The Mourinho Thread

[Gilvorak 3,734]

If people are going to keep bringing up our strikers for the fault of our midfield I'm bringing up the sale of Mata as the worst decision Jose has made this season.

The sale of Mata cost us dearly. Not only with his vision & playmaking but his immaculate set piece delivery.

[dee25 1,044]

The bizarre part about that Mata situation was how some on here kept blaming him for our poor league form in the past two seasons much in the same way people are now blaming our strikers for losses against Sunderland, Villa, Crystal Palace etc. Such simplistic thinking, it's unreal. Mata scored 12 goals and 12 assists in an under-performing team, sad how people just dis-valued that.

[The only place to be 11,313]

If people are going to keep bringing up our strikers for the fault of our midfield I'm bringing up the sale of Mata as the worst decision Jose has made this season.

The sale of Mata cost us dearly. Not only with his vision & playmaking but his immaculate set piece delivery.

Are our strikers good enough to win the league? Simple question because I'm fairly certain they aren't which is why they'll all probably leave in the summer.

[Strike 6,974]

Punishment for what? The Arsenal party? he was dropped a month and a half before that incident.

Cole has been poor for years now.

years? Nope. maybe 1-2 at most

[edetarod 2,155]

it seems the only thing his mind games accomplished was talk us out of the title

maybe he kept saying we're not good enough to win the title one too many times, even our players went on to believe it

if Liverpool could win it, then so could we

[Laylabelle 9,305]

He wasnt wrong about false readings though.Man City had games in hand which would've pushed us down.True they may have gone onto to believe it but end of the day they should be capable to ignore negative things and believe it for themselves

[laura90 556]

Are our strikers good enough to win the league? Simple question because I'm fairly certain they aren't which is why they'll all probably leave in the summer.

Can you please explain to me how our strikers were good enough against big teams and suddenly garbage against 'smaller' teams?

How come Eto, (Torres) and Ba managed to score against Man Utd, Man City, Liverpool, Arsenal, PSG, but failed to score against West Hams and Villas of Premier League?

Could it be because in big games we could fully implement our counter attacking style (which is the only style we excel playing), so it was easier for us to create chances and for Eto to score from the same?

On the other hand against smaller teams who defended first and foremost against us, we couldn't fully implement our counter attacking play and we were somehow average in our attack in posession with bunch of hopeful shots and few clear cut chances which made it harder for our strikers?

I'm not saying that our strikers are great, far from it, I'm just saying that with better attacking plan and play they could chip that 5 or 6 goals extra we needed to become champions.

[Fernando 6,376]

Are our strikers good enough to win the league? Simple question because I'm fairly certain they aren't which is why they'll all probably leave in the summer.

This is getting boring really.

Even with the half ass strikers we had the last season we scored a lot.

Somewhere the idea and philosophy of two seasons clash.

One season of attacking team but faults in defense to another season of well defense minded team to faults in attack.

[didierforever 7,349]

If people are going to keep bringing up our strikers for the fault of our midfield I'm bringing up the sale of Mata as the worst decision Jose has made this season.

The sale of Mata cost us dearly. Not only with his vision & playmaking but his immaculate set piece delivery.

So people are wrong in saying that the chance that fell to ba would have been scored by aguero, negredo, rvp, rooney, sturridge, suarez, falcao, cavani, costa, mandzukic, etc etc etc....

At 1-1 we had pretty of half chances. None of them converted. Look at what converting those half chances has done to pool. It changes the whole complexion of the game. As for mata, he had his chances this season and simply could not fit in.

[Liquidator 5,176]

Liquid,

Were you watching the game? You sometimes need to watch them games.

Yes I was from my seat in the Shed Upper. I probably do need to watch those games sometimes. I've been to every home game and 12 away games but I face away from the pitch so I never see any of the action.

[bushman 2,043]

Yes I was from my seat in the Shed Upper. I probably do need to watch those games sometimes. I've been to every home game and 12 away games but I face away from the pitch so I never see any of the action.

Most likely, you already had your 5th brewskie, then?

[Joe Cool 388]

It's about time he's stopped with his pathetic media bollox and just given it to the players in public. I don't give a shit what anyone says, pressure deflection, mind games, etc. The bottom line is that we're 5 fucking points behind Liverpool and losing stupid fucking games to teams that we should never be losing to. The players have been due a collective kick up the arse (publicly) for quite some time.

[The only place to be 11,313]

This is getting boring really.

Even with the half ass strikers we had the last season we scored a lot.

Somewhere the idea and philosophy of two seasons clash.

One season of attacking team but faults in defense to another season of well defense minded team to faults in attack.

But we also shipped goals. Sure we could give someone like Mata the freedom of the pitch but it makes us very fragile at the back and that was under both Robbie and Rafa.

We still create a lot of chances under Jose, but simply fail to take them.

[The only place to be 11,313]

Can you please explain to me how our strikers were good enough against big teams and suddenly garbage against 'smaller' teams?

How come Eto, (Torres) and Ba managed to score against Man Utd, Man City, Liverpool, Arsenal, PSG, but failed to score against West Hams and Villas of Premier League?

At home? Because away from home we've scored 2 goals against the 'big' teams, and one of those came from a right-back.

On the other hand against smaller teams who defended first and foremost against us, we couldn't fully implement our counter attacking play and we were somehow average in our attack in posession with bunch of hopeful shots and few clear cut chances which made it harder for our strikers?

I'm not saying that our strikers are great, far from it, I'm just saying that with better attacking plan and play they could chip that 5 or 6 goals extra we needed to become champions.

But the question was are they good enough to win the league because I don't think they are? Are you able to answer this question?

It's not simply about them scoring goals either. It's about them making the right runs to create space for the players behind them. Do any of our strikers do that either?

[didierforever 7,349]

This is getting boring really.

Even with the half ass strikers we had the last season we scored a lot.

Somewhere the idea and philosophy of two seasons clash.

One season of attacking team but faults in defense to another season of well defense minded team to faults in attack.

The faults in attack is that our strikers suck. Nothing else.

We scored a lot of goals last season and where did it get us? Out of CL group stages!!!! Fighting for 4th spot. We are not a defence minded team. There is a difference in being defence minded and being defensively solid.

By the way last season we scored 75 goals and we have alreadt scored 67 this year. Don't get what the problem is.

[LDN Blue 7,903]

Everyone thinks our problems will be solved by buying about 5-6 players this summer. That's going to be incredibly hard this summer. Why? Because firstly it's World Cup year, if you want the best deal then clubs have to secure transfers before then and a club with said player would rather wait till after because a good WC for the individual means more demand. That means they can demand a higher price and start a bidding war from everyone. I don't see us buying 5-6, 2-3 most likely simply because of WC and FFP factors.

Secondly let's have a think about who's buying in bulk this summer. City, United, Liverpool, PSG, Real, Barca (if their ban is lifted). City & Real are the money giants right now and giants who are about the lose the league.. We know when they lose the league they want to strengthen as quickly as possible even if their squad is already good enough! Bruce Buck has forever, and every year since, been adamant we won't enter a bidding war with anyone.

[bushman 2,043]

Jose talks a lot of shit with the media. It certainly does not help the players to read about it. To some, it may be to take the pressure off the players. For others, it creates animosity with the media.

Now, if Jose is smart, he gears his energy on Atletico & plays Chelsea´s reserves at Ants field. No matter, what Chelsea does next weekend, the refs won´t allow Chelsea to win that game.

[Jase 43,479]

But we also shipped goals. Sure we could give someone like Mata the freedom of the pitch but it makes us very fragile at the back and that was under both Robbie and Rafa.

We still create a lot of chances under Jose, but simply fail to take them.

True but TBF, that wasn't the case when Mata was still around under Mourinho. Was given a role with responsibilites (especially defensively) but still able to create chances. It's just that comparing him with our other AMs, he can give us that X-factor and create something from nothing for others (apart from Hazard) in final third. Not talking just about playing those through balls, 1-2s with the others but also chances like ball over the top of the opposition's defence when they are parking the bus/defending in numbers in front of us (e.g. Ba's FA Cup goal against United, Torres' league goal against Swansea two seasons ago) and it's these kind of chances at times, this kind of ingenuity, that is missing from our play when the opposition are being stubborn against us.