The Mourinho Thread

[nofacej 132]

Pretty sure Inter fans remember that side. Guardiola's only ever had success managing the best club squads, Mourinho's actually built teams and had success with teams who weren't favorites. Xavi's probably bitter since he's past it and the Barcelona style of play, as good as it was at it's best, has become boring and superseded by a more exciting style

I think you're being a little unfair towards Guardiola. The team he inherited from Rijkaard was very good, but he definitely made significant changes to it and made it his own.

The Bayern job was a safe one to take, but also understandable since Managers find work based on reputation. After enhancing it further at Bayern nobody will call him a one hit wonder if he fails in a more difficult job later.

Hopefully after his spell at Bayern Guardiola moves to a club with the resources to become competitive but without the promise of instant success.

Mourinho definitely deserves more respect for his bravery when it comes to choosing jobs, but unfortunately a lot of people don't see it that way.

[robdog 2,084]

Xavi's quotes regarding Mourinho -

“Pep Guardiola is an important person for me - Jose Mourinho is a coach who focuses only on results,” Xavi told Panenka magazine.

“He says he is ‘The Special One’ because he won this and that in so many countries but I do not like the way his teams play.

“Who remembers the Inter side who were champions of Europe? For me, he has not left a legacy, unlike Cruyff has in the Netherlands.”

Xavi this is what The Great DD had to say to your comments:

[Barbara 15,149]

let's all be sad, Xavi thinks football is dead because Mourinho destroyed it. Poor thing.

Look even the ball is crying.

(taken from this book http://pollybeam.blogspot.com.br/2012/07/xavis-pitch.html)

[Rmpr 8,977]

Everytime a Barcelona player comeback moaning about that 2012 UCL Semi-Final, I go to my PC and rewatch it!

Fuck you Xavi and thank Drogba, Petr, Lampard, Torres, Ramires, RDM, Mourinho, Roman, etc!

[BleedsBlue 1,549]

Honestly if we look past the hate for Barcelona,Xavi is kind of right when he talks about the legacy and how RDM won us the Champions League. We did not play the proper game of football and Jose does favour results over performances at times.

Pep's contribution to the game of football has been quite immense. The tiki taka style may get boring at sometimes because of the amount of possession they keep on having but there are some moments of brilliance on the pitch because of that approach and for the neutral point of view,its quite exciting to watch.We can't simply hate or deny that just because we are one of their greatest European rivals.

In truth he really hasn't left a legacy but I believe his time at Chelsea will be much different because of the number of years he intends on staying here. So,eventually there will be a kind of of style which others will admire because of the quality players we have.

Although I do not understand why he wants to attack Chelsea now and especially Jose. All I know he's one stupid man for reigniting this pointless feud because Jose is going to eat him alive. Can not wait for his response.

[OneMoSalah 8,883]

Who even remembers who Xavi was before 2007? He was probably the most criticized player in the Barca team before Pep turned them into the best team in Europe. Sure people knew he existed but hardly rated him the same. Arrogant words coming from someone who was only rated as one of the best since 2007 or 2008 when Mourinho has been winning trophies consistently since 2002...

[robdog 2,084]

Honestly if we look past the hate for Barcelona,Xavi is kind of right when he talks about the legacy and how RDM won us the Champions League. We did not play the proper game of football and Jose does favour results over performances at times.

Really? What is not proper about this goal @ the Camp Nou?

IMHO that is a World Class Goal & deserves to be put in any Museum around the Planet.

[lionsden 4,689]

Really? What is not proper about this goal @ the Camp Nou?

IMHO that is a World Class Goal & deserves to be put in any Museum around the Planet.

There's a clear difference between a "proper game of football" as bleedblue put it and scoring a "world class goal". While I agree that we did what was necessary to win the tie/trophy,it cannot be denied that we never attempted to take the game to Barca and bayern and given our transfer budget and status as a big club, people would have expected better than the extremely negative approach we deployed in those encounters and rightly so.

Our tactical approach was an admission of extreme inferiority and desperation which wouldn't have been the case if we had a football philosophy, stability and shrewd transfer policy.

[robdog 2,084]

There's a clear difference between a "proper game of football" as bleedblue put it and scoring a "world class goal". While I agree that we did what was necessary to win the tie/trophy,it cannot be denied that we never attempted to take the game to Barca and bayern and given our transfer budget and status as a big club, people would have expected better than the extremely negative approach we deployed in those encounters and rightly so.

Our tactical approach was an admission of extreme inferiority and desperation which wouldn't have been the case if we had a football philosophy, stability and shrewd transfer policy.

Agree to disagree - if CFC can hang w/ Barca & Bayern then I am in the belief they are playing good footie. So let me ask you this, getting beat by Bayern 7-0 is playing good footie? Sorry I can't see that. You play the game to your strengths & take advantage of your opponent's weakness. CFC did that & came away w/ the result.

[lionsden 4,689]

Agree to disagree - if CFC can hang w/ Barca & Bayern then I am in the belief they are playing good footie. So let me ask you this, getting beat by Bayern 7-0 is playing good footie? Sorry I can't see that. You play the game to your strengths & take advantage of your opponent's weakness. CFC did that & came away w/ the result.

And how exactly does this statement translate into playing aesthetically pleasing and entertaining footie aka good football? the football you described up there is called win at all cost result oriented football which isn't to be mistaken for entertaining football.

Not a single neutral or football purist would watch our tie against barca,bayern and some (dare I say most) of the games we have played for the past 3 seasons and call it entertaining, breathtaking football.

To me, there are two key element to football, wining and entertainment but if you find the negatively tactical and technically limited football entertaining then to each of its own.

[Muzchap 8,966]

And how exactly does this statement translate into playing aesthetically pleasing and entertaining footie aka good football? the football you described up there is called win at all cost result oriented football which isn't to be mistaken for entertaining football.

Not a single neutral or football purist would watch our tie against barca,bayern and some (dare I say most) of the games we have played for the past 3 seasons and call it entertaining, breathtaking football.

To me, there are two key element to football, wining and entertainment but if you find the negatively tactical and technically limited football entertaining then to each of its own.

Wow! You want a lot

Arsenal have been regarded as the best free flowing football team in the prem for a while - its worked our for them right? They have won lots of trophies... Oh wait... They haven't won fuck all!

We took Bayern at home, in front of 60,000+ fans (probably about 15k Chelsea - I was there) - sure it wasn't pretty, but I respected every single player, they gave everything and we WON... You can't always win pretty! So we done over Barca and Bayern - so what does it say about them? They didn't have the mental strength and belief - we DID - and that's been a Chelsea hallmark for years, grinding out results...

I'm sad that you feel the need to criticise the performance - the club was in transition - we had no other choice - and respect to the players and RdM - no other coach could have done that job - against 2 massive clubs in a row we beat them over 3 games - that doesn't sound like a fluke, sounds like we played to our strengths - with the players and philosophy available at the time...

We are now changing our style of play again - but if we had to 'park the bus' for another CL triumph - I would support the team and decision 100%

And finally - I don't give a fuck about the opinions of neutrals or purists - they can fuck off - jealously and probably a significant cash loss (betting on wrong team) probably led to a lot of the complaints.

It should still be heralded as the true David vs Goliath it was... It's good enough for the Bible - it's good enough for me

[drog.ba 239]

I think you're being a little unfair towards Guardiola. The team he inherited from Rijkaard was very good, but he definitely made significant changes to it and made it his own.

The Bayern job was a safe one to take, but also understandable since Managers find work based on reputation. After enhancing it further at Bayern nobody will call him a one hit wonder if he fails in a more difficult job later.

Hopefully after his spell at Bayern Guardiola moves to a club with the resources to become competitive but without the promise of instant success.

Mourinho definitely deserves more respect for his bravery when it comes to choosing jobs, but unfortunately a lot of people don't see it that way.

yeah I was, he did improve Barca and has changed things at Bayern when they were already the best club side. Wouldn't surprise me if he ended up back at Barcelona at some point

[The only place to be 11,313]

And how exactly does this statement translate into playing aesthetically pleasing and entertaining footie aka good football? the football you described up there is called win at all cost result oriented football which isn't to be mistaken for entertaining football.

Not a single neutral or football purist would watch our tie against barca,bayern and some (dare I say most) of the games we have played for the past 3 seasons and call it entertaining, breathtaking football.

To me, there are two key element to football, wining and entertainment but if you find the negatively tactical and technically limited football entertaining then to each of its own.

I think you're completely ignoring the romance of sport. We went to Barcelona and Munich as the underdog (the reasons for which you may have a point about - with our resources we should've been far better but we were mismanaged in the years after Jose left) yet the character and resolve we showed were absolutely remarkable. Some of the greatest sports stories that survive decades of retelling are based on those values, so I'm not that ashamed by what I saw those nights.

To be honest I couldn't give a fuck what neutrals thought about us that night either. They don't factor into my thinking because I'm a Chelsea supporter. The guys next to me in Munich didn't seem to care what neutrals thought of us either.

But like you said, to each his own.

[Tomo 21,751]

And how exactly does this statement translate into playing aesthetically pleasing and entertaining footie aka good football? the football you described up there is called win at all cost result oriented football which isn't to be mistaken for entertaining football.

Not a single neutral or football purist would watch our tie against barca,bayern and some (dare I say most) of the games we have played for the past 3 seasons and call it entertaining, breathtaking football.

To me, there are two key element to football, wining and entertainment but if you find the negatively tactical and technically limited football entertaining then to each of its own.

Nobody could have took on Barcelona then, played them at an open game and beat them (unless your keeper had the game off his live or they had extremely wasteful finishing, like they did that night at The Emirates, but rectified that quickly in the second game). You could spend a billion, but you still wouldn't have a CM as good as Xavi and Iniesta, a player as good as Messi, or a bunch off players that could keep the ball for 5 minutes then get it straight back within 10 seconds of losing it.

Arsenal tried to beat them at their own game, got hammered twice, no shots on target in one. Tika Taka is the most effective form of football if you can get it right, but it needs to be spot on for it to work, Arsenal tried it to a point, and they were the most easiest team to tactically set up against for a good number of years.

[didierforever 7,349]

just one question, what is "good football", and who the fuck defined it that way?

for me, football is a game of 2 teams consisting of 11 players each. u win if u score more goals than your opposition. who the fuck cares how we did it??