The Mourinho Thread

[Barbara 15,149]

@Tomo, Mourinho already is the only reason why we are where we are. Why do I say the only and not the main? Most of our signings this summer aren't playing often. Sometimes it's Schurrle, sometimes it's Willian. Marco and Kevin are off, and Eto'o's goals and contributions aren't that significant which means Mourinho has been working mainly with the players that were already here for a season or two and where were we last season and the one before it at the end of the calendar year? My point exactly.

While we didn't have exceptional players at some points and we've been facing the same deficiencies in our squad for a few years now, still Mourinho made the difference basically with the guys that were already here. One could argue - and it's a very valid point - that Oscar and Hazard are fully adapted now whereas they weren't last season. But let's not forget how amazingly Eden played for us until the United match. We won matches early last season because of him and still we were 11 points or something behind the leader at the end of 2012. So we had a killing Hazard early the season that won us matches and still we were out of the title race as soon as December ended.

Of course I'm not dismissing the players' role in our current position, they're the ones who win matches and lose them, but we all know what a difference a manager can make and I think in our case Mourinho does it because not only we're tactically miles better than we've been in years, but also he's recovered Terry, he's improved Oscar, Hazard, Cahill andTorres a lot (and it has nothing to do with adaptation in the new guys' case). We have a confident Lampard, a better Ramires and I think Schürrle also benefited from Mourinho even if I can't say much from his Leverkusen days. I can talk about Schürrle based on what I saw in pre-season and early this season and then I compare it to the player he was from October on. It even affected his national team performance imo (have been following Germany closely the past couple of years). So it's not only the tactic system we have - which is very efficient and entertaining imo, but also how he works individually with those players and he just improves them. Hazard had absolutely nothing on his defensive game that was worth mentioning. He's one of our best pressing players nowadays, he tracks back effectively and not only to add a number in the lines in our half.

So I credit Mourinho more than anyone in our position 2 points behind an Arsenal side that has the same manager and the same players (sans Ozil, but he only adds to the mix) brewing for years now and who are now florishing. We're one point behind a Manchester City side that has an incredible attack force and by far the best pivot in England (if not in Europe) managed by an experienced, attack minded guy. I'm not saying we're inferior to Arsenal or City squad wise because I think we're superior the former and as good as the latter. The thing is we have deficiencies in critical areas (pivot and attack) that they don't have. Their squads aren't as deep as ours, but we're only deep in defense and attacking midfield. We don't even have first team material strikers and we have literally a half-decent pivot. Our pivot players don't compliment and complement each other, which is why we're so terrible there. Still we've been working around those two critical weaknesses and some defense blips and we've been just there with those guys from the start. I'm thankful Mourinho is here, words can't say how much.

[zolayes 14,489]

Dear Jose: A Liverpool fan's open letter to Chelsea boss Jose Mourinho after Luis Suarez 'diver' attack

http://www.mirror.co.uk/all-about/chelsea%20fc#ixzz2oztwzpKF

:D

I didnt realise how good Macafee was ,,,it blocked me from reading that link .....

[robdog 2,084]

Schürrle also benefited from Mourinho even if I can't say much from his Leverkusen days. I can talk about Schürrle based on what I saw in pre-season and early this season and then I compare it to the player he was from October on. It even affected his national team performance imo (have been following Germany closely the past couple of years).

Just to support your argument here about Zie German, Well Jogi Löw has already said that Schürrle has improved in his time w/ Chelsea. The reason has to be the influence of The Special One. Look @ Eto'o. He hated Chelsea, but when he saw Jose was returning Eto'o knew he could get in on a last chance of Glory. However if he makes more silly plays like he did in the 2nd half of the l'puke match, he can rot on the bench. No reason to put Webb in that place to make that decision. Jose has the lads dialed in & the rest of the league needs to beware.

[Fernando 6,743]

excuse me the double post, but this deserves a post of its own.

This man is a legend in this club, but most of all, he's indeed one of us.

x

x

When I first read these sentences by him I expected him to have said them laughing, joking. But look at his face... he's dead serious.

here's the vid: http://yvett.es/post/71624536131/when-i-retire-in-75-years-old-i-go-to-be-a

See if for one moment he's laughing. He isn't. I mean, ofc he's not serious about becoming a pundit, but he's serious about how those guys are biased and we'll never defend Chelsea or even talk positively about us.

ONE OF US!!!!

[The_Flash 1,144]

I love all those gifs, and I love Jose

[Ainsley Harriott 2,732]

Need I say something? Those subs

We're starting to hit our stride, and it's looking good.

[Special Juan 28,864]

Double subs changed the game, he has balls Jose, he doesn't mess about.

[Peppen 934]

Class act, Jose.

[The Skipper 20,609]

Hats off to Jose for seeing that Mata out wide wasn't working at all especially against Shaw and Lallana. Great subs that won us the game (especially Oscar, dude was in inspired form, he plays like that and he's our undisputed number 10 by far).

I thought our best 11 (give or take Lampard and Luiz) played today when he threw on Oscar and Willian. I'm also now beginning to see patterns in our forward play, triangles and squares, good link up play... That first half vs. Liverpool and the game today against Southampton (where we could've scored so much more, could've easily been 4/5-0 if Torres had his shooting boots) were the best I've seen us play in a long, long time.

Glad to finally be seeing some progression, it's all I want from this season - for the foundation of the team to start taking shape, for us to start creating an identity. I don't really care much if we win trophies or not.

[Laylabelle 9,754]

Made the right call!Love it

[Phil Driver 503]

All those who doubted Mourinho hang your heads in shame ,this fella is special ,enjoy the ride and well done to the home crowd for insisting on his return.

[The_Flash 1,144]

That sounded very honest about Oscar, although so many teams would have got the penalty.

[Sidzeret 2,257]

Better late than never. Everything is falling into place. A good transfer window and we are well on our way for the title.

Hats off, Jose

[Fernando 6,743]

It's good to see this thread without all the trolls.

Mourinho shut them up once again! :-)

[The_Flash 1,144]

The Special One

[Laylabelle 9,754]

Awwww.His car air freshener looks like him to.Sort of

[Toli 977]

great subs. Only think I couldnt understand why he kept playing Mata as a RW while we had Eden on the pitch?!

[Peace. 4,352]

great subs. Only think I couldnt understand why he kept playing Mata as a RW while we had Eden on the pitch?!

Well, I am not 100% sure, but...

As someone was wondering during the game "why is he on the wing while he is our slowest AM ?", it gotta be said that he is also the worst when it comes to defensive contribution. Furthermore, our pivot is not setting the world on fire — far from it. It happens that when Mata plays in the middle, there is a huge gap in the middle of the parc ; between him and the pivot ; which allow the opposition to overflow us in midfield.

Thus I believe that Mourinho has played Mata down the right wing to nullify as much as possible his deficiency in defensive duties, and as a consequence to not lose the midfield battle. We also have to take into account that Azpilicueta was the right back and Ramires can give a hand on that right side (thanks to his mobility).

To conclude, Mourinho did not play Mata on the right wing in order to make Mata look bad as some people were saying (*shake my head*), but rather because it was where his defensive flaws would less hurt the team — I guess...

[The Skipper 20,609]

Well, I am not 100% sure, but...

As someone was wondering during the game "why is he on the wing while he is our slowest AM ?", it gotta be said that he is also the worst when it comes to defensive contribution. Furthermore, our pivot is not setting the world on fire — far from it. It happens that when Mata plays in the middle, there is a huge gap in the middle of the parc ; between him and the pivot ; which allow the opposition to overflow us in midfield.

Thus I believe that Mourinho has played Mata down the right wing to nullify as much as possible his deficiency in defensive duties, and as a consequence to not lose the midfield battle. We also have to take into account that Azpilicueta was the right back and Ramires can give a hand on that right side (thanks to his mobility).

To conclude, Mourinho did not play Mata on the right wing in order to make Mata look bad as some people were saying (*shake my head*), but rather because it was where his defensive flaws would less hurt the team — I guess...

You could be right, but he shouldn't have started Mata on the right considering Southampton's main threat (Shaw & Lallana) are on that flank and most attacks were going through them. Fortunately though he realised this and brought on Willian who is excellent defensively. The fact that Shaw went off at HT also helped - although Clyne is still a decent replacement, Clyne wasn't fully fit. Coupled with the fact that Willian is great at tracking back and that Azpi had a great game defensively, it really stopped So'ton from threatening.

[Rubber bullets 1,183]

Its good to see Mourinho actually trying to do the minumum of winning the Premier league title and playing good football without hiding bheind the whole "we're in transition crap".