The Mourinho Thread

[sutro 1,026]

Everything i do is mind games everything i say is mind games...

He was mind gaming the press right there

[Jase 43,479]

Seems like Pellegrini has got touchy with Mourinho's talk about our title chances..

http://espnfc.com/news/story/_/id/1707799/man-city-boss-manuel-pellegrini-hits-back-chelsea-jose-mourinho-title-talk?cc=4716

Pellegrini said: “Maybe it is a small horse if the manager thinks like that. It can be a little horse but very rich. This is the team that spends most money in the last 10 years, it is the team that spends most money this year and the team that spends the most money in the transfer window so [it is] little but rich.”

City outspent Chelsea in the summer window of 2013 but Pellegrini argued that the Londoners paid more in transfer fees over the 12-month period, as well as in a decade of Roman Abramovich’s ownership.

Pellegrini accused Mourinho of trying to take the credit if Chelsea do win the title but attempting to escape the blame if they do not.

He added: “I think he is favourite but he thinks if he wins he will have the merits but if he loses he does not have responsibility. It is the way he acts. Everyone acts the way he thinks is better for his team.”

Pellegrini also insisted that, while Mourinho has claimed it is a transitional year for Chelsea, he could also argue City should not be expected to win trophies this season but opted not to take that approach.

He said: “It is very easy for me to say: ‘It is my first year in the Premier League -- I am just getting to know the players so we don’t have to expect anything in this year,’ but I don’t think it is the way. I think we are working every day to try and do our best. We will see what we can do in all the competitions.”

[Rmpr 8,977]

Seems like Pellegrini has got touchy with Mourinho's talk about our title chances..

http://espnfc.com/news/story/_/id/1707799/man-city-boss-manuel-pellegrini-hits-back-chelsea-jose-mourinho-title-talk?cc=4716

He does have a point.

[Jase 43,479]

He does have a point.

Maybe so. We may have spent loads of money but that is one way of looking at it. Look at the players and their age, despite being quality, we got and compared that to City. Either way, it's hilarious that he has reacted to Mourinho's comments, not just on our title chances but also City's, when he should know that Jose, if anything, was trolling or trying to rile up oppositions. Pellegrini basically took the bait a tad too easily.

[ZanSnake 1,211]

Maybe so. We may have spent loads of money but that is one way of looking at it. Look at the players and their age, despite being quality, we got and compared that to City. Either way, it's hilarious that he has reacted to Mourinho's comments, not just on our title chances but also City's, when he should know that Jose, if anything, was trolling or trying to rile up oppositions. Pellegrini basically took the bait a tad too easily.

The master bested the wannabe students

[Rmpr 8,977]

Maybe so. We may have spent loads of money but that is one way of looking at it. Look at the players and their age, despite being quality, we got and compared that to City. Either way, it's hilarious that he has reacted to Mourinho's comments, not just on our title chances but also City's, when he should know that Jose, if anything, was trolling or trying to rile up oppositions. Pellegrini basically took the bait a tad too easily.

I know that, but he is indeed right when he says it is very convenient for Mourinho to use the "tiny horse" analogy!

Not that Jose is taking the wrong approach (to the contrary), but still, it isnt like Pellegrini went on a crazy Wenger rant or anything like that...

[James W Clark 28]

Mourinho has made Pellegrini his bitch.

[Jase 43,479]

I know that, but he is indeed right when he says it is very convenient for Mourinho to use the "tiny horse" analogy!

Not that Jose is taking the wrong approach (to the contrary), but still, it isnt like Pellegrini went on a crazy Wenger rant or anything like that...

Better than this rant I suppose...

[zolayes 14,489]

No manager can TROLL like Jose

[Jase 43,479]

Chelsea boss Jose Mourinho praises new signings and looks forward to welcoming Didier Drogba back to Stamford Bridge

[Jase 43,479]

And now Pellegrini is at it too with the mind games.

[bababoom 4,478]

I swear City has spent more than us in the last five years? anyway, Pellegrini is rattled, i have a feeling he's going to bottle it.

Wenger, Pellegrini and Rafa are all the same, they get far too emotional, Jose is most likely laughing at these comments. Alex Ferguson said once Rafa came out with the 'facts' rant, he knew he got to him.

Pellegrini is going to bottle it with City, just you watch.

[Mr_President 404]

I swear City has spent more than us in the last five years? anyway, Pellegrini is rattled, i have a feeling he's going to bottle it.

Wenger, Pellegrini and Rafa are all the same, they get far too emotional, Jose is most likely laughing at these comments. Alex Ferguson said once Rafa came out with the 'facts' rant, he knew he got to him.

Pellegrini is going to bottle it with City, just you watch.

Pretty sure they have, but Pellegrini did say last decade. Hardly fair to compare our spending vs theirs over a 10 year period considering they were complete nobodies until whenever the sheik rolled up (City were the very definition of mediocrity). So, the 5 years prior to the sheik coming in, of course they hardly spent anything compared to Chelsea; this was just Pellegrini responding to the bait and making a stupid and irrelevant point.

[The Skipper 20,593]

Lol, Mourinho was trolling and Pellers fell for it, forever his bitch.

[Jase 43,479]

Jose's a LIAR! Pellegrini blasts title rival Mourinho over claim refs are favouring City

Oh Pellegrini..

[dee25 1,044]

There's certainly an air of hypocrisy about Jose's comments, but he's absolutely right to shine attention on City's spending. I mean, they not only have the most expensive squad in the league but they also have the 2nd most expensive squad in Europe. Not to mention the amount they spend on wages is significantly higher than ours.

[Shane 2,275]

My god, I'd imagine Jose is at home with a glass of red wine pissing himself laughing.

If City lose to Norwich away tomorrow huge questions will be asked of Pellegrini, he basically admitting he thinks we could win the title. Everyone thought City were a nailed on cert.

[Barbara 15,149]

Well there are a few of us that have been saying we aren't the title favorites since before the season started. I don't think Mourinho is just trying to escape any blame with his speech as Pellegrini implied. In a league as competitive as EPL it'd be very difficult for us to win the title. I'm not saying we can't and neither is Mourinho.

He's already started saying come next summer we ARE the favorites to win or at least one of the faves. He's not protecting himself imo, he's just being reasonable.

I don't know if I'd call Chelsea a small horse, but I wouldn't call us the top dog or one of them. We're on the way of becoming the top dogs and the prospects of a second season under Mourinho are immense, but right now (especially based on how we've been playing) we have much better chances in a cup tournament such as UCL (even knowing Bayern is better than any English side and RM might be as strong as City right now, if not more as well) because the win against City proved me we can beat any team in the world - even in their turf if that's required. It doesn't mean we will beat any of the UCL teams, but right now I fancy our chances there or at the FA Cup better than in a championship where others will copy West Ham's strategy against us at the Bridge and they might lead us to drop a couple of points here and there because that's one of our limitations as a team: as our players aren't that mature enough and we don't have reliable strikers, we 'suffer' to beat teams that park the bus. Hazard's been amazing for us the past couple of months, but he isn't in that level yet to just decide the match for us when we fail to score. It may happen (and I think when it does, he'll take another step up in his development curve), but if it does is randomly and not because he's the guy that does that when we face a bus parked at the opponent's box.

We were eliminated by Sunderland (!) from League Cup because back then we were even less ready than now, we were in the eye of the transition hurricane, let's say. Right now we're a much more mature team - we even know 9/10 of the possible starting 11 - that is in the process of sharpening their form. We've been in formidable form since the loss to Sunderland imo. We're maturing, sharpening, and growing. The tactics finally settled, the players finally bought it and now it's polishing time. In my opinion it'll take the rest of the season (or maybe until April) for us to reach the full potential of this team. We still need a couple of months of polishing and sharpening before we can play every match as strongly as we did the last couple of months. Let's not forget we still have problems converting our chances, we still have problems getting rid of tight and deep defenses, some of our most important players aren't on their peak yet or not even on their full potential given their current positions in their development curve. That's why we aren't faves yet, that's why other teams have advantages over us and that's why Mourinho is very down to earth on his comments. They may work as mind games (I admit they do), but that doesn't make them any less true. We aren't ready yet to be called the faves, but it doesn't mean we won't win. We have a top manager, with top players working with him. The more they gel together, better are our chances. The competition is very hard for everyone, not only us. So while I believe Arsenal will drop a lot of points as they basically have to play everyone in the top6 away in the next two months (I guess they only have one home match against the top6, but I could be wrong), it's also possible that City will drop some, especially as they might try to focus their attention on in their first knock-out UCL chance. But we're prone to drop points too exactly because I feel we still have some bad days in the office when it comes to our attack. Our defense seems to be ready, already at the top of their game (no coincidence it's the place where all the players - maybe except Azpili - are very mature, experienced and maybe even on their peak (Cahill and JT certainly are, and Iva while very underwhelming attacking, is still a monster defending, not the mention our legend, Petr Cech).

I'm positive Matic won't play all matches like he did against City. He's new in the team, it's only natural he'll alternate better and worse performances until he fully adapts. I'm positive the Portuguese fans among us or people who's watched their league in recent years can confirm that despite an amazing display for us, we are yet to see his full potential based on what he's showed there in the last 18 months. Ramires still struggles a lot with his passing and finishing and I feel more and more that his stamina and pace are the only things working on his favor in team selection. But sometimes his lack of quality passing in the second and final thirds, his oscillating finishing cost us a couple of goals or chances created. Lampard struggles with the opposite. He doesn't handle the physicality of the league as he's used to and Mikel doesn't dare to help our attack.

Our attack is formed by players that are either still deep in their development curve, far from peaking (Oscar, Hazard, Salah, Schurrle) or are way past it (Eto'o, Torres). Willian is the one guy that is in a good moment of his development curve, but he's struggling to adapt on his first year in English football - which is natural and expected. Ba is just not good enough, he's never been and never will be a Chelsea player, we're better than that. Don't take me wrong on the boys, especially Oscar and Hazard who've been our best players this season (Hazard even more - much more - than Oscar). But they're a 22yo and 23yo boys that oscillate and will continue to for a while. They aren't as decisive now as they will be in a couple of years. They aren't their final products yet. They've been saving our arses the whole season, in two years from now they'll be handling us silverware - that's the difference. I think Hazard might already make the whole difference for us coming next season, but I'm positive Oscar will need at least another couple to really be the #10 everyone wants him to be.

So the rest of the season for the tactics to mature, next season for the players to mature and for the clinical signings to come. Then we're inexcusable, clearly the top dogs and favorites in EPL and probably high contenders in Europe. Mourinho plays a lot with other's minds, but in this case, he's been just honest imo, or at least he's been saying something I agree with.