The Mourinho Thread

[Sheva. 5,373]

I thought Benitez did a good job under the circumstances, i said so at the time. But every time we lose a game or don't play well i see a few post's saying "well Rafa did this, Rafa did that".

It's like we didn't lose at home to QPR, or blow 2 goal leads against newly promoted teams, or come within minutes off getting dumped out of the FA Cup by a League one side.

Our squad now is better than at this stage last season where we only had Torres as striker and Oscar was still adapting and playing average. We used to rely on Hazard and Mata for inspiration every game.

Yet we played better football - occasionally it should be said - than anything we have done this season. We put 8 past Villa and scored 3,4,5, several other games.

I was expecting an improvement this season with a better manager, and more depth, but attacking wise we have somehow regressed.

Defensively though we were doing just fine till last few weeks; now everyone panics when the opposition enter our half, and make silly mistakes.

[Tomo 21,751]

Our squad now is better than at this stage last season where we only had Torres as striker and Oscar was still adapting and playing average. We used to rely on Hazard and Mata for inspiration every game.

Yet we played better football - occasionally it should be said - than anything we have done this season. We put 8 past Villa and scored 3,4,5, several other games.

I was expecting an improvement this season with a better manager, and more depth, but attacking wise we have somehow regressed.

Defensively though we were doing just fine till last few weeks; now everyone panics when the opposition enter our half, and make silly mistakes.

TBH i believe Villa last season has been the only top, top match we have had since the double winning season, and what i mean by top, top is the kind performances we saw regularly between 04-10, we are still to this day paying the price for giving youth too big a role in the squad (which is rather ironic) in 2010.

What (for me) summed up the last few years was last season's match at Anfield, we created nothing against a team managed by Brendan Rodgers who is hardly known for his defensive solidarity in teams, while Liverpool in the 2nd half cut us open at will.

[Blue Armour 4,436]

All i keep hearing now, is how we played such great football under Benitez.

Didn't hear it once when he was here, but now he's gone we were playing great football under him, funny that

After that Sunderland result, I remembered that Carling CUP semi against Swansea last season...did we even score in any of the two legs?

[ZOS 580]

The thing about Benitez was that he didn't have as many options as Mourinho.

Benitez had to rely on Hazard, Mata, Oscar and Moses....and in most games, the attacking midfielders played well.

The biggest problem is that, even after Benitez left, the board/manager did not address the key problem in central-midfield

Maybe if MVG wasn't injured, things would be different...but honestly, you can't expect to dominate the opposition with an ageing Lampard, Ramires, the slow Mikel and an ageing Essien.

We had the transfer window to buy a proven CM/DM...but instead we decided to buy a young CM & three attacking mids (including Atsu on loan at Vitesse)...

and now they're trying to sign an other Ramirez when we're clearly in need of a Gundogan or an Alonso

[nofacej 132]

I think we should move Luiz into the midfield again in a 4-3-3. This would free up Lampard to make more forward runs and hopefully score more goals, and might even make us more defensively stable. So much of our success over the years has come on the back of Lampard's goals, and without a reliable striker the reduced number of them is felt all the more. I also wonder if Mata might not be a decent option as a false 9. He probably has the best finishing of any of our attacking mids and he offers the least defensively of any of them. It's got to be worth at least a try given our strikers aren't scoring often enough, Mata isn't being utilised much, and with just one substitution we can swap either Mata or Luiz for a Striker and end up with our currently preferred setup.

I will probably get ridiculed for this formation, but here it is anyway:

-----------Cech-----------

Ivan--Cahill--Terry--Azpi

----Ramires---Luiz-------

------Lamps/Oscar------

Moses------------Hazard

-------Mata/Torres-------

It's not a long term solution, but until we find a reliable source of goals freeing up Lampard might be our best option in the short term.

[lionsden 4,689]

All i keep hearing now, is how we played such great football under Benitez.

Didn't hear it once when he was here, but now he's gone we were playing great football under him, funny that

Atleast rafa never described or presented those terrible/boring performances as free flowing attacking football unlike Jose. he might have said we played well when we didn't but he never once championed a false notion regarding our style of football.

[bushman 2,043]

On Monday, Jose´s undefeated streak is on line against the nipper of Arsenal.

I hope, Jose comes up with something to keep his streak going.

[hjperdeath 2,226]

Terrible performance. Haha.

[bushman 2,043]

No matter whether Jose has trouble at Chelsea, the team is not scoring..all was said here, Rafa was not, is not or will not be a better manager than Jose. Despite of Jose´s attitude, this guy is a master tactician. No one can match his skills, no Pep, no Rafa, no red nosed Alex, I feel.

[The_Flash 1,144]

I thought if anyone could help them score it would be Jose, but even he isnt a miracle worker, noone else could make them score anymore. They are done. It is unfair, Moyes is getting all the praise for a winning team starting to win. Jose is getting all the criticism for s*** strikers playing s***

[Mouri_Matic 560]

No matter whether Jose has trouble at Chelsea, the team is not scoring..all was said here, Rafa was not, is not or will not be a better manager than Jose. Despite of Jose´s attitude, this guy is a master tactician. No one can match his skills, no Pep, no Rafa, no red nosed Alex, I feel.

Hmm I agree about Rafa but not sure about Pep and Sir Alex, Pep actually dominated Jose when he first came to Madrid, Jose really only got the better from 11-12 on ward and there is a reason why almost every top team last season went after him. While Sir Alex is just one of the best manager in football history, maybe even in top 3?

[bushman 2,043]

Hmm I agree about Rafa but not sure about Pep and Sir Alex, Pep actually dominated Jose when he first came to Madrid, Jose really only got the better from 11-12 on ward and there is a reason why almost every top team last season went after him. While Sir Alex is just one of the best manager in football history, maybe even in top 3?

Rafa is no comparison, I feel. As for Pep. Well, do not forget Barca under him were unbeatable, no team had more talent & in top form Messi, then.

Red nosed Alex was very good, but Jose had beaten him on many occasions. Even at Real, last time.

To me, Jose as a tactician, no one is better.

[Mouri_Matic 560]

Rafa is no comparison, I feel. As for Pep. Well, do not forget Barca under him were unbeatable, no team had more talent & in top form Messi, then.

Red nosed Alex was very good, but Jose had beaten him on many occasions. Even at Real, last time.

To me, Jose as a tactician, no one is better.

Completely agree with you there. But judging from manager point of view I really think he can't be compared to Sir Alex, that man is the true definition of a 'manager', a term being used far too loosely nowadays imo. Jose looks more like a head coach type now at Chelsea for me, he got the final say in transfer but obviously Emmenalo and Roman got more say in it. It isn't like his 1st spell anymore, I think now he could ask for a player but then we need to consider prices, wages, age, long term plan? and all that.

[bushman 2,043]

Completely agree with you there. But judging from manager point of view I really think he can't be compared to Sir Alex, that man is the true definition of a 'manager', a term being used far too loosely nowadays imo. Jose looks more like a head coach type now at Chelsea for me, he got the final say in transfer but obviously Emmenalo and Roman got more say in it. It isn't like his 1st spell anymore, I think now he could ask for a player but then we need to consider prices, wages, age, long term plan? and all that.

One cannot judge Jose based on whether he has the final say in the transfer of players.

If you were to own a club, would you allow one man to do whatever he pleases ? I would not. My money, my team, more heads to decide, I do not want to rely on one Jose only.

To compare red nosed to Jose, I only said Jose is a better tactician. Of course, red nosed had 25 years at United, the record says it all.

[Korea 734]

Rafa had less expectations...

When he was appointed, we were pretty much eliminated from the Champs league and from what I remembered, our league title was already gone by than....

In addition, he knew he was an "interim" so couldnt care less about other factors like Jose has to....

LAstly, the expectations from fans was pretty much impossible to obtain for Jose.....

I really cannot believe Im reading that people thought we played good football with Rafa...