The Mourinho Thread

[TrippingStep 336]

Look at Schurrle, Hazard, Oscar and Willian and you won't compare any of them to players like Silva, Ozil, Kagawa or Mata.

What those players have is great work-rate, pace and trickery. So we can score goals on counter and through individual brilliance, but not a lot of creativity there.

Mata is struggling this year. Silva had a difficult period at Manchester City where he underperformed and Kagawas hasn't performed at Manchester United.

The style of play of a team has a huge influence.

For me the Real Manchester United in the champion's league last year was a great example.

Manchester was sitting deep and Real was playing a waiting game and wasn't putting great pressure on Manchester Defence, Manchester didn't have to make many clearances. The first game was very boring, there was maybe just 10 minutes of real pressure and not many good attacking moves from Real.

[Sidzeret 2,257]

Something crossed my mind earlier today when I was reading an article on Ivanovic...

I feel like Mourinho is keeping Lampard, Ivanovic, Terry and Eto'o in the team because he feels like he needs the experience.

While Luiz isn't any kid, he has the eventual brain fart. Our AMs are all young and susceptible to inconsistency and may crack under pressure with the exception of Mata and Willian. Players like Ramires and Cahill while not that young, don't carry any leadership gene in their DNA and while they're hard workers and always put all of their hearts for the team.

So I feel like Ivanovic and Lampard, for example, may play more because José needs some sort of leadership, experience and back up in the team to handle pressure, the unfavorable moments in the matches or matches that aren't easy to find a way out of them.

Out of the whole squad the only guys who are this experienced and can back him up, but also are playing well are Cech, Terry and most recently Eto'o. Maybe José is playing a bit too safe because he doesn't trust the youngsters that much (to take ownership of the match, to take it on their hands to get out of the hole) and he feels they'll crack without the stability those older guys bring...

If that makes sense and that's the case, would the answer be taking some risks with the younger guys and the older guys that lack leadership such as Mikel, Azpili (who isn't even older actually) or should he back the youngsters up? Or would it be better to handle his 'eggs' with as much care and precaution as possible, waiting for them to mature at their own time, providing them a good environment for that with others supporting them even if some of those other players aren't on their best technical form?

As far as i can tell, that philosophy ain't working.

It's time to put faith in the youth and put performance as the criteria for squad selection.

Agreed, we need experience but i reckon we can always sub any cracking eggs during the match if we are in a sticky situation. Moreover we already have a lot of experienced players who are in great form like Terry, Ivan(ignoring the last game), Rami and Torres.

Having said that, we could see Rami running about and piling up red cards if he is not asked to calm down every now and then.

[ZOS 580]

Something crossed my mind earlier today when I was reading an article on Ivanovic...

I feel like Mourinho is keeping Lampard, Ivanovic, Terry and Eto'o in the team because he feels like he needs the experience.

While Luiz isn't any kid, he has the eventual brain fart. Our AMs are all young and susceptible to inconsistency and may crack under pressure with the exception of Mata and Willian. Players like Ramires and Cahill while not that young, don't carry any leadership gene in their DNA and while they're hard workers and always put all of their hearts for the team.

So I feel like Ivanovic and Lampard, for example, may play more because José needs some sort of leadership, experience and back up in the team to handle pressure, the unfavorable moments in the matches or matches that aren't easy to find a way out of them.

Out of the whole squad the only guys who are this experienced and can back him up, but also are playing well are Cech, Terry and most recently Eto'o. Maybe José is playing a bit too safe because he doesn't trust the youngsters that much (to take ownership of the match, to take it on their hands to get out of the hole) and he feels they'll crack without the stability those older guys bring...

If that makes sense and that's the case, would the answer be taking some risks with the younger guys and the older guys that lack leadership such as Mikel, Azpili (who isn't even older actually) or should he back the youngsters up? Or would it be better to handle his 'eggs' with as much care and precaution as possible, waiting for them to mature at their own time, providing them a good environment for that with others supporting them even if some of those other players aren't on their best technical form?

sorry for the french but .. fuck this experience bs, what's the 'experience' of an old slow bear to a young tiger, huh? ... if we are not winning games then we should at least be phasing out the old guys ... even if jose succeeds in making hazard and mata more defense conscience, the chelsea way (i.e. deep in our own half) its would only be with a trade-off of their attacking potential ... but, that aint even the problem, Jose had said, to my excessive delight, I might add, that he wants to play a high line defense with a lot of pressing to be done by the entire AMs and DMs ... the crazy thing is that he expects Lamaprd to do the pressing ...

[Styles 9,790]

Have to be honest; everything I feared is kinda happening. As cliché as it sounds I'm hoping for the best but preparing for the worst. We really aren't improving at all - not in any significant/tangible way, in my opinion - if anything we're getting worse.

[Special Juan 27,439]

Won't be long until a lot will be pressing the panic button.....Jose out and all that malarky.

[zolayes 14,489]

the pre season was promising NEVER a good sign

[Special Juan 27,439]

I think we are relegation material, it's between us, Palace and Fulham for the drop.

[Styles 9,790]

I think we are relegation material, it's between us, Palace and Fulham for the drop.

Think we'll be safe but we need to get to 40 points asap.

[HD3D 1,038]

Have to be honest; everything I feared is kinda happening. As cliché as it sounds I'm hoping for the best but preparing for the worst. We really aren't improving at all - not in any significant/tangible way, in my opinion - if anything we're getting worse.

Jesus Christ, just 1 week ago we were the best team in the PL and nobody could stop us. We have 2 bad games and all of a sudden the season is over, we have lost everything, we are heading to second division, we are the worst team in Europe and we're in another major crisis (even though there still isn't a single club in the PL that currently looks more dangerous than us).

I swear 7 out of 10 people in this forum suffer from some kind of bipolar disorder. Next week we win a game 4-0 and we're the best team in the world again.

Whatever...

[manpe 10,861]

Jesus Christ, just 1 week ago we were the best team in the PL and nobody could stop us. We have 2 bad games and all of a sudden the season is over, we have lost everything, we are heading to second division, we are the worst team in Europe and we're in another major crisis (even though there still isn't a single club in the PL that currently looks more dangerous than us).

I swear 7 out of 10 people in this forum suffer from some kind of bipolar disorder. Next week we win a game 4-0 and we're the best team in the world again.

Whatever...

Just typical TalkChelsea for you, nothing to get excited about. You're fairly new, you'll get used to it (and later sick of it).

[Korea 734]

Think we'll be safe but we need to get to 40 points asap.

He was being sarcastic...

[Sidzeret 2,257]

I think we are relegation material, it's between us, Palace and Fulham for the drop.

Nah, pretty sure we can beat the drop

[Jase 43,479]

He was being sarcastic...

Think Styles was being sarcastic with his response too...

[Henrique 9,133]

Jesus Christ, just 1 week ago we were the best team in the PL and nobody could stop us. We have 2 bad games and all of a sudden the season is over, we have lost everything, we are heading to second division, we are the worst team in Europe and we're in another major crisis (even though there still isn't a single club in the PL that currently looks more dangerous than us).

I swear 7 out of 10 people in this forum suffer from some kind of bipolar disorder. Next week we win a game 4-0 and we're the best team in the world again.

Whatever...

To be honest I don't remember serious people in this forum saying such a thing. I can't remember as well people from press saying we were the best.

Since the beginning of the season the team is playing like shit.

[TorontoChelsea 4,064]

To be honest I don't remember serious people in this forum saying such a thing. I can't remember as well people from press saying we were the best.

Since the beginning of the season the team is playing like shit.

It's true. We haven't played well all year. We've been lucky to be where we are in the league, we've had a super easy CL group and we've ground out some results, but we've rarely played well for more than one 10-15 minute stretch in a game.

[Sidzeret 2,257]

It's true. We haven't played well all year. We've been lucky to be where we are in the league, we've had a super easy CL group and we've ground out some results, but we've rarely played well for more than one 10-15 minute stretch in a game.

Also nobody from our attacking department have been performing consistently for more than 2 games max.

[Reddish-Blue 2,358]

Also nobody from our attacking department have been performing consistently for more than 2 games max.

Yeh but to be fair, if the attacking midfielders keep changing, how do you expect them to perform consistently?

Jose needs to pick his best three AM's and stick with them. Personally, I'd go with Schurrle - Oscar - Hazard/Willian

[Sidzeret 2,257]

Yeh but to be fair, if the attacking midfielders keep changing, how do you expect them to perform consistently?

Jose needs to pick his best three AM's and stick with them. Personally, I'd go with Schurrle - Oscar - Hazard/Willian

Exactly our problem this season.