The Mourinho Thread

[Fernando 6,585]

And if we don't he'll be a has been who doesn't know how to play football and isn't good enough for Chelsea.

With so many people changing their opinions after every game Im not surprised to read anything.

Though even if Mourinho is fired after failing to win a trophy this season I won't be surprised.

Whatever.

On the other note, I wish Rui Faria held it together, that's a hell of a touchline ban coming. But I'm sort of glad he didn't.

At least someone in this team gave a f*ck about the result.

Look I knew coming into the season this is how it would be, an inconsistent team.

I expected to finish in the top 3 and get to quarter/semis of cl. Anything else was just a bonus.

I was expecting next season when things to pick up, never first season.

If you are going to point about Liverpool this season, well let me remind you where they finished last season?

So this season was always going to be like this and build for next season.

Now if next season we are still like this then we can start panicking. But until then we look forward to great improvement of the team next season.

[The Chels 2,502]

For all his many strengths it doesn't seem like Mourinho appreciates the importance of having adept fullbacks bombing forwards to support the attack; sadly I don't think he accepts that his tactics of playing Ivanovic (whose offensive contribution is negligible) and Azpi (on his weaker side) as the fullbacks takes away so much from our attack. It's a shame because for as much as Mourinho's tactics against the bigger sides have propelled us into the title race, I feel his excessively cautious and unimaginative tactics against the smaller teams have probably cost us it too -- even with this current strikeforce.

[Joker10 946]

For all his many strengths it doesn't seem like Mourinho appreciates the importance of having adept fullbacks bombing forwards to support the attack; sadly I don't think he accepts that his tactics of playing Ivanovic (whose offensive contribution is negligible) and Azpi (on his weaker side) as the fullbacks takes away so much from our attack. It's a shame because for as much as Mourinho's tactics against the bigger sides have propelled us into the title race, I feel his excessively cautious and unimaginative tactics against the smaller teams have probably cost us it too -- even with this current strikeforce.

He had Macon at Inter bombing forward and Marcelo at Real Madrid. Azpi and Ivanovic are not good enough going forward as simple as that.

[Fernando 6,585]

He dressed nice today:D haha

Maybe he should wear more tracksuits :-)

[The Chels 2,502]

He had Macon at Inter bombing forward and Marcelo at Real Madrid. Azpi and Ivanovic are not good enough going forward as simple as that.

It's not as though Jose is forced to play them two in those positions. How about Azpi at RB where he'd offer a greater attacking impetus and Ivanovic/Cole/Bertrand at LB? Mourinho's actually praised the two fullbacks for their consistency: their attacking displays are anything but so he clearly isn't dissatisfied by their lack of offensive contribution, whose absence is particularly evident against smaller teams; and it's not something he's sought to rectify and nor has he shown any signs of doing so in the future.

[Joker10 946]

It's not as though Jose is forced to play them two in those positions. How about Azpi at RB where he'd offer a greater attacking impetus and Ivanovic/Cole/Bertrand at LB? Mourinho's actually praised the two fullbacks for their consistency: their attacking displays are anything but so he clearly isn't dissatisfied by their lack of offensive contribution, whose absence is particularly evident against smaller teams and it's not something Mourinho's sought to rectify and he's shown no signs of doing so in the future.

He is simply playing his two best fullbacks, playing Azpi on the left is simply the best choice for the team. You might have an argument if he continues with Ivanovic on the right and Azpi on the left next season. Simply modern football asks more from fullbacks in attacks, especially if Mou continues to play left footed attackers on the right(Willian and Salah) and right footed players on the left(Hazard).

[The Chels 2,502]

He is simply playing his two best fullbacks, playing Azpi on the left is simply the best choice for the team. You might have an argument if he continues with Ivanovic on the right and Azpi on the left next season. Simply modern football asks more from fullbacks in attacks, especially if Mou continues to play left footed attackers on the right(Willian and Salah) and right footed players on the left(Hazard).

I'm almost certain that will be the case. There's been no indication whatsoever from Mourinho's part to suggest otherwise, unlike with the strikers.

[Tomo 21,751]

19th April 2014 = the day Rui Faria offically became a Chelsea legend.

[Reddish-Blue 2,506]

19th April 2014 = the day Rui Faria offically became a Chelsea legend.

We lost the game and someone became a legend?

[Tomo 21,751]

Untouchable? Didn't he fail miserably at Real Madrid? This season hasn't been as great as you claim it is. A club that spends a huge amount of cash each summer is bound to have improvement eventually. Just like in 12/13 we did better than 11/12 in the league, this season we're doing better than 12/13 in the League. There's BOUND to be improvement. If you want to see real improvement look what Rodgers has done. This is a club that was 7th last year and has ended up top of the table. A team that hasn't seen Champions League football for ages. That's improvement! Moreover, he's done it by spending half the money Chelsea and City have this season in the transfer market. Not just has he improved the team but they are winning AND playing good football.

Then you might disagree with that by saying we have sold many players too but even after you deduct Transfer Revenues from players bought, they are still half of us and almost 4 times less than City. A striker will convert chances but there are so many games such as Swansea where against 10 MEN we struggled to create decent chances. A game where so many people here were so confidently saying we'd thrash Swansea.

Didn't u say at the beginning of the season with great confidence that Madrid would miserably fail and be MUCH worse than Mourinho last season? Ancelotti's already done a much better job. And he's encouraged youth players like Jese, Casemiro etc.

i read your points mate but to drunk to reply right now but will tommorow.

[darrus 422]

19th April 2014 = the day Rui Faria offically became a Chelsea legend.

I'd rather call him legend for these stats:

But I get your point totally

[Henrique 9,133]

If we win the cl all these people who bashing mourinho will be worshiping the ground he walks on......

Who? RDM won the UCL but months later I was asking for the axe.

Everybody kows who Jose Mourinho is and what he can do, but even if we won the UCL, that won't overshadow his mistakes this seasons. He has a 3 years contract, and Chelsea history won't end after UCL final in May.

2012 we won the UCL in such an epic way, but our problems remained there, no surprise we end up in Europa League last season. IF, and thats a big if, we win the UCL, everybody will be happy, Mourinho will be even more special, but that won't erase our problems.

[Henrique 9,133]

About the press conference, I wonder when will Mourinho stop blaming someone else for his team failure.

and people, please stop the retarded "lets sack Jose" thing. No one here is saying he is a poor manager and deserves the sack. Mourinho is not a god, he is a man, and every man makes mistakes. If all you want to read here is how stupid are our players to let Jose down, or how unfair are our players to let Jose lose his record against a poor team like Sunderland, you should join a Jose Mourinho fanatics club.

We should judge Mourinho as a manager, not a as holy god. Some people here never accept the fact he does make mistakes, he can fail as well. after every bad result, people will blame someone else (the referee, our own players to not be good enough, lack of balls), after every stupid sub people will try to convince everybody that he did the right thing, after unbelievable line-ups, there will be people saying he got the tactics right...but the players dont have the balls, mental strength, brains, or they just don't care.

[Mohammed Seif 1,451]

Who? RDM won the UCL but months later I was asking for the axe.

Everybody kows who Jose Mourinho is and what he can do, but even if we won the UCL, that won't overshadow his mistakes this seasons. He has a 3 years contract, and Chelsea history won't end after UCL final in May.

2012 we won the UCL in such an epic way, but our problems remained there, no surprise we end up in Europa League last season. IF, and thats a big if, we win the UCL, everybody will be happy, Mourinho will be even more special, but that won't erase our problems.

In your opinion mate, what are the mistakes/problems? How to change them? How long will it take to fix them?

[Reddish-Blue 2,506]

In your opinion mate, what are the mistakes/problems? How to change them? How long will it take to fix them?

The biggest problem is creativity from center-midfield.

Lampard isn't getting any younger, Ramires looks lost on the pitch half the time and Oscar is still maturing.

We don't have that mature 25-28 year old creative midfielder anymore...Mata was that player but for whatever reasons, he just didn't fit Jose's system

[Mohammed Seif 1,451]

The biggest problem is creativity from center-midfield.

Lampard isn't getting any younger, Ramires looks lost on the pitch half the time and Oscar is still maturing.

We don't have that mature 25-28 year old creative midfielder anymore...Mata was that player but for whatever reasons, he just didn't fit Jose's system

Well, I agree with you. The key point you made is that Oscar is still maturing. But that is not only the case with Oscar. This applies to Schurrle, Hazard and Salah. Hazard by all means is the best of those three. Having said that, he is not mature yet and he has inconsistencies. That is ok, since it is part of any player's development. I am not going to talk about Mata, simply because he is gone, and I don't prefer the "what could have been" talk, unless you want to discuss it, then I have no problem. Now to solve this "maturing" problem, you have got three choices really (but feel free to tell me of there are more options). You either, through training and proper assessment realize the talent and potential development of those young players, and that case you need to be patient and wait. Or sell some of these players, and buy a ready, fully matured player who fits your system, and pray that the player you have sold won't develop to a level that will make you regret letting him go (like the case of Matic). You third option would be to change your system/tactic in order to have a style of play that creates chances. Something like Barca or Bayern, where the system depends on high football possession, short passes, relatively slower tempo and a lot of movement. But to do so, you will need to buy A LOT of players and have another coach ( because it is just not Jose's style).

[Yipo Ran 73]

he not going to stay long , ra is impatient. A lose to liverpool and athletico , I think bye bye

[Henrique 9,133]

In your opinion mate, what are the mistakes/problems? How to change them? How long will it take to fix them?

I think some problems are obvious: we dont score enough goals, and we dont create enough chances, we also have problems in our defense as I pointed in another topic. At some point in the season, Mourinho realized the defense needed more help from our offensive players. There is a reason why Mata was sold: he is a pure attacking player with few to none defensive abilities. Willian can help the defense a lot more, you just need to realize how many times he makes interceptions in the mid, or how many times he is helping Ivanovic in the defense, he is also a counter-attacking creating machine, but you just need to compare his stats with Mata's first season stats. Mata is way more decisive, he scored more goals, he created more chances, but he became useless under Mourinho's new philosophy.

In the first leg of the season he really tried the attacking-minded double pivot of Lampard+Ramires, but he dropped that idea after some bad results, then we saw more action from Mikel and in January Mata left and we bought the unexciting but "solid like a rock" Matic.

At the end of the day I think its a good thing that Liverpool and City probably will end up in 1st and 2nd position, because football is about scoring goals. I will give an example: against Palace Chelsea started with Luiz-Matic-Lampard, in the mid. In 2010 we were starting with Ballack-Lampard (younger and still at his prime) - Malouda. There was no CB playing as a mid, there was no "real DM", and there was no ageing CM. There was a reason why we scored more than 100 goals that season, and we got the double at the end of the season. I hope Mourinho will realize that "defending first" is not guarantee of success.

Since 2005, 2009 aside, the team who scores more, is the team who end up winning the league. You just need to look at our goal record this season, its just ridiculous. The difference between City, Liverpool and us in that aspect is just embarrassing. I dont think the problem rely in the lack of a proper striker, but if thats the case, Jose was the one who decided Ba, Torres + Etoo were good enough to handle the situation. He said himself that Rooney was his only target. After the deal collapsed he bought Eto'o in the last day. So Rooney was his solution and Eto'o was his plan B. He only has himself to blame in that aspect.

About how long does it take, all I can say is this squad is together for at least 2 years now, he had time enough understand the situation, if people said this season is only a "transition", next season we must be stronger, but I bet some people will claim we would be in transition part. II.

[Henrique 9,133]

he not going to stay long , ra is impatient. A lose to liverpool and athletico , I think bye bye

lol

He wont be sacked this season, no matter what happens, but I dont expect Jose to stay decades as Chelsea manager. SAF is a unique case. Longevity does not necessary mean success, and Wenger experience with Arsenal is a perfect example that changes are necessary sometimes. Liverpool is not spending bigger than Arsenal, in the beginning of the season they almost get Liverpool's best player. Its not a question of spending more money.

People love to remember that SAF had "x" trophyless seasons, before turning United into world beaters, but today that would be impossible. United is not the same team they were in late 80s. They can't afford today 6 or 7 years of failure without trying to fix things. They need to sell shirts, they need to justify the amount of money is invested in the club. Moyes has a 6 years contract, but I'm sure the won't stay more than 2 years if they keep this pathetic display for next season.

Thats how high-level football works. Sometimes managers are fired, sometimes they just leave seeking new challenges.

[Mohammed Seif 1,451]

I think some problems are obvious: we dont score enough goals, and we dont create enough chances, we also have problems in our defense as I pointed in another topic. At some point in the season, Mourinho realized the defense needed more help from our offensive players. There is a reason why Mata was sold: he is a pure attacking player with few to none defensive abilities. Willian can help the defense a lot more, you just need to realize how many times he makes interceptions in the mid, or how many times he is helping Ivanovic in the defense, he is also a counter-attacking creating machine, but you just need to compare his stats with Mata's first season stats. Mata is way more decisive, he scored more goals, he created more chances, but he became useless under Mourinho's new philosophy.

In the first leg of the season he really tried the attacking-minded double pivot of Lampard+Ramires, but he dropped that idea after some bad results, then we saw more action from Mikel and in January Mata left and we bought the unexciting but "solid like a rock" Matic.

At the end of the day I think its a good thing that Liverpool and City probably will end up in 1st and 2nd position, because football is about scoring goals. I will give an example: against Palace Chelsea started with Luiz-Matic-Lampard, in the mid. In 2010 we were starting with Ballack-Lampard (younger and still at his prime) - Malouda. There was no CB playing as a mid, there was no "real DM", and there was no ageing CM. There was a reason why we scored more than 100 goals that season, and we got the double at the end of the season. I hope Mourinho will realize that "defending first" is not guarantee of success.

Since 2005, 2009 aside, the team who scores more, is the team who end up winning the league. You just need to look at our goal record this season, its just ridiculous. The difference between City, Liverpool and us in that aspect is just embarrassing. I dont think the problem rely in the lack of a proper striker, but if thats the case, Jose was the one who decided Ba, Torres + Etoo were good enough to handle the situation. He said himself that Rooney was his only target. After the deal collapsed he bought Eto'o in the last day. So Rooney was his solution and Eto'o was his plan B. He only has himself to blame in that aspect.

About how long does it take, all I can say is this squad is together for at least 2 years now, he had time enough understand the situation, if people said this season is only a "transition", next season we must be stronger, but I bet some people will claim we would be in transition part. II.

I agree with you on most things there. The only part I disagree with you is that this team has been playing together for 2 years and Jose has had enough time to understand the situation. I agree that Jose is not a God and he makes mistakes. But by all means this is a transitional stage. When you have a new manager, with a new system and you have players who are required to perform different roles from what they are used to, makes it a transitional stage. You pointed out the role of Willian and I couldn't agree more. That role is also required by the wingers. You also missed out the age factor. I don't want to abuse it, but it is key. It is not about how long those players play together. It is a combination of time and players' maturity. Otherwise, a youngster team who have been playing together since the age of 15 will be able to out play any team when they reach 21. That is why you really can't put a time frame on this. As I said before, either we would wait till the players mature ( and that will not happen all of a sudden, but we will see progress along with inconsistencies), change our tactics (which is unlikely, but can be modified depending on the players' progress) or buy players who are mature enough to carry both the offensive and defensive role according to the system (again you will need time for them to develop a good chemistry).

I personally prefer a scoring squad but that is only for my enjoyment. Doesn't mean that the defensive football gets you know where. The Italians are masters of that, though I really hate it.