The Mourinho Thread

[robsblubot 3,502]

Managers only tell the truth in press conferences when it suits them. They will always work morale and protect the players somehow (diluting blame is typical) esp in press conferences. In other words, Managers lie as they are paid to say "the right" things.

They can also put pressure on them, like when he said he made 11 mistakes, or the game was easy (both untrue). It's just their job.

[The Mak 4,459]

Think a couple of you guys should apply to become a manager, seriously what the fuck do any of you guys know how to set up a team? None of us do, so stop bitching. It's clear we need 1 or 2 players more for Mourinho's system/philosophy so just deal with it until then. 11 games into a season.

Are we actually already seeing fans calling the manager deluded?

From his appointment people knew this was a team in transition, and the trouble areas are still to be addressed. What we need is patience and a commitment to the belief that he is the best man for the job. I still think he is.

And yes, I know today was frustrating but that's part of supporting a football club. You don't get instant success anymore, it takes time but to see some types of supporters turning aiming these barbs at the manager is a little hysterical.

May as well close this thread then, because no one is allowed to criticise Mourinho or air their feelings on the matter...

To slag off players 20 minutes into the second half of matches?

To slag off the home support from thousands of miles away?

Classic snide, 'holier than thou' comment from you. You'd seriously want to grow up sometimes...even though I know now you'll probably want to say something like 'Some people on here need to grow up blah, blah, blah' but some of your comments seriously make you seem like a closeted bigot. They're the antithesis of the very nature of what a forum is supposed to be, especially as one as multicultural as this.

[bushman 2,043]

One may ask the following ? What exactly has changed under Jose ? His project of beautiful football does not work, at all.

I know, what had changed though. Roman spent another 50 millions.

[CHOULO19 24,332]

Unfortunately, he's got it wrong again. Azpi at LB against WBA at home?! And why does he have to wait for us to concede to make the change? That goal had been coming for over 10 minutes. It was so obvious that they were going to score, make a change and stop it! Why start Lampard if you're going to sub him off in every match after he has done practically nothing?!

As for the tactics, he's trying to enlist a certain system, but unfortunately reality does not agree with his theory. We just CANNOT play this system against teams that will park the bus with the Iva and Azpi (on the left) as our fullbacks! Jose likes inverted wingers, we all know, but with a LB who is afraid of his left foot and and a RB who gave more balls to the other team than to his teammates, it is incredibly easy to defend against us. And WBA weren't that good. They weren't as bad as Newcastle, but they weren't good. heir defensive organization would have easily been had we had any sort of width.

I won't criticize his comments because I know that he was only saying that to stop the media from writing about WBA being cheated tomorrow (which they were). I hope that he is not serious about "good performance" thing and he's only saying that because he doesn't want to slag off the players two games in a row.

Fair criticism is fine, but some of the comments you find on here are absolutely laughable at times especially after a bad result.

The problem with that is that everyone mistakes their judgement on whether or not a criticism is "Fair" for facts. After all, if someone is making a a criticism, then surely he must think that it is fair.

[Blue Armour 4,278]

'I'm satisfied, the attitude in the first half was the correct one, be patient, wait for a mistake, wait for space. In the second half the first goal was our mistake, the second one was a referee mistake, which is part of football as well, and after that our reaction was either die or fight for life,' he said.

You see. The slow start game after game is just part of Jose's plans. Awesome.

I agree that the team should be patient with the ball and keep possession when trying to break down a defense like WBA's , but our methods for breaking them down were incorrect. Passing the ball to Ivanovic every single time was a useless tactic. Mourinho himself has said earlier there was no-one to head the ball in from crosses, so I don't know why he kept pressing with that tactic.

[Blue Armour 4,278]

Unfortunately, he's got it wrong again. Azpi at LB against WBA at home?! And why does he have to wait for us to concede to make the change? That goal had been coming for over 10 minutes. It was so obvious that they were going to score, make a change and stop it! Why start Lampard if you're going to sub him off in every match after he has done practically nothing?!

As for the tactics, he's trying to enlist a certain system, but unfortunately reality does not agree with his theory. We just CANNOT play this system against teams that will park the bus with the Iva and Azpi (on the left) as our fullbacks! Jose likes inverted wingers, we all know, but with a LB who is afraid of his left foot and and a RB who gave more balls to the other team than to his teammates, it is incredibly easy to defend against us. And WBA weren't that good. They weren't as bad as Newcastle, but they weren't good. heir defensive organization would have easily been had we had any sort of width.

I won't criticize his comments because I know that he was only saying that to stop the media from writing about WBA being cheated tomorrow (which they were). I hope that he is not serious about "good performance" thing and he's only saying that because he doesn't want to slag off the players two games in a row.

The problem with that is that everyone mistakes their judgement on whether or not a criticism is "Fair" for facts. After all, if someone is making a a criticism, then surely he must think that it is fair.

That's why we need a new CM. He obviously doesn't trust Mikel's qualities in attack, and Lampard doesn't do much in defense. Its better if he experiments with someone else in the pivot, like Essien or Luiz until a new CM is bought.

[CHOULO19 24,332]

That's why we need a new CM. He obviously doesn't trust Mikel's qualities in attack, and Lampard doesn't do much in defense. Its better if he experiments with someone else in the pivot, like Essien or Luiz until a new CM is bought.

It's not about qualities in attack at all. What Jose wants is a midfield that interchanges roles and positions. He wants Oscar to drop deep to receive the ball and thus create space for Rami and Lampard to make forward runs into. Mikel's game, on the other hand, is about positional discipline and protecting the back four first and foremost. Jose doesn't think that that works with his system, I personally disagree. On any account, I think it has been very clear that having Mikel's positional discipline is A LOT better than than having Frank making ineffective runs and being out of position on defense.

[Blue Armour 4,278]

It's not about qualities in attack at all. What Jose wants is a midfield that interchanges roles and positions. He wants Oscar to drop deep to receive the ball and thus create space for Rami and Lampard to make forward runs into. Mikel's game, on the other hand, is about positional discipline and protecting the back four first and foremost. Jose doesn't think that that works with his system, I personally disagree. On any account, I think it has been very clear that having Mikel's positional discipline is A LOT better than than having Frank making ineffective runs and being out of position on defense.

Yes, I think for this match considering how much impact Lampard made with his runs, Mikel would have been a better option to start with. That way he wouldn't have had to make changes to the team at half-time to protect/recover the lead.

[zolayes 14,489]

Nightmare scenario end of season AVB's team above J M's AND it could happen .....

FUCKKKKKKKKKKKK the SCREAMING Ad dabs Rodgers team above J M as well

good night all sweet dreams ............

[CHOULO19 24,332]

Yes, I think for this match considering how much impact Lampard made with his runs, Mikel would have been a better option to start with. That way he wouldn't have had to make changes to the team at half-time to protect/recover the lead.

The thing with playing Lampard is that when the opposing team have a good patch in the match, which is inevitable in every match, they will completely run over our midfield and dominate us until the momentum changes again.

Today, when WBA went forward and gain momentum for the first time in the match, they kept us in our own half for over 10 mins until they scored and that's because we had no one who can keep the ball under pressure and play the simple pass forward to release the pressure.

Why I also like Mikel in games these is that because he sits back wins most of the cleared balls in midfield and has excellent pass completion, he allows us to keep the opposition in a smaller portion of the field than they would like and forces them to play even deeper.

There really are no more excuses for why Jose keeps playing Frank.

[carefreeluke 27]

I'm going to have to download this and watch it later.

However, I'm currently watching the Schalke game and I take today was more of the same. We're not creating enough these days, it's the complete opposite from last season. The reason why is because we're not making enough effective forward passes and it's not because we don't have the players capable of doing that efficiently in the pivot (as a lot of Chelsea fans would say) I'd disagree with that. It's because there's a lack of movement from the forward players. There's no fluidity from the forward players no more therefore it's easy for teams to defend against us. The movement/interchanging last season from the three behind the striker brought us space, now we're too rigid and disciplined.

The only real time we create chances for ourselves nowadays is when we win the ball high up the pitch, our pressing brings us chances. I agree we should have better quality in the pivot but the real problem lies with how we set up these days, not the personal we play.

The disciplined, less fluid shape we have now could also explain why the likes of Mata and Hazard have been poorer this season

[zolayes 14,489]

The thing with playing Lampard is that when the opposing team have a good patch in the match, which is inevitable in every match, they will completely run over our midfield and dominate us until the momentum changes again.

Today, when WBA went forward and gain momentum for the first time in the match, they kept us in our own half for over 10 mins until they scored and that's because we had no one who can keep the ball under pressure and play the simple pass forward to release the pressure.

Why I also like Mikel in games these is that because he sits back wins most of the cleared balls in midfield and has excellent pass completion, he allows us to keep the opposition in a smaller portion of the field than they would like and forces them to play even deeper.

There really are no more excuses for why Jose keeps playing Frank.

MIKEL MIKEL MIKEL ....yes pity we dont have 25 Mikels

[CHOULO19 24,332]

MIKEL MIKEL MIKEL ....yes pity we dont have 25 Mikels

I'm not even the one who brought Mikel into the discussion. I was just answering the point he raised about Mikel

[zolayes 14,489]

I'm not even the one who brought Mikel into the discussion. I was just answering the point he raised about Mikel

you seem to mention MIKEL in every thread

[CHOULO19 24,332]

you seem to mention MIKEL in every thread

That's not even close to being true. In fact, this is the first time I've mentioned Mikel today. You seem to have a selective memory.

[The_Flash 1,144]

Again NOT JOSE'S FAULT. They play great then lose to Newcastle, play great then come so close to letting ***** WBA win for the feet time in 35 yrs here.

There is no reason to it, Jose I am sure does the same and I can't explaon what the team are doing one minute brilliant the next terrible. We will never win the league like this. Jose was fight if anyone had a right to be annoyed at the ref was us, he was a joke to us.

Again NOT JOSE'S FAULT. They play great then lose to Newcastle, play great then come so close to letting ***** WBA win for the first time in 35 yrs here.

There is no reason to it, Jose I am sure does the same and I can't explain what the team are doing one minute brilliant the next terrible. We will never win the league like this. Jose was fight if anyone had a right to be annoyed at the ref was us, he was a joke to us.

[Fernando 6,453]

Again NOT JOSE'S FAULT. They play great then lose to Newcastle, play great then come so close to letting ***** WBA win for the first time in 35 yrs here.

There is no reason to it, Jose I am sure does the same and I can't explain what the team are doing one minute brilliant the next terrible. We will never win the league like this. Jose was fight if anyone had a right to be annoyed at the ref was us, he was a joke to us.

So when we win Mourinho is a genius but when we lose its not his fault?

You win collectively and lose collectively.

We praise players when they do good and criticize when they do bad.

No one should have a double standard measure.

[The Skipper 20,593]

if anyone had a right to be annoyed at the ref was us, he was a joke to us

Bar the Ivanovic 'foul' which led to their second goal (which I still believe had more to do with Ivanovic's lack of ability to effectively attack) the referee got us the result. Not sure how anyone could say the ref was a joke to us, in the last 10-20 minutes he gave nearly everything our way.

We have no right to be annoyed at the ref.