The Mourinho Thread

[Mouri_Matic 560]

But like I said and many have said, IF HE CAN GUIDE US TO A WIN AT ARSENAL next week, then all is forgiven. But as it stands it is likely we will get wiped there the same way City did to themselves today.

[Mouri_Matic 560]

Mate, don't try and talk down to me.

I understand the concept of a forum. There is a lot of unjust criticism for a team 2 points off the top.

Fair play to United fans, I don't see many of the throwing their toys out the pram.

They actually do...Check out their Red Cafe and MU talk forums. LOL poll already on whether Moyes should be sacked and majority voted yes.

[NishC300 1,865]

The worst part is people who complain about fans treating Mourinho as god are the ones who hate him for no reason and come up with constant negative and biased criticism.

Mate are you judging Mourinho based on what he's achieving now or what he achieved 6-8 years ago? It's been a poor start and we aren't much better than last season (and we have more players than last season and we have players who have gained experience).

The way things are going we're spiraling downwards like the Cypriot economy.

This time next year

Newcastle are in the top half, Stoke are a tough away match at the best of the time, it's not even close to losing at home to one of thee worst teams ever in PL.

Regarding the other points, AVB still had a multimillionaire squad full off winners, he shouldn't have had us outside the top 4, never in a million years. Also AVB has had £100m to spend in the summer for Spurs (the fact he got twice what he should have for Bale shouldn't be an excuse, just like Liverpool getting £50m for Torres shouldn't excuse the fact Kenny wasted money on average journeyman) and upto a few weeks back averaged one open play goal every two games.

We have been getting by on individual moments for years now, how many games since the double have we had a top, top, top match? Aston Villa at home last season, other than that i can't genuinely think of one

I accept thing's haven't been great this season, but this myth that things was all garden and roses last season is hilarious, i remember watching us face Liverpool at Anfield, we created nothing all game, all this nice supposed on the eye football and we created fuck all against a team with a manager who is hardly known for defensive solidarity.

We had our moments last season, but i wouldn't say we were playing nice football on a consistent basis, far from it.

We built a reputation last season of being a side that plays attractive football, we've all but almost lost that. We haven't played any attractive football this season (oh 45 mins v Hull and 20 mins v Villa). Remember how last season (RDM and Rafa) we used to always play neat 1-2s? Little side-heels, back-heels. It was so awesome! Last season against Nordsjaelland and Villa we were almost creating a chance every second and the football was top class!

This season we made games vs Crystal Palace and Steaua Bucharest at home seem like title games......

[Tomo 21,681]

But like I said and many have said, IF HE CAN GUIDE US TO A WIN AT ARSENAL next week, then all is forgiven. But as it stands it is likely we will get wiped there the same way City did to themselves today.

That's good then, every time i have heard we are going to get hammered, we either win or draw when we should have won. It's all becoming a bit too predictable.

[Mouri_Matic 560]

That's good then, every time i have heard we are going to get hammered, we either win or draw when we should have won. It's all becoming a bit too predictable.

The only game that had been surprise this season from us is that Bayern game, I thought we were gonna get hammered then but we somehow survived. the rest have all been predictable. Actually some predictable became unpredictable and it is for the worse...

[Alan Partridge 1,124]

Too much drama here for me

[NishC300 1,865]

How do you know? he featured in 4 of the 8 matches before his injury, 3 of the one's he didn't being at Old Trafford, Goodison and against Bayern Munich.

And regarding KDB, do you think if Rafa stayed he would have played him ahead of Mazacar and Schurrle? never in a million years. Rafa played Moses a lot for the sake of team balance, Schurrle would start every single match if Rafa was still here.

Sake of balance? We parked the bus against Basel (who we brushed aside last season) and played negative vs United (who drawing with now seems embarrassing considering Newcastle, West Brom and Everton have won there )

Rafa allowed Nathan Ake to play and even tried Oscar in the pivot vs Sunderland. Who says he wouldn't have given KDB a chance?

[Tomo 21,681]

Mate are you judging Mourinho based on what he's achieving now or what he achieved 6-8 years ago? It's been a poor start and we aren't much better than last season (and we have more players than last season and we have players who have gained experience).

The way things are going we're spiraling downwards like the Cypriot economy.

We built a reputation last season of being a side that plays attractive football, we've all but almost lost that. We haven't played any attractive football this season (oh 45 mins v Hull and 20 mins v Villa). Remember how last season (RDM and Rafa) we used to always play neat 1-2s? Little side-heels, back-heels. It was so awesome! Last season against Nordsjaelland and Villa we were almost creating a chance every second and the football was top class!

This season we made games vs Crystal Palace and Steaua Bucharest at home seem like title games......

At the start of the season, for a little bit. I didn't see this "pretty football" on a consistent basis, we had our fair share of games when we looked clueless and never looked like doing anything (Swansea away twice, West Brom, Reading away, Saints away, City away, QPR home, Liverpool away, City home, Fulham home, West Ham away, CWC final, Stuena away, Prague home, a number of matches off the top of my head were we were complete and utter horseshite and devoid of ideas, i can't remember many fancy flicks and 1-2's in those games).

[Rmpr 8,977]

People expecting transition without poor performances? Well abandon thread. See you lot next season.

What? No one said that!

But transition isnt signing all the wrong players, transition isnt playing absolutely poor defense week in week out, transition isnt an inability to play well against crap opponents, transition isnt loaning out a promissing striker and trusting an almost retired grandpa, etc...

[Tomo 21,681]

Sake of balance? We parked the bus against Basel (who we brushed aside last season) and played negative vs United (who drawing with now seems embarrassing considering Newcastle, West Brom and Everton have won there )

Rafa allowed Nathan Ake to play and even tried Oscar in the pivot vs Sunderland. Who says he wouldn't have given KDB a chance?

We parked the bus against Steuna (who we brushed aside this season) and played negative at Eastlands, what was it 3 shots and 1 on target?

I wasn't a Rafa hater, infact i found myself in a position where i was defending him half the time, but we had some god awful games under him, as bad as anything we have had this season, something that seems to have been forgotten just because were not blowing teams away this term.

[NishC300 1,865]

At the start of the season, for a little bit. I didn't see this "pretty football" on a consistent basis, we had our fair share of games when we looked clueless and never looked like doing anything (Swansea away twice, West Brom, Reading away, Saints away, City away, QPR home, Liverpool away, City home, Fulham home, West Ham away, CWC final, Stuena away, Prague home, a number of matches off the top of my head were we were complete and utter horseshite and devoid of ideas, i can't remember many fancy flicks and 1-2's in those games).

tbf fair to the lads against WH we were just ridiculously wasteful. That stuff is no better than what we are seeing right now. Mate if we win the title then I'll be happy but judging by the way we're going-we're not making too much progress. I remember Mourinho's 1st interview with Chelsea TV he gave as soon as he came (during my exams) and he said that his main aim was improvement (I apologise for underling and bolding but I often have a habit of highlighting key points). There's not been too much improvement. Moreover I don't want to see us nicking a point at home to WBA or scraping a win at home to Crystal Palace. You can't have that at this level.

[NishC300 1,865]

We parked the bus against Steuna (who we brushed aside this season) and played negative at Eastlands, what was it 3 shots and 1 on target?

I wasn't a Rafa hater, infact i found myself in a position where i was defending him half the time, but we had some god awful games under him, as bad as anything we have had this season, something that seems to have been forgotten just because were not blowing teams away this term.

Who wouldn't play negative against City at the Ethiad (especially when you have a much weaker team than them) ? We played negative against Bayern this season too (which is something EVERYONE playing against Bayern will do so I am not saying that's wrong).

ik we had some terrible games with Benitez but we've not been much better under Mourinho (or arguably worse) with a better team which is frustrating!

[Namika 922]

Watch us becoming top of the league next week by beating Arsenal aka the team with nice 1-2s and triangle.

[Mouri_Matic 560]

Watch us becoming top of the league next week by beating Arsenal aka the team with nice 1-2s and triangle.

Or could be as low as 6th if we lose and it turns crisis.

[Alan Partridge 1,124]

Steve Clarke has been sacked. Can we have him back, please?

[Rubber bullets 1,183]

I don't believe in any of this "we are in transition" ideas being used to essentially blanket Mourinho with excuses if he does not win the title this season. We have been in "transition" for a good couple of years now, getting rid of some of the older players and replacing them with top quality players that are near the peak of their powers (Hazard, Ramires, Mata, Luiz etc.). Most of these players have settle in this squad and we have got enough depth (I admit it’s not in all area, but it’s still sufficient to last a season unlike last when we had a thin squad) to not worry about injury an crisis.

The simple fact is that this squad should be winning this title this year. Look at all the other teams season and it is clear to me that we are the only one that can be consistent if we are managed correctly. Yes we are a bit blunt with the strikers and central midfield, but Mourinho had a whole summer transfer window to buy these players, so it all lies at his door that we are weak in those departments and decided that he would rather pay £30 million for an attacking midfielder who is simply going to be used as a squad player, while having this deluded belief that players like Lampard can somehow be the backbone of the team. But even after all this, considering the inconsistencies of the other squads; we still should be able to win the title with some of the world class players we have got. Yet Mourinho is in two ways of what type of football we are wanting to play, trying to use flair players to constantly press defensively even though it damages their attacking abilities, and half the time is trying to convince fans that we are going to play attacking football while the other half is playing some messy counter attacking football that leaves us looking completely clueless. How can people say that Mourinho is trying to create an identity for us when after being in charged for 6 months still has no clue on what type of football we are playing? Probably the saddest thing about this is that players like Juan Mata, who are of exceptional class, able to influence games with one pass are being cast aside because of seemingly ego problems by Jose who decided that he would not like him because he does not fit exactly with his idea of everyone pressing even though there is serious doubt if this tactic even works while playing him out of form, never giving him the same chances as others who he plays out of favouritism (Lampard, Ivanovic) and never plays him in his best position, even when his favourite in the number 10 spot is not playing, he for some odd reason refuses to put him there and instead puts Willian or Schurrle there, even when it’s not as effective, like he won't do it because it would damage his pride.

This whole idea that were are in some sort of transition (which has been used for the last 2 seasons at least) and that Mourinho is developing a long term plan that will last for many years is absolutely nonsense. This man is the antithesis of long term management and stability. His whole career has been built around going to a club that already had a good squad, getting a huge transfer bank balance to buy expensive players, create a stock mentality, win some trophies, and then in two or three years’ time, as soon as signs of the train starting to derail, he quickly jumps to another and starts again. I had no belief that he would be here to stay for the long-term and I have seen no evidence that he is capable of doing this. But I have seen loads of evidence of the complete opposite. Nathan Ake, young talent with a promising future who got his breakthrough last season is cast aside to the reserves. Chalobah, another brilliant young talent who a wonderful loan spell last year is not given a chance but loaned out again, Lukaku - very bright talent who also had a great loan spell last year, is put down in the pecking order and goes on loan again while we recruit a 32 year old who is on the decline. While relying heavily on a 33 year old defender who has serious injury concerns that could come p any minute, and a 35 year old midfielder who in no way in hell is capable of being the backbone of the team but plays pretty much every game so far. We pay £30 million pounds for another attacking midfielder who we absolutely did not need and is essentially used like a squad player, yet the talented Kevin De Bruyne another for the future who could have easily be used in the position of Willian and was getting rave review in Germany has been cast aside and looks set to leave the club soon. How is this in anyway a transition? A transition would be offloading Lampard, Cole, Cech etc, using Terry much less frequently while promoting some youngsters into the first team to be bled with are other talented regulars, creating a strategy that unites their strengths - we have seen none of that. To me this will play like any reign of Jose's career time wise, 3 years at the maximum trying to win as many trophies as possible before something comes that makes him leave, whether we have any success is another question all together.

So no, I don't buy this transition idea or that Mourinho is trying to create a long term strategy that needs time. We have a squad that should win the title this season if managed correctly, of course as I have said he had plenty of opportunities to improve the squad, but considering that everyone else has been inconsistent and considering that most of the players that we bought the last few years have settle down with the squad, Mourinho has no excuse, we should win the title if the squad is managed correctly. And it seems to me he and some people here are using this "we are in transition" and "he is trying to create a long term identity" phrases in case we don't win the title this season as an excuse. When to me it’s obvious that Mourinho has no intention (or does not have the capabilities) of doing either of the two. By the grace of god we are second and a few points from the top, so he should be able to do this if he bucks up some of his ideas.

[Alan Partridge 1,124]

Mourinho may not have stuck around for long but his team kept us going for a long time. The core of Chelsea was always Cech,Terry,Lampard and Drogba. Also players like Malouda,Cole,Kalou etc stuck around a long time and won us silverware.

Hopefully Mourinho lasts a long time here and builds a team for years to come

[Rubber bullets 1,183]

Mourinho may not have stuck around for long but his team kept us going for a long time. The core of Chelsea was always Cech,Terry,Lampard and Drogba. Also players like Malouda,Cole,Kalou etc stuck around a long time and won us silverware.

Hopefully Mourinho lasts a long time here and builds a team for years to come

Terry and Lampard were brought in and bled into the team by Ranieri, who also was responsible for the purchase of Cech, as well as being responsible for bringing players like Duff, Gallas, Makelele etc who played an important role in are double title winning side. Jose did not build that team on his own. And like I said, Jose will not build a long term team that is built on bringing in young players in constantly ala Barcelona, he essentially gets in control of good teams and is given huge amounts of money to spend on good players to quickly win trophies. Good for short term aims, not for long term ambitions, which is apparently the reason why we should be excited about his second spell.