The Mourinho Thread

[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 2,226]

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.

[didierforever 7,349]

the mob is soooooooo fickle.

sometimes i wonder if these people actually support chelsea or just hope for a chelsea loss so that they can vent out their pent up anger and frustration over our manager/players/coaching staff/roman. word of advice - close the room, go to xhamster.com and have a nice time with yourself. will atleast help u guys with your pent up anger.

[Henrique 9,133]

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.

But even in Italy the team that win the league is usually the one who scores more. You can win the league with defensive football, and there must be a balance between attacking and defense. When you sacrifice your attacking qualities in order to improve your defense, you end up having problems. Even the great italian teams had some amazing attacking talents, just remember Inter in 2010 with Etoo, Milito and Sneider, and Milan in 2007, with Kaka and Seedorf.

[Henrique 9,133]

the mob is soooooooo fickle.

sometimes i wonder if these people actually support chelsea or just hope for a chelsea loss so that they can vent out their pent up anger and frustration over our manager/players/coaching staff/roman. word of advice - close the room, go to xhamster.com and have a nice time with yourself. will atleast help u guys with your pent up anger.

That might be true, but how this situation apply to this topics?

[iseah100 5,612]

Have you guys never heard the phrase "Defense wins Championships"? Offensive teams.don't always win everything and a good defense usually beats a good offense. Defense is important. I prefer a defensive team because i know an offense cant score 3+ goals every game. You have to havr a.good defense to help you win those 1-0 games. Jose will be here for a while, 2 more players and the team will be how he wants it. He needs time, people need to relax. Mou is a genius, he does make mistakes, but he's the best manager ever and will figure it out. Our team is young and some of our core guys are aging or they haven't played together long. Salah/Willian/Schurrle/Matic are in their first year. Hazard is our best player. Our defense is the only thing we can rely on.

[Ze Mario 638]

thx mou for your PS last night. i was very mad and swear to not to read any media until ATM match, but his PS just made my day. He knows what the fans are feeling, and he represents us with talking like that, with getting risk being punished by FA. well done legend!

[didierforever 7,349]

That might be true, but how this situation apply to this topics?

how? Is not the exact thing happening right here, right now!!!!!

[Mohammed Seif 1,451]

But even in Italy the team that win the league is usually the one who scores more. You can win the league with defensive football, and there must be a balance between attacking and defense. When you sacrifice your attacking qualities in order to improve your defense, you end up having problems. Even the great italian teams had some amazing attacking talents, just remember Inter in 2010 with Etoo, Milito and Sneider, and Milan in 2007, with Kaka and Seedorf.

Again I agree. I can even remember vaguely the Van Basten era and the Inzaghi, Schilacci, Baggio ...etc. Amazing talents there offensively. I agree that you definitely need a balance between offense and defense and that you shouldn't sacrifice one for another. But in a stage with a team that has key players below maturity level, you have to pick one. Simply because the players' mentality and physical condition does not allow you to execute both at the same level. Sometimes it is even hard for established players to change their style because they reach a level where they will lack flexibility. I am sorry to remind you , but the best offensive team that ever played football failed to win the world cup and the one who beat them played an ugly defensive football. The dream team of Real Madrid also failed to deliver decent results.

So yes, a balance is required. But a smart manager should decide which is his priority. Of course that is based on the current objectives and future goals. And also the type of players he has. We agree that the finishing quality of our midfielders and attackers are not good enough to make us a more offensive team at the meantime. When you look at Liverpool, their defense is a joke but their strength lies within their offense and finishing quality. City is more balanced in my opinion. I would be disappointed if that does not change by next season. Though being young is an excuse for not being mature and consistent, it also means that these players should have high flexibility, adaptability and progress in their game fast. Sometimes you just have to play to your strengths until you can develop your weaknesses. By all means I would love to see a more attacking creative game by us next season and I would be disappointed if certain players, like Oscar, Willian, Schurrle, Hazard, Salah, Azpi and Matic don't up their game and mentality. Football is a simple game in its core. The one who puts more balls in the net wins. But if you can't put a lot of balls in the net, make sure your opponent doesn't put more than you .

[Styles 9,790]

It was a very clear and deliberate display by the referee. It was just as bad, if not worse, than Chris Foy's performance in the Villa game.