The Mourinho Thread

[Barbara 15,149]

Ok but on the successfull Mourinho Team, he had better defensive midfielders.

And at Inter, he had three forwards who could run quite a lot, Eto'o and Milito or outmuscle opposition with Pandev. Cambiasso Motta in midfield were comfortable sitting quite deep and are good passers.

Except Schurrle, who have we who is glad to run a lot after the ball. And our midfield is the shittiest Mourinho has had.

And we play with a central defense sitting deep who puts more pressure and work on our midfield, they have to run a lot more.

It's not a squad for Mourinho.

Mata and Hazard will not play like they were under Benitez where the team was more compact and with quicker movements around them.

The defense sitting so deep is a huge problem for me as it slow our build-up too much and is making easier for the opponents to close down our players.

Luiz breaking from defense integrated in a system is a plus , not like Saturday where it's improvised and because he was pissed.

Completely disagree with that. The combo of Ronaldo + Ozil is so much better than any dream of Mata and Hazard, it's like light years ahead of them and they absolutely flourished under José. Even di María + Ozil gives Mata + Hazard a run for their money because ignoring ceilings, potential and all that stuff, di María had a more consistent (meaning less ups and downs) season than Hazard [injury aside] and really, comparing Mata and Ozil is only possible when Mesut is too focused partying or completely uninterested otherwise there's also no comparison. He's better than Mata in very possible aspect (as a #10). The rest of this post is not a response to you, but to many posts here (just to clarify).

The only team in the world more attacking prone (or natural) than Real Madrid is Dortumund and that's debatable. And the Real Madrid I've watched under Mourinho is one of the most exciting teams to watch playing, but he didn't find the perfect system for the team in half a dozen matches. I'll start quoting my own posts from 2 months ago because they fit more now than ever.

Now if you guys were happy with what Benitez did tactically four months down the road and that is barely winning against Europa League competition and fighting until the last round for an EPL third place, then be my guests and carry on the comparisons. Rafa has always been aware he was an interim that should present the short-term result. He failed saving the team in the UCL (although let's be fair, there wasn't much he could have done, we were already on brick of being knocked out in the groups stage), with a lot of difficulty and some serious dangerous and lucky matches we finished 3rd 2 digits behind the champions and we struggled royally against the likes of Europa League in a couple of matches - in addition to the losses, that is. So make your pick. Choose the short-term and Mourinho sucks for not continuing with the oh-so-efficient tactics that proved to give us such amazing results - titles wise. Also let's be practical. All Mazacar, Benitez or whoever you want to throw in the equation won us was a EL title. Not even one of the domestic cups they were capable of bringing. So I really can't understand why people are whining about us last season when we had one of the worst seasons in recent years.

When a few of us kept saying the goals this season shouldn't be too high nearly the whole forum agreed - a few us said QF/SF in UCL and top 3 in EPL and there were a lot of people agreeing that was reasonable and realistic. Five matches later and people are complaining through their pores saying all kind of BS about our players, our board and our manager. Five matches... really I try to make up my mind around that all the BS I read here is because of five matches, but I fail to understand how that is even possible...

[TrippingStep 336]

Completely disagree with that. The combo of Ronaldo + Ozil is so much better than any dream of Mata and Hazard, it's like light years ahead of them and they absolutely flourished under José. Even di María + Ozil gives Mata + Hazard a run for their money because ignoring ceilings, potential and all that stuff, di María had a more consistent (meaning less ups and downs) season than Hazard [injury aside] and really, comparing Mata and Ozil is only possible when Mesut is too focused partying or completely uninterested otherwise there's also no comparison. He's better than Mata in very possible aspect (as a #10). The rest of this post is not a response to you, but to many posts here (just to clarify).

The only team in the world more attacking prone (or natural) than Real Madrid is Dortumund and that's debatable. And the Real Madrid I've watched under Mourinho is one of the most exciting teams to watch playing, but he didn't find the perfect system for the team in half a dozen matches. I'll start quoting my own posts from 2 months ago because they fit more now than ever.

Now if you guys were happy with what Benitez did tactically four months down the road and that is barely winning against Europa League competition and fighting until the last round for an EPL third place, then be my guests and carry on the comparisons. Rafa has always been aware he was an interim that should present the short-term result. He failed saving the team in the UCL (although let's be fair, there wasn't much he could have done, we were already on brick of being knocked out in the groups stage), with a lot of difficulty and some serious dangerous and lucky matches we finished 3rd 2 digits behind the champions and we struggled royally against the likes of Europa League in a couple of matches - in addition to the losses, that is. So make your pick. Choose the short-term and Mourinho sucks for not continuing with the oh-so-efficient tactics that proved to give us such amazing results - titles wise. Also let's be practical. All Mazacar, Benitez or whoever you want to throw in the equation won us was a EL title. Not even one of the domestic cups they were capable of bringing. So I really can't understand why people are whining about us last season when we had one of the worst seasons in recent years.

When a few of us kept saying the goals this season shouldn't be too high nearly the whole forum agreed - a few us said QF/SF in UCL and top 3 in EPL and there were a lot of people agreeing that was reasonable and realistic. Five matches later and people are complaining through their pores saying all kind of BS about our players, our board and our manager. Five matches... really I try to make up my mind around that all the BS I read here is because of five matches, but I fail to understand how that is even possible...

Well, I'm not a fan of Terry and Ivanovic as right back in our back 4, it means defense in the backfoot and not pushing while defending.

And the reason while I say we should have kept Benitez is because if he was the Chelsea coach and had his wishes, I'm sure we would have bought central midfielders.

And he did also a good job to give some pace back in some players like Torres and Hazard by changing a bit the physical training.

And ok, you are making a lot of excuses for Mourinho but Benitez had to take a team during a season when we played every three days, with a very thin squad, with many players already in their knees and in a downward spiral. With so few days between matches that means not many long training sessions, he still changed a lot the way we played, we had good patterns of run and interchange of position in the finalt third of opponents and on corners, set pieces, very good patterns to free a man like the ivanovic goal in the final, the terry goal against Steaua and some others I don't remember.

I didn't agreed with some of his initial selections in the first matches but in the last 3-4 months, I really liked the way we played and the many beautiful actions that were obviously rehearsed during the training sessions as the timing of runs and interchange of positions cannot be as clears as they were if improvised.

What I like the most was that the defense was pushing higher and were not backtracking to their box as the first option, the way we dominated Arsenal in the first half with great pressing game, great off-side trap, I enjoyed it.

Ronaldo is the best athlete in the game and for me Ozil was playing better in the German national system.

[hjperdeath 2,226]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_g4j0vSEm4s

[Special Juan 27,111]

Our manager is fucking class.

[Fulham Broadway 16,436]

Top analogy from Mr Portugeezer.

I am eggspectant now for the season, and look forward to watching Hatch of the Day.

[Special Juan 27,111]

Top analogy from Mr Portugeezer.

I am eggspectant now for the season, and look forward to watching Hatch of the Day.

You gotta be yolking.

[Fulham Broadway 16,436]

You gotta be yolking.

Really eggciting times ahead now

[Laylabelle 9,305]

He does like eggs comparsions

[Fernando 6,387]

hmmmm not impress.

Just like AVB, promise so much but it's leaving me wanting more.

[Leif 6,006]

I think he was right to downplay the whole 'special one' tag as much as he could when he returned. We're not going to see much special until a lot of our players mature.

[Heisenberg 1,824]

Keep calm, its September.

[Rmpr 8,977]

I dont want to overreact, but that is the second straight game he makes some very weird changes.

Anyways, still has 110% of my support! Lets turn things around...

[Fernando 6,387]

Keep calm, its September.

Fuck keep calm.

All this fuss to get him back and we are total shit!

[Kojo 4,676]

We where great at keeping the ball this time, it really does make a big difference when Ramires isn't playing.

I wish he never took Willian off, he was making the difference and he was the biggest threat out there, they had seemed to gain confidence since he went off.

[Heisenberg 1,824]

Fuck keep calm.

All this fuss to get him back and we are total shit!

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

[Henrique 9,133]

Hope people will realize Jose is not this kind of supernatural manager everybody think he is.

[Fernando 6,387]

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

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!

[Cosmin 2,484]

Now with Mourinho we gone totally backward.