The Mourinho Thread

[Jase 43,479]

Hmm I still disagree. Against City, for example, why were they allowed to progress so far into our half and all the way into our box? When that happens it's inevitable that individual mistakes would prove costly. Schurrle/Ivanovic were obviously at fault but who is responsible for allowing that to happen, for deciding not to press a 10-man team and keep them as far away from our box as possible? The system/manager.

Just because they have 10 man, doesn't mean we should just go press them. It's Man City, not some team from the Conference. Mistakes can also happen by opening yourself up to the opponent. Doesn't mean we won't have conceded had we pressed City. Had Schurrle and Ivanovic done their jobs right, this wouldn't even be part of the discussion. You run risks regardless of whichever approach is taken in matches.

[The Chels 2,502]

Just because they have 10 man, doesn't mean we should just go press them. It's Man City, not some team from the Conference. Mistakes can also happen by opening yourself up to the opponent. Doesn't mean we won't have conceded had we pressed City. Had Schurrle and Ivanovic done their jobs right, this wouldn't even be part of the discussion. You run risks regardless of whichever approach is taken in matches.

If we had 8-9 players behind the ball and were compact with an initial press starting as soon as they got into our half (didn't have to be particularly aggressive) then there's no way they'd have been allowed to waltz so easily into our box like they did. Yes we might still have conceded but it would have reduced the chances and that's what football is all about - manipulating the probabilities in your favour. Take the Atletico home game last year: I assume you would just blame Hazard for 2 of the 3 goals we conceded because he switched off. Personally I would also look at the manager because it was he who was responsible for assigning a not-so-defensively-diligent winger the role of tracking a dangerous FB all the way back into our box and thus allowed for that individual error to be a big possibility.

The bottom line is mistakes will happen regardless of the system, but I don't think that our current system (especially when we take the lead) gives us the best opportunity for those mistakes not to be costly. I feel like a broken record moaning about Mourinho's tactics so I'll happily agree to disagree with you on this one!

[Jase 43,479]

If we had 8-9 players behind the ball and were compact with an initial press starting as soon as they got into our half (didn't have to be particularly aggressive) then there's no way they'd have been allowed to waltz so easily into our box like they did. Yes we might still have conceded but it would have reduced the chances and that's what football is all about - manipulating the probabilities in your favour.

You could have 8-9 players pressing the opposition together but if someone switches off like Schurrle and Ivanovic did in the City, then the pressing would become useless, the opposition can just play around us and we would probably concede because of that. What we did then against City was nothing wrong. They thrive on spaces and we denied them. We minimized their chances of scoring. They only scored because two players went AWOL.

Take the Atletico home game last year: I assume you would just blame Hazard for 2 of the 3 goals we conceded because he switched off. Personally I would also look at the manager because it was he who was responsible for assigning a not-so-defensively-diligent winger the role of tracking a dangerous FB all the way back into our box and thus allowed for that individual error to be a big possibility.

Defensively diligent or not, it was Hazard's job to mark his man and he didn't, regardless of whether it was in our own penalty box or outside of it on the left flank.

[KevinAshburner 1,270]

I wonder if Jose Mourinho will say to himself one day. I am tired of this. I must leave from Chelsea FC and England because the English Media and English FA are ruining my life and Health I should go back home to Portugal were my people will Love me and not treat me like shit like in England because I would've freaking exploded with anger at The English Media by now if I was Jose.

[manpe 10,861]

I wonder if Jose Mourinho will say to himself one day. I am tired of this. I must leave from Chelsea FC and England because the English Media and English FA are ruining my life and Health I should go back home to Portugal were my people will Love me and not treat me like shit like in England because I would've freaking exploded with anger at The English Media by now if I was Jose.

Jose has repeatedly stated his love for English football. I suspect he thrives on the attention he gets from the media, it makes it easier for him to set baits.

[We Hate Scouse 10,352]

I wonder if Jose Mourinho will say to himself one day. I am tired of this. I must leave from Chelsea FC and England because the English Media and English FA are ruining my life and Health I should go back home to Portugal were my people will Love me and not treat me like shit like in England because I would've freaking exploded with anger at The English Media by now if I was Jose.

The same happened in Italy and Spain and the Portuguese don't like him...http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/europe/3696708.stm

[Special Juan 28,869]

Rumors are that he told SKY to basically fuck off from Cobham today.

[lionsden 4,689]

With regards to losing leads. There's a solution to that. Don't rely on one goal to win a match. Push for more when you can. The heart attack inducing pressure of watching your team defend a 1 nil lead in the closing stages alone makes me hate the idea of sitting on one fragile goal. Especially with the way we just sit back and invite pressure, there's always an element of luck involved in keeping a one goal lead.

So we can either learn how to kill off the opposition with goals or their momentum by controlling the game I.e better in game management. Relying on th defence won't cut it.

[RoyalBlues 4,050]

Rumors are that he told SKY to basically fuck off from Cobham today.

Does Jose hate Neville now?

[RoyalBlues 4,050]

Winning the League Cup can change our dynamic in certain games / certain times.

We are Chelsea and for a team like us being two consecutive years without winning any trophy would be a big failure.

I see some anxiety about it. Not only in Jose, also in our players. Last year we were eliminated in the semifinals of the Champions League, and we lost the Premier League at the last moment.

Jose and our players know this, and I think they do not want to risk at times for fear that we will do the same as last season.

So in big games we played with intelligence and pragmatism. Step by step and thinking about any kind of risk.

I think if we win the League Cup, in some way, that could relax the anxiety level we have now, and that can free our players and Jose.

The League Cup is a minor trophy, but can help us to manage better our anxiety.

Regards.

Agree, also the fact we're facing Spurs. No matter in a final or friendly match, we cannot afford to lose against those c****

[Rom2013 446]

The same happened in Italy and Spain and the Portuguese don't like him...http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/europe/3696708.stm

Saying that portuguese peope doesn't like Mourinho is something stupid and a lie. Obviously many people doesn't like him...like many people doesn't like Messi in Argentina or Cristiano in Portugal (just bcause they are the best) bit 90% of the people loves them.

About the other countries... yes, England is a lot easier than Italy or Spain mostly because of the press.

[manpe 10,861]

With regards to losing leads. There's a solution to that. Don't rely on one goal to win a match. Push for more when you can. The heart attack inducing pressure of watching your team defend a 1 nil lead in the closing stages alone makes me hate the idea of sitting on one fragile goal. Especially with the way we just sit back and invite pressure, there's always an element of luck involved in keeping a one goal lead.

So we can either learn how to kill off the opposition with goals or their momentum by controlling the game I.e better in game management. Relying on th defence won't cut it.

That's what frustrates me the most. It's fine when we are unpenetrable in defence, but this is not the case, the goal is always in the air when we invite pressure. We make a lot of last ditch tackles, blocks and saves, which actually shouldn't happen if we defended properly... this way we rely solely on a defender's/goalkeeper's skill and luck, those are uncontrollable situations which, when piled upon often enough, stack the odds against us.

There was a time when I felt quite safe doing that, but not anymore. We either don't want to or are unable to (I think it's the latter) take control of the game for at least some periods of the game to relieve pressure, but no, we go into full panic mode where we just lump the ball in random coordinates or somebody misplaces a silly little pass, pull back into our third and repeat the cycle. With the team we have our ball retention simply must be better, Fabregas or no Fabregas.

[We Hate Scouse 10,352]

Saying that portuguese peope doesn't like Mourinho is something stupid and a lie. Obviously many people doesn't like him...like many people doesn't like Messi in Argentina or Cristiano in Portugal (just bcause they are the best) bit 90% of the people loves them.

About the other countries... yes, England is a lot easier than Italy or Spain mostly because of the press.

I imagine most Portuguese fans wouldn't exactly warm to him, unless they are Porto fans, even which some don't (see the link in the other post) I didn't mean to generalise and say every Portuguese persons hates him.

The point I was trying to make was regardless of where he goes he will be hated by the majority and most likely the press.

[RoyalBlues 4,050]

English media would not make Jose their enemy, no matter what Jose did. Most of them are still working as journos at the moment, mainly because of Jose.

[Rom2013 446]

I imagine most Portuguese fans wouldn't exactly warm to him, unless they are Porto fans, even which some don't (see the link in the other post) I didn't mean to generalise and say every Portuguese persons hates him.

The point I was trying to make was regardless of where he goes he will be hated by the majority and most likely the press.

That's a lie. Just here I am a Sporting fan, and there are another one in here from Portugal. You go to Sporting forum and can see that 80 or 90% of peolple adores Mourinho (it's not 100% because Mourinho did something wrong with the shirt of the club one time).

The same with Benfica fans.

In reality he worked in the 3 bigger clubs of Portugal. He was assistant of Robson in Sporting and Porto, and coached Benfica and Porto...

For the press Mourinho is God in Portugal like Cristiano.

The problems of Mourinho were with the press in Madrid, and maybe more with press and the organization in Italy. The press in Spain is horrible, the papers of Catalunia are disgusting, As from Madrid had a problem with the President of Real Madrid because the company that ownes As (Grupo Prisa) wanted to buy Real Madrid and FLorentino didn't let that to happen and they will atack everything Florentino does.They are really bad professionals.

In Italy is different because they are really agressive, many times they defend their teams but they are fair. In Italy Mourinho had more problems with the organization.

In here there is less pressure from the press, and they treat everyone the same way, they just want a good story. And the FA is not that bad in reality compared with the others.

[lionsden 4,689]

That's what frustrates me the most. It's fine when we are unpenetrable in defence, but this is not the case, the goal is always in the air when we invite pressure. We make a lot of last ditch tackles, blocks and saves, which actually shouldn't happen if we defended properly... this way we rely solely on a defender's/goalkeeper's skill and luck, those are uncontrollable situations which, when piled upon often enough, stack the odds against us.

There was a time when I felt quite safe doing that, but not anymore. We either don't want to or are unable to (I think it's the latter) take control of the game for at least some periods of the game to relieve pressure, but no, we go into full panic mode where we just lump the ball in random coordinates or somebody misplaces a silly little pass, pull back into our third and repeat the cycle. With the team we have our ball retention simply must be better, Fabregas or no Fabregas.

There are so many things that could be done in regards to game management that we fail to do or never do properly such as retaining posession even if it's for posession sake instead of hoofing it upfield, if your opponent don't have the ball, they can't hurt you, that was Pep's barca biggest weapon during their dominant years.

If you do choose the more convenient option of hoofing it, it should be done with more tact and precision by having one or two strong player upfield to hold the ball up and either lay it off to a team mate to maintain posession or draw the foul to waste time or pacy players to stretch their defence and give them something to worry about.

There's another method of pressing high up the pitch, when you do this, not only does it make life difficult for the opponent,disrupts their flow and make them more likely to surrender posession, it also means they have to work harder to get the ball into dangerous areas to create chances. We rarely do any of these things in big games.

Just sitting back against teams that attacks relentlessly and with defenders like Ivanovic and Cahill who have been as unreliable and mistake prone this season is just a bad idea.

[manpe 10,861]

There are so many things that could be done in regards to game management that we fail to do or never do properly such as retaining posession even if it's for posession sake instead of hoofing it upfield, if yur opponent don't have the ball, they can't hurt you, that was Pep's barca biggest weapon during their dominant years.

If you do choose the safer route of hoofing it, it should be done with more tact and precision by having one or two strong player upfield to hold the ball up and either lay it off to a team mate or draw the foul to waste time. There's another method of pressing high up the pitch, when you do this, not only does it make life difficult for the opponent,disrupts their flow and make them more likely to surrender posession, it also means they have to work harder to get the ball into dangerous areas to create chances. We rarely do any of these things in big games.

Just sitting back against teams that attacks relentlessly and with defenders like Ivanovic and Cahill who have been as unreliable and mistake prone this season is just a bad idea.

Tbh I think in the case of the City game, we were simply unable to do intensive pressing. There were signs of intent in the beginning, but the further the game went, especially in the second half, we simply looked like lacking energy to do it. If we tried the aggressive pressing way, then there is a higher chance somebody concedes a mistake due to mental and physical fatigue. Pressing game requires individuals able to do it, we simply lacked the physical power. Passive compact defending can be handled more through team preparation and organization rather than relying so much on individual sharpness. Had we also had a week for rest and preparation, I am positive the game would have looked different. Maybe not in terms of result, but definitely in terms of matching them physically.

[lionsden 4,689]

Tbh I think in the case of the City game, we were simply unable to do intensive pressing. There were signs of intent in the beginning, but the further the game went, especially in the second half, we simply looked like lacking energy to do it. If we tried the aggressive pressing way, then there is a higher chance somebody concedes a mistake due to mental and physical fatigue. Pressing game requires individuals able to do it, we simply lacked the physical power. Passive compact defending can be handled more through team preparation and organization rather than relying so much on individual sharpness. Had we also had a week for rest and preparation, I am positive the game would have looked different. Maybe not in terms of result, but definitely in terms of matching them physically.

I'm not just talking the City game because I recognize the fatigue issue but this is not a rare occurrence either. We do this in literally every big game under Jose.

[The Chels 2,502]

Just sitting back against teams that attacks relentlessly and with defenders like Ivanovic and Cahill who have been as unreliable and mistake prone this season is just a bad idea.

I don't think sitting back is such a bad idea if done properly but when we do it the defensive shape tends to be poor, the defending is completely passive and we essentially invite the opposition close to our box against our error-prone defenders. If we had 2 clear banks of four with all the spaces controlled and the front players pressed the opposition as soon as they got into our half then our defending in these games would rely less on individual ability (and hence fewer costly individual errors) and more on the system - which is how it should be.

Defensively diligent or not, it was Hazard's job to mark his man and he didn't, regardless of whether it was in our own penalty box or outside of it on the left flank.

Hazard failed in his role, granted. But as a winger who isn't good defensively and who had just returned from injury, he should not have been given that role. Jose would have been well aware of the importance of FBs in Atletico's game and yet he somehow expected Hazard to single-handedly carry our entire attack and nullify the opposition attack by tracking the opposition FB relentlessly, all the way back into our box. Personally I consider this a tactical oversight on Jose's part which the opposition manager and team fully exploited (which does tend to happen to him very often in CL SFs...) while you consider it all Hazard's fault and I find that surprising.

[the wes 7,212]

mourinho is the new del boy off the transfer window