The Mourinho Thread

[bushman 2,043]

The team that goes on a winning run(8-10 games) will be celebrating in May. We still have Man Utd, Liverpool, Spurs and Arsenal at home so our destiny is still in our own hands.

Right on. Any team that goes out on 10 games winning streak soon, will win the PL. I just have a funny feeling, it´ll be Citeh.

[NiclasCFC 2,582]

Michael Ballack: " I had Spoken To Mourinho about his Plans and its Dangerous, in the coming years he will make Chelsea one of the most dangerous team in the world.

He have seen the working style of Barca Madrid and Bayern now he will be combining those killer tactics to form new Chelsea.He has Already identified his targets.You won't see much players from the current squad in that team but this is how you chose to play to get something you have to lose something.

If everything goes to the plan in next 2 year Chelsea will be dominating the world.He is big fan of Hazard he wants to make him new Ronaldo.His plan is very clear some fans think he is not the same as last time but what i saw was that he has became more deadliest then last time. "

[bushman 2,043]

As we all should see, current Chelsea team is not ready to really challenge for major trophies, at least in my opinion.

Whatever Jose is thinking, we do not really know. All we have is a hearsay.

Jose has an amazing skill to lead Chelsea into the top, soon. Whether, it´ll be in this season, I honestly doubt it, but one never know with him. To me, he is a master tactician, a winner & he won´t settle for second best, if possible.

The best way, is top four & CL qualification, the team is close in the title race, so let´s hold our horses, enjoy the games & we will see, soon. In January, either Chelsea buys essential players or we need to wait for the summer.

Whatever happens, I am relatively happy with the way Jose has managed to lead Chelsea. Yes, mistakes were made, but the intention is there to correct them. So happy sailing in the new year & keep faith, girls & boys.

[dee25 1,044]

Michael Ballack: " I had Spoken To Mourinho about his Plans and its Dangerous, in the coming years he will make Chelsea one of the most dangerous team in the world. He have seen the working style of Barca Madrid and Bayern now he will be combining those killer tactics to form new Chelsea.He has Already identified his targets.You won't see much players from the current squad in that team but this is how you chose to play to get something you have to lose something. If everything goes to the plan in next 2 year Chelsea will be dominating the world.He is big fan of Hazard he wants to make him new Ronaldo.His plan is very clear some fans think he is not the same as last time but what i saw was that he has became more deadliest then last time. "

Do you mind linking the source? Just doesn't at all sound like something Michael Ballack would say.....

[NiclasCFC 2,582]

Do you mind linking the source? Just doesn't at all sound like something Michael Ballack would say.....

found it on a Chelsea related Facebook page with 2.7 million likes.

[Henrique 9,133]

I dont think it was a 4-3-3? It was more a 4-1-2-2-1.

[Henrique 9,133]

Michael Ballack: " I had Spoken To Mourinho about his Plans and its Dangerous, in the coming years he will make Chelsea one of the most dangerous team in the world.

He have seen the working style of Barca Madrid and Bayern now he will be combining those killer tactics to form new Chelsea.He has Already identified his targets.You won't see much players from the current squad in that team but this is how you chose to play to get something you have to lose something.

If everything goes to the plan in next 2 year Chelsea will be dominating the world.He is big fan of Hazard he wants to make him new Ronaldo.His plan is very clear some fans think he is not the same as last time but what i saw was that he has became more deadliest then last time. "

People who liked your post must know: thats 100% facebook bullshit.

I'm pretty sure Mourinho is not even thinking about combining Barcelona and Bayern style to form a new team, its only a foolish dream by any football fan.

You must believe that Chelsea squad in next 2 or 3 years will be pretty much the same, perhaps 2 or 3 players in, and 2 or 3 out.

Hazard will never be as good as Ronaldo, I think some people just dont realize how good the portuguese man is. Hazard will be a great player, but he will be Hazard, he will make his own path. Its clear its another bullshit made a fan, because its not a thing you would see Mourinho saying. He might get his tactics wrong sometimes, but he is not a stupid man.

Just try to find this thing in google, and the only result will be that facebook bullshit page.

[Strike 7,217]

Who could have filled Hazard's shoes in the second better than André? I may agree that Mata instead of Oscar (despite the fact that it would compromise the defensive aspect as Willian's work-rate was immense and all of us know Mata doesn't come even close), but the only player we had to lead our counter-attacks with dribbles and pace (that was what Hazard was doing so well) was Schürrle. André didn't have a good match imo, he was disconnected from the play. Oscar is still in terrible form and added nothing to our attack. I think Mourinho simply didn't predict how bad (or at least how non-factor) the subs were. Watch Hazard's last minutes before the sub. He wasn't going for the plays anymore, he was tired. The match he was supposed the rest, he played about 40 minutes (against Sunderland).

I honestly can't find anything to complain from Mourinho's part, although I was very unsatisfied with both André's and especially Oscar's performances. Oscar seems burnt out, not sure if as a consequence of the injury or because the matches finally piled up. He wasn't playing that well even before the injury. Both Willian and Hazard were immense helping Iva and Azpili and also the pivot. Somehow André and Oscar couldn't keep even that. They were nothing special (far from it) offensively, but defensively they weren't much better. Oscar is sort of expected, he's been playing terribly lately, but André was playing well in his last matches. So I get why Mourinho did it, but I can't blame him when his players didn't turn up. I'm sure he didn't ask them to be sloppy, unfocused and disconnected from play...

And I think it's very naive of you to think that Arsenal would continue to be passive as the end of the game approached. Any team at home will take a last sprint at the end of match to try to win it. They started to grow before the subs, after them they had their best chances as expected. I'm not sure Azpili's clearance would have been a goal. I've seen that play at least 10 times and I'm still not convinced, although absolutely thankful he was there to make sure it didn't go in.

Willian and Hazard was Chelsea's attack though. Everything was going through those two. It was the wrong decision to take off both. You made the point when you said Schurrle was disconnected from the play. You don't expect Schurrle or Oscar to jump in and start combining well with the midfield and that's why Hazard should have been kept on imo. He was having a good game and would have been dangerous even late on. Can't blame the subs for not doing well. Part of the blame lies with Mourinho for completely changing the attack.

[Mário César 975]

People who liked your post must know: thats 100% facebook bullshit.

I'm pretty sure Mourinho is not even thinking about combining Barcelona and Bayern style to form a new team, its only a foolish dream by any football fan.

You must believe that Chelsea squad in next 2 or 3 years will be pretty much the same, perhaps 2 or 3 players in, and 2 or 3 out.

Hazard will never be as good as Ronaldo, I think some people just dont realize how good the portuguese man is. Hazard will be a great player, but he will be Hazard, he will make his own path. Its clear its another bullshit made a fan, because its not a thing you would see Mourinho saying. He might get his tactics wrong sometimes, but he is not a stupid man.

Just try to find this thing in google, and the only result will be that facebook bullshit page.

True.

[robdog 2,084]

I dont think it was a 4-3-3? It was more a 4-1-2-2-1.

I thought it was more of a 4321 formation. More like a Xmas tree or a Italian Catenaccio formation, absorbing pressure & looking to attack off the counter. So Henrique will Palmeiras remain in the top flight? I will be watching

Sent from my SCH-I535 using Tapatalk

[Barbara 15,149]

Willian and Hazard was Chelsea's attack though. Everything was going through those two. It was the wrong decision to take off both. You made the point when you said Schurrle was disconnected from the play. You don't expect Schurrle or Oscar to jump in and start combining well with the midfield and that's why Hazard should have been kept on imo. He was having a good game and would have been dangerous even late on. Can't blame the subs for not doing well. Part of the blame lies with Mourinho for completely changing the attack.

We can agree to disagree. I can't see how people are so sure we'd score in the last 20 minutes if when our players were fresh they couldn't. Of course they could have scored, a lucky goal, a individual talent goal, a collective effort goal, whatever goal you want it to be. It's just that given our recent history chances are that wouldn't happen. we've been conceding goals towards the end of the matches lately, not scoring them and while that doesn't mean we'd concede, it's still what's been happening. I'm not saying there's no way we would have scored, but I'm inclined to think otherwise given our recent form. So as I just said in the match's thread, I'll support Mourinho in his coward decision and will take the one point happily.

We were better than Arsenal, we've never dominated them though for people to be so adamant we should have kept a tired Hazard and not only risk conceding because he and especially Willian were very tired, but also risk burning them out when we'll need them in form the next 10 days to play 3 very important and difficult matches. I'm 100% behind Mourinho in this one and I'd bitching til tomorrow if he kept Eden, but especially Willian, regardless of the final result. I'm looking at the big picture here and I guess he is too.

[robdog 2,084]

So as I just said in the match's thread, I'll support Mourinho in his coward decision and will take the one point happily. We were better than Arsenal, we've never dominated them though for people to be so adamant we should have kept a tired Hazard and not only risk conceding because he and especially Willian were very tired, but also risk burning them out when we'll need them in form the next 10 days to play 3 very important and difficult matches. I'm 100% behind Mourinho in this one and I'd bitching til tomorrow if he kept Eden, but especially Mourinho, regardless of the final result. I'm looking at the big picture here and I guess he is too.

Damn Girl you know how to bring it. IMHO the only reason why it was a draw was due to the fact that the crossbar stopped Supah Frank's shot in the first half. Jose wanted to make sure we got a clean sheet. Then the fact it was a derby match & the whole world was watching this match. So we only got a draw, but if we lost I think it would have been a lot worse. The plan is draw on the road & win @ home. The best fact is that le voyeur has never ever beaten Jose. When I first became a CFC fan, The Blues couldn't beat le arse. 2nd half hat-tricks...freaking amazing shots out of nowhere. Now it's like CFC fans expects The Blues to beat le arse. Well the other side is getting paid & I know for a fact there is animosity between the two sides. gooners want to believe that Mr. A bought them success, but the truth of the matter is that Mr. A pushed CFC over the hump & provided a foundation to make this club into an absolute Giant. So take view of a glass that is half full & enjoy the fact that the EPL Title is right there in front of us. I still believe we can get this done.

[pHaRaOn 2,131]

"When you are 20 points behind the leader, you can play at home one day and win 6-0 but what does that mean? It means nothing.

"What means something is when you are fighting for the title, play a fantastic match and score the winning goal. That is the way, especially young players, grow up quickly. They have to grow and I think I'm the right guy to teach them to cope with this situation because it's a situation I enjoy.

"I never get easy jobs. I always get difficult jobs. There are some other guys who are cleverer than me, they get easy jobs, they go to places where it is easy to win. For me it is always difficult. Inter was unbelievably difficult. At Real Madrid, I was against probably the best team in the last 20 or 30 years. Here, I am in this transitional period. So I am not clever in choosing easy jobs."

On January transfer window

"We go with the same attacking players, with the same strikers, with the same guys behind the strikers," he said. "We need the strikers to improve but we also need the other guys to be more effective in the way they transform half-chances into chances.

"When we have the chance they have to attack defenders, they have to shoot, they have to provoke the defenders into coming out to meet them. We have to improve in that area."

On Arsenal

"I think boring is a team that plays at home and cannot score a goal," said Mourinho.

"That's boring. Because you go to your stadium and you fill your stadium, in weather like we had on Monday, to see victories.

"There is not a home fan in any club in the world who goes to the stadium and expects his team not to score or win. If any team was boring, they were boring because Petr Cech made zero saves."

[Strike 7,217]

We can agree to disagree. I can't see how people are so sure we'd score in the last 20 minutes if when our players were fresh they couldn't. Of course they could have scored, a lucky goal, a individual talent goal, a collective effort goal, whatever goal you want it to be. It's just that given our recent history chances are that wouldn't happen. we've been conceding goals towards the end of the matches lately, not scoring them and while that doesn't mean we'd concede, it's still what's been happening. I'm not saying there's no way we would have scored, but I'm inclined to think otherwise given our recent form. So as I just said in the match's thread, I'll support Mourinho in his coward decision and will take the one point happily.

We were better than Arsenal, we've never dominated them though for people to be so adamant we should have kept a tired Hazard and not only risk conceding because he and especially Willian were very tired, but also risk burning them out when we'll need them in form the next 10 days to play 3 very important and difficult matches. I'm 100% behind Mourinho in this one and I'd bitching til tomorrow if he kept Eden, but especially Willian, regardless of the final result. I'm looking at the big picture here and I guess he is too.

Chelsea had a better chance with those two or one of them kept on. The continuity in attack was lost towards the end. there were a few good counter attacking chances late on that didn't go anywhere.

agree with the risk of burnout though. at this point of the season

[╫rue Blue 47]

On January transfer window

i hope its mean, mou want strengthening another position, hopefully is quality central midfielder

[Cosmin 2,484]

I hope this hasn't been posted before.

A good analysis by Robbie Savage can be read here. Best parts:

"Chelsea have not really clicked this season but they are in the top four and two points off the top of the table. They are not where they are by playing fantastic football but you have to say they are very well placed because that group of players will undoubtedly have a spell this season where they click as a group.

And at the Emirates Stadium on Monday, when I compared the teams and looked at both benches, I would have to say they looked more like potential champions than Arsenal did.

The bottom line is that the spine of the 2013 Chelsea team is not as good as the 2004 side. Didier Drogba has gone and the players that remain - from Frank Lampard in midfield to John Terry in defence to Petr Cech in goal - are aging.This Chelsea side is not as strong as the one that Mourinho had during his first spell at Stamford Bridge, when he won the league twice in three seasons between 2004 and 2007.

I have talked before about how bizarre it was for Mourinho to loan out Romelu Lukaku this season and, clearly, signing a new striker in January would increase Chelsea's title chances massively."

[The Skipper 20,593]

Sorry for the late response, Christmas and all...

Who could have filled Hazard's shoes in the second better than André? I may agree that Mata instead of Oscar (despite the fact that it would compromise the defensive aspect as Willian's work-rate was immense and all of us know Mata doesn't come even close), but the only player we had to lead our counter-attacks with dribbles and pace (that was what Hazard was doing so well) was Schürrle. André didn't have a good match imo, he was disconnected from the play. Oscar is still in terrible form and added nothing to our attack. I think Mourinho simply didn't predict how bad (or at least how non-factor) the subs were. Watch Hazard's last minutes before the sub. He wasn't going for the plays anymore, he was tired. The match he was supposed the rest, he played about 40 minutes (against Sunderland).

I honestly can't find anything to complain from Mourinho's part, although I was very unsatisfied with both André's and especially Oscar's performances. Oscar seems burnt out, not sure if as a consequence of the injury or because the matches finally piled up. He wasn't playing that well even before the injury. Both Willian and Hazard were immense helping Iva and Azpili and also the pivot. Somehow André and Oscar couldn't keep even that. They were nothing special (far from it) offensively, but defensively they weren't much better. Oscar is sort of expected, he's been playing terribly lately, but André was playing well in his last matches. So I get why Mourinho did it, but I can't blame him when his players didn't turn up. I'm sure he didn't ask them to be sloppy, unfocused and disconnected from play...

And I think it's very naive of you to think that Arsenal would continue to be passive as the end of the game approached. Any team at home will take a last sprint at the end of match to try to win it. They started to grow before the subs, after them they had their best chances as expected. I'm not sure Azpili's clearance would have been a goal. I've seen that play at least 10 times and I'm still not convinced, although absolutely thankful he was there to make sure it didn't go in.

Hazard wasn't the only sub Mourinho made that and I wasn't talking about merely his subs either - it was the tactical approach we took after his subs were made that bugged me the most. Honestly I thought we were fine as we set out initially, and Mourinho's approach after the subs invited even more pressure unto us, in my opinion we could've so easily lost had Giroud been more clinical on two occasions.

I never said that I expected Mourinho to go for the win but my argument was that we invited even more pressure onto ourselves by the tactical approach we took after our subs were made. The Luiz sub at the end was the most frustrating one as it really confirmed he'd allow Arsenal to keep possession and distribute it amongst themselves and everyone knows that's when they're the most dangerous.

Yeah, Arsenal were at home and were pressing to look for a winner at the end but those moments could've been avoided if Mourinho kept the same tactical approach and we could've even nicked a winner on the counter had we been even the *slightest* of more adventurous as Arsenal obviously opened up even more towards the end of the game.

[Phil Driver 503]

Sorry for the late response, Christmas and all...

Hazard wasn't the only sub Mourinho made that and I wasn't talking about merely his subs either - it was the tactical approach we took after his subs were made that bugged me the most. Honestly I thought we were fine as we set out initially, and Mourinho's approach after the subs invited even more pressure unto us, in my opinion we could've so easily lost had Giroud been more clinical on two occasions.

I never said that I expected Mourinho to go for the win but my argument was that we invited even more pressure onto ourselves by the tactical approach we took after our subs were made. The Luiz sub at the end was the most frustrating one as it really confirmed he'd allow Arsenal to keep possession and distribute it amongst themselves and everyone knows that's when they're the most dangerous.

Yeah, Arsenal were at home and were pressing to look for a winner at the end but those moments could've been avoided if Mourinho kept the same tactical approach and we could've even nicked a winner on the counter had we been even the *slightest* of more adventurous as Arsenal obviously opened up even more towards the end of the game.

Yes and the other hypothetical version of events is that without Jose settling for a point in a game where we made the most chances and had the most shots is that without us settling for a well deserved and earned point away from home ,we could have brought on another misfiring striker as we did at Stoke when Eto'o gave away the ball which then lead to a Stoke goal ,when the sub was supposed to help us win.