The Mourinho Thread

[Barbara 15,149]

I think Benitez provided with a 'style' that got some prompt results (not even that really) and proved to struggle at occasion (Europe and big matches). It's progress from what Robbie left (tactically nothing), but I don't think it was worth continuing that. Mourinho has a much better system in place getting 'outstanding' results if we take into consideration we don't have one single player at the top of their form while as said by @remains of the day Benitez had a few (and it wasn't only those).

There's so much a system can work when we have ALL players playing average with eventual exceptions in some matches. So Hazard, Willian, JT, Oscar, Ramires had a few really good matches in the almost 30 we've played so far, whereas Benitez had at least half the team playing their best individual football at the end of last season. Still José's results overall are better (or feel better) with a team that can't play good football because individually they're all underwhelming.

That's the only comparison I can have. The system is good, the high pressing combined with attack oriented system works really well imo. It did in October. What doesn't work at all is the players turning half-heartedly for matches, or being out of form, or being too inconsistent and inconstant.

Mourinho needs to figure it out. His job as a manager includes people's skill to make those guys more consistent (and in some cases even motivated to play). That's one of his failures so far. He doesn't seem to have control over this squad... none whatsoever. In Portuguese we say a manager has the team on his hand and working for the manager. I feel only JT, Frank, Essien, Gary, Petr, Willian, Azpili, Oscar and maybe Ivanovic fit the description. The rest doesn't seem to be that much sold in Mourinho's ideas (Mourinho more than once said - and even Holland too in one of his conferences that players are now accepting his ideas. WTF? They should accept it promptly and see if it works and if doesn't then have an honest talk about the issues. Mourinho is their boss).

So seeing how we have so many players not turning up and we still have issues with our strikers, I think our results are outstanding qualifying first in UCL (even if we had a very easy group) and being two points behind the leaders on EPL. If Mourinho had the players on top of their game like Benitez had the last 3-4 months of his tenure, we'd be leading EPL by half dozen points.

[The_Flash 1,144]

Please tell me who. Who said they want Rafa now and not José? I would pay for you to give me one (credible) name of who said that.

It was just some guys who live in my street I found it highly amusing they were the same guys who were mouthing off we don't want the Liverpool manger

Is this true? Lmao, some people have short memories.

I know pretty sad

[Tomo 21,754]

Funny some who slagged him I've heard saying they wished he was still here :/

All i keep hearing now, is how we played such great football under Benitez.

Didn't hear it once when he was here, but now he's gone we were playing great football under him, funny that

[The_Flash 1,144]

All i keep hearing now, is how we played such great football under Benitez.

Didn't hear it once when he was here, but now he's gone we were playing great football under him, funny that

Exactly, lol, fickle so*s

[Sheva. 5,373]

All i keep hearing now, is how we played such great football under Benitez.

Didn't hear it once when he was here, but now he's gone we were playing great football under him, funny that

You don't know what you got, till it's gone?

[The_Flash 1,144]

Lol

[Reddish-Blue 2,701]

I think Benitez provided with a 'style' that got some prompt results (not even that really) and proved to struggle at occasion (Europe and big matches). It's progress from what Robbie left (tactically nothing), but I don't think it was worth continuing that. Mourinho has a much better system in place getting 'outstanding' results if we take into consideration we don't have one single player at the top of their form while as said by @remains of the day Benitez had a few (and it wasn't only those).

There's so much a system can work when we have ALL players playing average with eventual exceptions in some matches. So Hazard, Willian, JT, Oscar, Ramires had a few really good matches in the almost 30 we've played so far, whereas Benitez had at least half the team playing their best individual football at the end of last season. Still José's results overall are better (or feel better) with a team that can't play good football because individually they're all underwhelming.

That's the only comparison I can have. The system is good, the high pressing combined with attack oriented system works really well imo. It did in October. What doesn't work at all is the players turning half-heartedly for matches, or being out of form, or being too inconsistent and inconstant.

Mourinho needs to figure it out. His job as a manager includes people's skill to make those guys more consistent (and in some cases even motivated to play). That's one of his failures so far. He doesn't seem to have control over this squad... none whatsoever. In Portuguese we say a manager has the team on his hand and working for the manager. I feel only JT, Frank, Essien, Gary, Petr, Willian, Azpili, Oscar and maybe Ivanovic fit the description. The rest doesn't seem to be that much sold in Mourinho's ideas (Mourinho more than once said - and even Holland too in one of his conferences that players are now accepting his ideas. WTF? They should accept it promptly and see if it works and if doesn't then have an honest talk about the issues. Mourinho is their boss).

So seeing how we have so many players not turning up and we still have issues with our strikers, I think our results are outstanding qualifying first in UCL (even if we had a very easy group) and being two points behind the leaders on EPL. If Mourinho had the players on top of their game like Benitez had the last 3-4 months of his tenure, we'd be leading EPL by half dozen points.

The thing about Benitez was that he didn't have as many options as Mourinho.

Benitez had to rely on Hazard, Mata, Oscar and Moses....and in most games, the attacking midfielders played well.

The biggest problem is that, even after Benitez left, the board/manager did not address the key problem in central-midfield

Maybe if MVG wasn't injured, things would be different...but honestly, you can't expect to dominate the opposition with an ageing Lampard, Ramires, the slow Mikel and an ageing Essien.

We had the transfer window to buy a proven CM/DM...but instead we decided to buy a young CM & three attacking mids (including Atsu on loan at Vitesse)...

[Tomo 21,754]

You don't know what you got, till it's gone?

I thought Benitez did a good job under the circumstances, i said so at the time. But every time we lose a game or don't play well i see a few post's saying "well Rafa did this, Rafa did that".

It's like we didn't lose at home to QPR, or blow 2 goal leads against newly promoted teams, or come within minutes off getting dumped out of the FA Cup by a League one side.

[Sheva. 5,373]

I thought Benitez did a good job under the circumstances, i said so at the time. But every time we lose a game or don't play well i see a few post's saying "well Rafa did this, Rafa did that".

It's like we didn't lose at home to QPR, or blow 2 goal leads against newly promoted teams, or come within minutes off getting dumped out of the FA Cup by a League one side.

Our squad now is better than at this stage last season where we only had Torres as striker and Oscar was still adapting and playing average. We used to rely on Hazard and Mata for inspiration every game.

Yet we played better football - occasionally it should be said - than anything we have done this season. We put 8 past Villa and scored 3,4,5, several other games.

I was expecting an improvement this season with a better manager, and more depth, but attacking wise we have somehow regressed.

Defensively though we were doing just fine till last few weeks; now everyone panics when the opposition enter our half, and make silly mistakes.

[Tomo 21,754]

Our squad now is better than at this stage last season where we only had Torres as striker and Oscar was still adapting and playing average. We used to rely on Hazard and Mata for inspiration every game.

Yet we played better football - occasionally it should be said - than anything we have done this season. We put 8 past Villa and scored 3,4,5, several other games.

I was expecting an improvement this season with a better manager, and more depth, but attacking wise we have somehow regressed.

Defensively though we were doing just fine till last few weeks; now everyone panics when the opposition enter our half, and make silly mistakes.

TBH i believe Villa last season has been the only top, top match we have had since the double winning season, and what i mean by top, top is the kind performances we saw regularly between 04-10, we are still to this day paying the price for giving youth too big a role in the squad (which is rather ironic) in 2010.

What (for me) summed up the last few years was last season's match at Anfield, we created nothing against a team managed by Brendan Rodgers who is hardly known for his defensive solidarity in teams, while Liverpool in the 2nd half cut us open at will.

[Blue Armour 4,759]

All i keep hearing now, is how we played such great football under Benitez.

Didn't hear it once when he was here, but now he's gone we were playing great football under him, funny that

After that Sunderland result, I remembered that Carling CUP semi against Swansea last season...did we even score in any of the two legs?

[ZOS 580]

The thing about Benitez was that he didn't have as many options as Mourinho.

Benitez had to rely on Hazard, Mata, Oscar and Moses....and in most games, the attacking midfielders played well.

The biggest problem is that, even after Benitez left, the board/manager did not address the key problem in central-midfield

Maybe if MVG wasn't injured, things would be different...but honestly, you can't expect to dominate the opposition with an ageing Lampard, Ramires, the slow Mikel and an ageing Essien.

We had the transfer window to buy a proven CM/DM...but instead we decided to buy a young CM & three attacking mids (including Atsu on loan at Vitesse)...

and now they're trying to sign an other Ramirez when we're clearly in need of a Gundogan or an Alonso

[nofacej 132]

I think we should move Luiz into the midfield again in a 4-3-3. This would free up Lampard to make more forward runs and hopefully score more goals, and might even make us more defensively stable. So much of our success over the years has come on the back of Lampard's goals, and without a reliable striker the reduced number of them is felt all the more. I also wonder if Mata might not be a decent option as a false 9. He probably has the best finishing of any of our attacking mids and he offers the least defensively of any of them. It's got to be worth at least a try given our strikers aren't scoring often enough, Mata isn't being utilised much, and with just one substitution we can swap either Mata or Luiz for a Striker and end up with our currently preferred setup.

I will probably get ridiculed for this formation, but here it is anyway:

-----------Cech-----------

Ivan--Cahill--Terry--Azpi

----Ramires---Luiz-------

------Lamps/Oscar------

Moses------------Hazard

-------Mata/Torres-------

It's not a long term solution, but until we find a reliable source of goals freeing up Lampard might be our best option in the short term.

[lionsden 4,689]

All i keep hearing now, is how we played such great football under Benitez.

Didn't hear it once when he was here, but now he's gone we were playing great football under him, funny that

Atleast rafa never described or presented those terrible/boring performances as free flowing attacking football unlike Jose. he might have said we played well when we didn't but he never once championed a false notion regarding our style of football.

[bushman 2,043]

On Monday, Jose´s undefeated streak is on line against the nipper of Arsenal.

I hope, Jose comes up with something to keep his streak going.

[hjperdeath 2,226]

Terrible performance. Haha.

[bushman 2,043]

No matter whether Jose has trouble at Chelsea, the team is not scoring..all was said here, Rafa was not, is not or will not be a better manager than Jose. Despite of Jose´s attitude, this guy is a master tactician. No one can match his skills, no Pep, no Rafa, no red nosed Alex, I feel.

[The_Flash 1,144]

I thought if anyone could help them score it would be Jose, but even he isnt a miracle worker, noone else could make them score anymore. They are done. It is unfair, Moyes is getting all the praise for a winning team starting to win. Jose is getting all the criticism for s*** strikers playing s***

[Mouri_Matic 560]

No matter whether Jose has trouble at Chelsea, the team is not scoring..all was said here, Rafa was not, is not or will not be a better manager than Jose. Despite of Jose´s attitude, this guy is a master tactician. No one can match his skills, no Pep, no Rafa, no red nosed Alex, I feel.

Hmm I agree about Rafa but not sure about Pep and Sir Alex, Pep actually dominated Jose when he first came to Madrid, Jose really only got the better from 11-12 on ward and there is a reason why almost every top team last season went after him. While Sir Alex is just one of the best manager in football history, maybe even in top 3?

[bushman 2,043]

Hmm I agree about Rafa but not sure about Pep and Sir Alex, Pep actually dominated Jose when he first came to Madrid, Jose really only got the better from 11-12 on ward and there is a reason why almost every top team last season went after him. While Sir Alex is just one of the best manager in football history, maybe even in top 3?

Rafa is no comparison, I feel. As for Pep. Well, do not forget Barca under him were unbeatable, no team had more talent & in top form Messi, then.

Red nosed Alex was very good, but Jose had beaten him on many occasions. Even at Real, last time.

To me, Jose as a tactician, no one is better.