The Mourinho Thread

[Cosmin 2,484]

You can't expect to play the same system for every opponents you face, don't you?

Take Everton and Burnley away as a comparison. If we park the bus every time we went away, at least, then I understand if you said that, why we buy Costa, Fabregas, etc. We didn't.

Every different match needs different strategy and different approach. Against City, I think this is the best strategy.

Just because we scored 6 against Everton, doesn't mean we controlled that game. Our possesion was 38%.

[Viper22 2,418]

Jose went into the game wanting a point. We nearly came out of it with 3 thanks to Zabaleta being a moron, but 1 point we did get. He did what was needed, and got under Pellegrino's skin into the bargain too ;P.

At the bridge we'll be far more adventurous, and even away against everyone else but possibly Arsenal we won't play like this again til the latter stages of the CL possibly.

My only 2 problems with Jose after that performance was 1) Why keep Willian on so long when he was so obviously struggling and 2) Why bring Drogba on not Remy?

[Cosmin 2,484]

Jose went into the game wanting a point. We nearly came out of it with 3 thanks to Zabaleta being a moron, but 1 point we did get. He did what was needed, and got under Pellegrino's skin into the bargain too ;P.

At the bridge we'll be far more adventurous, and even away against everyone else but possibly Arsenal we won't play like this again til the latter stages of the CL possibly.

My only 2 problems with Jose after that performance was 1) Why keep Willian on so long when he was so obviously struggling and 2) Why bring Drogba on not Remy?

Why? We have a great squad, had a very good start of the season. So why go for only ONE point? Why not try to get all the points? I just don't get it. Jose went for one point, but why should we be happy about it and say that "see, he got what he wanted!"? It's bullshit, the same bullshit from last season, when we should've trashed United on their ground, but we struggled for the same old ONE point. Why are we so afraid?

[Fernando 6,743]

Why? We have a great squad, had a very good start of the season. So why go for only ONE point? Why not try to get all the points? I just don't get it. Jose went for one point, but why should we be happy about it and say that "see, he got what he wanted!"? It's bullshit, the same bullshit from last season, when we should've trashed United on their ground, but we struggled for the same old ONE point. Why are we so afraid?

That good start of the season, quote on quote was a start with a shaky defense.

Not a good bases to use and take against your main title contenders.

Now if we was using the same strategy against hull city then there would be a great problem.

[didierforever 7,349]

Why? We have a great squad, had a very good start of the season. So why go for only ONE point? Why not try to get all the points? I just don't get it. Jose went for one point, but why should we be happy about it and say that "see, he got what he wanted!"? It's bullshit, the same bullshit from last season, when we should've trashed United on their ground, but we struggled for the same old ONE point. Why are we so afraid?

cos this is the real world. its not FIFA.

cos city are the defending champions and have a better squad. cos they are already 5 points behind with catching up to do. the onus was on them, not us.

how can some be so naive.

[Cosmin 2,484]

cos this is the real world. its not FIFA.

cos city are the defending champions and have a better squad. cos they are already 5 points behind with catching up to do. the onus was on them, not us.

how can some be so naive.

Better squad my ass. Look at their bench and at our bench, FFS. You're reducing it to this game only, but the problem is much bigger. This is what we've been doing ever since Mourinho came back. Playing like pussies. I can't remember the last big away game treated with BALLS by Chelsea.

[Sidzeret 2,257]

accepted that we should be playing a little more expansive football. but lets take somethings into consideration.

we were 5 points ahead of our only real title rivals.

if we got a draw, we would be 5 points ahead with having played at goodison and etihad.

also, we had a system to play under after the last season's brilliant performance against the same team. why would we change it? city adapted really well. the onus was on them to not make the same mistake twice like arsenal do or pool do.

they dint let us counter, they dint over commit. they were prepared to take yellows instead of having hazard and willian run a feet more with the ball than necessary. so we were set up to counter meanwhile city were set up to thwart our counters no matter what.

also, i dont think we would be this defensive away from home against all "big" teams. look at everton away. i will be suprised if we play this way against spurs and arsenal away. but this match was a 6 pointer in the title race. also, as good as our squad is, city still has a better squad. they have one of the best squads in europe without a doubt. so i dont think there should be any shame in curbing our attacking play for one game.

Nice post.

Don't know why so many people are critical of Jose's tactics for this game.

Remember we won both home and away against them last season and almost won today deploying the exact same tactics even though the execution wasn't like what Jose would of wanted it to be.

I'd be pissed if we keep on playing like yesterday against Spurs or Arsenal or even, Liverpool or United but Mourinho has every right to go with a negative approach yesterday.

[didierforever 7,349]

Better squad my ass. Look at their bench and at our bench, FFS. You're reducing it to this game only, but the problem is much bigger. This is what we've been doing ever since Mourinho came back. Playing like pussies. I can't remember the last big away game treated with BALLS by Chelsea.

u want BALLS, then go and lick arsene's or brendan's. those idiots will give u as much BALLS as u want.

here, we are not playing a university or sunday league. this is professional football. we have been doing it cos it the right thing to do. last season we have a total of 4 wins against city and pool, a win and a draw against spurs, united and arsenal, tell me which other team had that record.

what is the "problem" that u r refering to? getting points? jose has done that. but if u want idiotic,mindless football, u are welcome to choose any of arsenal, pool or even everton now.

bye-bye.

[Cosmin 2,484]

u want BALLS, then go and lick arsene's or brendan's. those idiots will give u as much BALLS as u want.

here, we are not playing a university or sunday league. this is professional football. we have been doing it cos it the right thing to do. last season we have a total of 4 wins against city and pool, a win and a draw against spurs, united and arsenal, tell me which other team had that record.

what is the "problem" that u r refering to? getting points? jose has done that. but if u want idiotic,mindless football, u are welcome to choose any of arsenal, pool or even everton now.

bye-bye.

You just can't defend your point of view without cursing and swearing the other person like a fucking cunt, can you? I'm unhappy with the way Chelsea approaches the big games, I don't want 4 points against City, I want 6. I don't want to always defend against City, I want to control the game for once and play like a big fucking club. What's wrong with that? Oh, yeah, it's against your opinion and you have to start acting like a cunt, of course.

[didierforever 7,349]

You just can't defend your point of view without cursing and swearing the other person like a fucking cunt, can you? I'm unhappy with the way Chelsea approaches the big games, I don't want 4 points against City, I want 6. I don't want to always defend against City, I want to control the game for once and play like a big fucking club. What's wrong with that? Oh, yeah, it's against your opinion and you have to start acting like a cunt, of course.

cos this is the real world. its not FIFA.

cos city are the defending champions and have a better squad. cos they are already 5 points behind with catching up to do. the onus was on them, not us.

how can some be so naive

no cursing and swearing

Better squad my ass. Look at their bench and at our bench, FFS. You're reducing it to this game only, but the problem is much bigger. This is what we've been doing ever since Mourinho came back. Playing like pussies. I can't remember the last big away game treated with BALLS by Chelsea.

hmmmmmmmm.... weird!!!! so who started the cursing and swearing???

anyways, your post is so awesome and REALISTIC and it really baffles me. so i ll just leave it there. i cant be bothered to chat with someone who wants us to go all out attack against city at etihad with a 5-point lead. i mean now i get why arsenal fans are still happy with wenger.

[laeth 527]

Why? We have a great squad, had a very good start of the season. So why go for only ONE point? Why not try to get all the points? I just don't get it. Jose went for one point, but why should we be happy about it and say that "see, he got what he wanted!"? It's bullshit, the same bullshit from last season, when we should've trashed United on their ground, but we struggled for the same old ONE point. Why are we so afraid?

Mourinho always sets up his teams not to lose away from home against the top four. Drawing away from home and winning at home against your rivals is usually enough (if you beat the lower teams), it's what Mourinho has always done and it generally works. It was a good result; I don't understand why people think we're all of a sudden significantly better than City - we're not.

[CHOULO19 24,332]

José seemed genuinely upset about Lampard in his post match interviews.

Even in his prematch conference he sounded annoyed that Frank has chose to join City. Said he thought he was going to New Yorke and would never have expected him playing for City, but it's his life.

[Cosmin 2,484]

Mourinho always sets up his teams not to lose away from home against the top four. Drawing away from home and winning at home against your rivals is usually enough (if you beat the lower teams), it's what Mourinho has always done and it generally works. It was a good result; I don't understand why people think we're all of a sudden significantly better than City - we're not.

Yes, we are. Or, at least, our form was better. Before the game against us, they only won 2 out of the first 6 official games of the season. We won 4 out of 5. They lost against Stoke, drew against Arsenal (defensively, they were very, very poor on Emirates), and were coming after a last minute loss against Bayern (not too good for their morale, is it?). Their best player, Yaya Toure, is not having the best time of his career and their attack is not even close to being as incisive as it was the last season. It was a huge chance to go 8 points clear, but we chose to not even try. And I wonder what's the excuse for what happened when we were 11 vs. 10 and one goal ahead.

[laeth 527]

Yes, we are. Or, at least, our form was better. Before the game against us, they only won 2 out of the first 6 official games of the season. We won 4 out of 5. They lost against Stoke, drew against Arsenal (defensively, they were very, very poor on Emirates), and were coming after a last minute loss against Bayern (not too good for their morale, is it?). Their best player, Yaya Toure, is not having the best time of his career and their attack is not even close to being as incisive as it was the last season. It was a huge chance to go 8 points clear, but we chose to not even try. And I wonder what's the excuse for what happened when we were 11 vs. 10 and one goal ahead.

The "excuse" is that we didn't want to concede, if we had pressed ahead and tried for a second - there was an even greater risk of conceding. Yes, Mourinho's plan of defending rather than attacking didn't work today, but on another day it would of done. It's all about risk management; Mourinho is normally the master of this.

We're never going to go gung-ho away from home against rival teams, the sooner you get over this, the better you'll feel .

[stroey 2,525]

Yes, we are. Or, at least, our form was better. Before the game against us, they only won 2 of the first 6 official games of the season. We won 4 out of 5. They lost against Stoke, drew against Arsenal (defensively, they were very, very poor on Emirates), and were coming after a last minute loss against Bayern (not too good for their morale, is it?). It was a huge chance to go 8 points clear, but we chose to not even try. And I wonder what's the excuse for what happened when we were 11 vs. 10 and one goal ahead.

I'm more than happy with how we approached this game. This season our defense was very shaky compared to last season. Matic wasn't solid at all before this game and we don't have Luiz in the pivot anymore. We simply couldn't expect to play open and outscore Mancity at Etihad like we did against Everton. One counter could've won us the game like last season.

People saying we were parking the bus after 1-0 were too emotional I think. I've rewatched the game and after the 1-0 in the 70th minute we controlled the game better for 15 minutes and almost even scored the 2-0 (header and shot Costa). The goal of Lamps was a mistake of Schurrle and Ivanovic. After the 1-1, they were mentally very strong and we were confused and emotional cause Lamps scored the equaliser. The team did well to keep the point cause City played all or nothing in the last minutes.

Be positive people, the old solid Azpi and Matic are back. We looked solid defensively for the first time this season and this was away against the last season champions. One point is good and we are still top of the league.

[Cosmin 2,484]

The "excuse" is that we didn't want to concede, if we had pressed ahead and tried for a second - there was an even greater risk of conceding. Yes, Mourinho's plan of defending rather than attacking didn't work today, but on another day it would of done. It's all about risk management; Mourinho is normally the master of this.

We're never going to gung-ho away from home against rival teams, the sooner you get over this, the better you'll feel .

And how exactly were we trying not to concede? By giving them the ball and the chance to attack us? We should've kept the ball and expect them to come at us, and then hit them again on a counter attack. That's what big teams do. We could've even lost this game 11 vs. 10 because of the stupid tactics. They were rushing while we were waiting for time to pass at 1-1. I won't get over it, because it is not a right thing and it is against my views towards football and towards how a big club should manage this kind of situations. And like it or not, I will keep criticizing Mourinho for going this way when I know that we can do better.

[The Skipper 20,609]

I could fully understand the cautious approach but with the attacking ability we have now we should never be this cautious. It hurt me to see the likes of Hazard, Costa and Fabregas just isolated...

Jose needs to find the right formula, the squad is far too complete for us to still be playing this kind of football. Showed a bit too much respect for City tbh, Pellegrini's comments were just expected for me. In a sense Manuel can goad and say we played like a Stoke yesterday because it's true.

Hopefully Jose finds the correct formula soon. It wasn't right to play the way we did yesterday.

[laeth 527]

And how exactly were we trying not to concede? By giving them the ball and the chance to attack us? We should've kept the ball and expect them to come at us, and then hit them again on a counter attack. That's what big teams do. We could've even lost this game 11 vs. 10 because of the stupid tactics. They were rushing why we were waiting for time to pass at 1-1. I won't get over it, because it is not a right thing and it is against my views towards football and towards how a big club should manage this kind of situations.

Yes, because Mourinho obviously instructed the team to give them the ball and let them attack us...

Well you're going to be disappointed with every away game we play against our rivals for the foreseeable future.

[Cosmin 2,484]

this was away against the last season champions. One point is good and we are still top of the league.

First off, the 'last season champions' thing is not an arguement. United were 'last season champions' too in 2013-2014. They finished 7th, right? Secondly, one point is good, but it's obvious that we could've done better.

[Jase 43,479]

I could fully understand the cautious approach but with the attacking ability we have now we should never be this cautious. It hurt me to see the likes of Hazard, Costa and Fabregas just isolated...

Jose needs to find the right formula, the squad is far too complete for us to still be playing this kind of football. Showed a bit too much respect for City tbh, Pellegrini's comments were just expected for me. In a sense Manuel can goad and say we played like a Stoke yesterday because it's true.

Hopefully Jose finds the correct formula soon. It wasn't right to play the way we did yesterday.

Agree but I don't think our attacks were helped yesterday by the rubbishness of Willian and Ramires on the ball. Spoiled so many of our attacks because they couldn't even keep the ball for longer than 5 seconds!