first god knows how many games but it wasn't until Liverpool we started performing to standard.

If we are still playing like this, this time next month then get worried, but until then, see what happens.

The funniest thing is fans moan when Roman doesn't give manager's time, yet the same lot we over-react after a few games.

[Amblève. 4,995]

We have never had fast starts under Mourinho. 04/05 upto Blackburn results covered some very sketchy performances and in 05/06 yes i know we won our first god knows how many games but it wasn't until Liverpool we started performing to standard.

If we are still playing like this, this time next month then get worried, but until then, see what happens.

The funniest thing is fans moan when Roman doesn't give manager's time, yet the same lot we over-react after a few games.

You can go on about the team needing time to gel and stuff but a loss to a side like Basel in such an embarrassing way is not acceptable at all. Even at our lowest of lows we should manage to beat them, even if it means relying on a moment of genuine class from one of our players (which the likes of Hazard and Oscar should be capable of).

[Blue Armour 4,448]

We have never had fast starts under Mourinho. 04/05 upto Blackburn results covered some very sketchy performances and in 05/06 yes i know we won our first god knows how many games but it wasn't until Liverpool we started performing to standard.

If we are still playing like this, this time next month then get worried, but until then, see what happens.

The funniest thing is fans moan when Roman doesn't give manager's time, yet the same lot we over-react after a few games.

That's because its Mourinho...its just like Henrique said...a lot of uninitiated fans buy into the aura of invincibility that has been created around Jose, and now they're panicking when results haven't gone according to plan

Let's be honest, Jose is still learning more about this team, and what it can and can't do. Given time, a great manager like him should easily sort it out. That's not abnormal or unreasonable.

I'm already looking forward to the next game, and can't and won;t give 2 s**** about the couple of recent results.

[Tomo 21,751]

You can go on about the team needing time to gel and stuff but a loss to a side like Basel in such an embarrassing way is not acceptable at all. Even at our lowest of lows we should manage to beat them, even if it means relying on a moment of genuine class from one of our players (which the likes of Hazard and Oscar should be capable of).

Basle are a good team, they are in the CL for a reason, Man.Utd got 1 out of 6 against them, Spurs couldn't beat them. You rarely get mug sides in the Champions League these days, even the teams in pot 4 are strong.

These results happen in the Champions League, i could probably find one similar result all the top clubs have had in recent times, but im too tired and half cut to look, one on the top of my head tho, Barcelona 1-2 Rubin Kazan.

[Tomo 21,751]

That's because its Mourinho...its just like Henrique said...a lot of uninitiated fans buy into the aura of invincibility that has been created around Jose, and now they're panicking when results haven't gone according to plan

Let's be honest, Jose is still learning more about this team, and what it can and can't do. Given time, a great manager like him should easily sort it out. That's not abnormal or unreasonable.

I'm already looking forward to the next game, and can't and won;t give 2 s**** about the couple of recent results.

It's not just this time tho. i joined this forum just after the Wolves game under Carlo and there was a fair few calling for his head on the basis on 1 and half month of bad form. I remember their was floods of comments saying RDM was the wrong man after a pre season defeat to Brighton.

[Barbara 15,149]

I think it's not time for us to criticize starting eleven decisions - although subs are totally a different case - because he's been doing the tests to find the best team and the best style for us. I disagree with whoever said he needs to stop imposing himself because I don't feel that's what he's doing... He likes 4-2-3-1 - yes, but he isn't imposing it, he is testing it. While I like 4-3-3 better I think our wingers are being quite busy and creating plays - and that's the one thing that 4-3-3 has over 4-2-3-1 as the last three have more freedom while the 3 in the midfield play deeper and don't go too high to offer cover to the wingers - with the exception of the highest midfielder. But in the 4-2-3-1 although our wingers keep backtracking to defend - André is particularly awesome shutting down opponent's FB and wingers - they also have been very present in the attack, they have a lot of freedom to attack, so the formation itself seems more like a technical detail right now than the real issue.

Until he finds the best team to start the matches and make that formation work - even if it's the 4-3-3 formation - we'll see changes from one match to the other. It may take longer than we expect, who knows? But we need to be fair to him... technically and individually some of our best players are under-performing (Mata and Hazard) others are alternating great matches with capital mistakes or poor displays in others (Ramires, Cole, Lamps, Luiz) and there are players adapting (Kevin, André, Eto'o, now Willian too). So add the players bad performances to Mourinho's hit or miss attempts to find the best philosophy and we lose and draw matches. He's responsible, but I feel like he's not the only one and his mistakes are a consequence of his own adaptation to the squad and the definition of our style.

Selective memory people (yeah, their memory isn't short, just selective) seem to forget that both Robbie and Rafa also struggled during their first matches. It took Benitez four months (imo) to mold the completely mess that was Robbie's team. Why are people comparing Benitez work in the last months of his spell with Mourinho's first? How fair is that? It wouldn't be fair to compare their first months alone because Rafa was here to fix it and fix it soon, Mourinho is here to establish a philosophy that will guide us in the following years. One thing definitely takes more time than the other and mistakes are more prone in the latter as well. So the comparisons sound unfair, overreacting, and also pointless. Just my opinion though.

[zolayes 14,489]

Basle are a good team, they are in the CL for a reason, Man.Utd got 1 out of 6 against them, Spurs couldn't beat them. You rarely get mug sides in the Champions League these days, even the teams in pot 4 are strong.

These results happen in the Champions League, i could probably find one similar result all the top clubs have had in recent times, but im too tired and half cut to look, one on the top of my head tho, Barcelona 1-2 Rubin Kazan.

Sorry but Basle aren't a good team ... They are a below average CL side and at the Bridge SHOULD have been a guaranteed 3 points.

There can be NO disguising the fact that this was a terrible result and IMO the result was exactly what the performance deserved