Jose Mourinho

[DelBoyN17]

I’m genuinely lost on this, in fairness to Jose if he can afford to (sure he can) I’d walk to keep my name/CV in tact, our club is fucked imo from top to bottom, Levy/Enic have made sure of that

 

[Deleted member 27995]

Still astonished by last night. There's little scope for trauma in football results but if there was, last night was PTSD-inducing. Thankfully, I don't care that much about football anymore.

It was so, so, much worse than the Sheffield result or even the Brighton result. Negligent, malevolent management.

Someone needs to compile a list of all the shocking stats and runs we helped Bournemouth overcome.

Similar to Watford earlier in the season. Two managers doing the same thing for two utterly gash teams.

 

[jurgen]

We say we have some talented individuals and we do but their greatest success has come in a tighter and more structured attacking system. Each of those players can pull off the improbable but maybe they’re not the type that can do it in the context of zero attacking intent or structure like we seem to have right now. Kane’s getting nothing and isn't able to run all day now (still waiting on his backup), Son’s not getting in the positions to cause damage, and so on and so on. Even Moura who is loved by the new manager and scored some very important goals last year is looking absolutely rubbish and not being played to any of his strengths at all. That’s not just the players being off form the whole setup just looks clueless.

Of course many of the players look shagged from the previous system, Poch was from the school of managers that burn out players and his attempts to mitigate this by lowering our intensity (because he sure as hell wasn't getting the new players needed) made us much more ponderous. So to be very generous to Mourinho he's inherited a jaded set of players, even with some quality in there.

However, we look absolutely clueless in the middle and final third, appearing to be without any plan at all. Of course there are some posters who spent 12 months slating Poch so they're going to keep defending the indefensible with Mourinho (tHinK oF ThE TroPHIes!) but we seem to be going nowhere but backwards and the football is absolute shit.

 

[Deleted member 27995]

We say we have some talented individuals and we do but their greatest success has come in a tighter and more structured attacking system. Each of those players can pull off the improbable but maybe they’re not the type that can do it in the context of zero attacking intent or structure like we seem to have right now. Kane’s getting nothing and isn't able to run all day now (still waiting on his backup), Son’s not getting in the positions to cause damage, and so on and so on. Even Moura who is loved by the new manager and scored some very important goals last year is looking absolutely rubbish and not being played to any of his strengths at all. That’s not just the players being off form the whole setup just looks clueless.

Of course many of the players look shagged from the previous system, Poch was from the school of managers that burn out players and his attempts to mitigate this by lowering our intensity (because he sure as hell wasn't getting the new players needed) made us much more ponderous. So to be very generous to Mourinho he's inherited a jaded set of players, even with some quality in there.

However, we look absolutely clueless in the middle and final third, appearing to be without any plan at all. Of course there are some posters who spent 12 months slating Poch so they're going to keep defending the indefensible with Mourinho (tHinK oF ThE TroPHIes!) but we seem to be going nowhere but backwards and the football is absolute shit.

Just the 12?

 

[DiVaio]

I don't understand it if we don't buy top class players then no problem, but then we need to have great youth academy. But I think among top 10 clubs in EPL, our youth academy is worst. I mean we keep producing lightweight midfielders like Caroll, Mason, Winks and now White ..

And in which way our academy is worse than other top10 academies apart from Chelsea, Arsenal and United?

 

[cliff jones]

He’s lucky there re no fans round to give him an earful - actually he might think he’s clever enough to build from the back while we’re only able to scream at the telly or whinge in a message board.

don’t give him any money and sack him before Xmas when we are in 14th and still averaging 1-2 shot on target per game.

I’m starting to dream of a new manager just to get me through these tough times...

 

[fortworthspur]

I can't even imagine scoring 3 goals in a game right now.

haha nevermind 3 goals, how about 3 shots on goal? how about one shot on goal?

 

[Monkey boy]

Yeah, both the manager and players on the pitch are at fault. However:

Mourinho insists on making Sissoko the single mainstay in our midfield. A professional footballer who wants to get rid of the ball even before he's received it.

Mourinho uses two central midfielders to stay deep to protect the defence and show no attacking ambition.

Mourinho chose Aurier as our primary attacking outlet. A player capable of playing a decent cross once in every ten attempts. Even if he plays a decent cross, there's only ever one player in the box to aim at.

Mourinho turned our left back into a 3rd centre back position. So whoever plays wide left for us (Son/Bergwijn) has no support, no runners creating space or nobody close to provide a quick pass for him to make a run.

Mourinho starts either Lucas or Lamela on the right. Both players insist on dribbling for as long as possible into the middle of the pitch without ever looking like making a decent pass.

Mourinho has opted for us to use the long ball as our primary passing solution, meaning that our attacking players are constantly scrapping for the second ball, but they're always outnumbered so even if they win it, there's nobody close enough to pass to so they lose the ball and we're back on the defensive.

Mourinho keeps our only other proper footballer on the bench, meaning that Lo Celso is charged with being the only creative player on the pitch.

Mourinho eliminated any real form of pressing in favour of sitting deep. Sure, it makes us harder to break down, but when we do win the ball, of our players are so deep in our own half, a successful counter attack would have to involve a Son-against-Burnley solo run.

So yes, we can point fingers at the players not performing. But I'm 100% sure they're being forced to play with their hands tied by the manager's system and tactics.

We can say the players aren't good enough. They might not be good enough to win the league or even finish in the top 4. But they're sure as hell good enough to play better football than a team like Norwich.

spot on with every point.

 

[Wsussexspur]

United fans are laughing at us and anyone who still has any sort of faith in this dinosaur.

To be fair most Man Utd fans have been very sympathetic to our current plight under Jose!

 

[Monkey boy]

Anyone know where Sacramento is/seen him recently??

last seen putting the dirty kit in the bag and emptying the water bottles.

 

[he is you know!]

United fans are laughing at us and anyone who still has any sort of faith in this dinosaur.

A lot of them wanted their current manager out many times over the last year and some still do.

 

[CornerPinDreamer]

haha nevermind 3 goals, how about 3 shots on goal? how about one shot on goal?

Mouriniho says we don;t need to go into the opposition half at all .. thats a different sport

 

[DiVaio]

Mourinho eliminated any real form of pressing in favour of sitting deep. Sure, it makes us harder to break down, but when we do win the ball, of our players are so deep in our own half, a successful counter attack would have to involve a Son-against-Burnley solo run.

Funny, becase this season in all competitions under Mourinho they are averaging more pressures and with more success.
In Premier League probably the best metric for that - Passes allowed per defensive actions in the opposition half under Poch was 10,98, under Mourinho it's 10,52.

 

[WiganSpur]

Although things can change quickly in football, and a signing or two can be a spark for change, I’m of the opinion that there’s just no way we’ll make enough changes in this short, cash-strapped window to cut out the rot that’s taken hold. It would probably take 6 or 7 out and the same number in to get that fresh, non-jaded mindset out of the club.

I'm personally sceptical of them because I think it kicks the can down the road somewhat, but maybe we can achieve a significant turnover of players by using the loan market and swap deals as mentioned by ITKs.

If we can negotiate decent options to buy on all of them, then it essentially means we can delay payments for the refresh and it also gives us a chance to know what we're spending our money on like the situation of Gedson Fernandes.

It will mean we'll need to splurge when the loans expire, but maybe if we're clever we can stagger the expiry dates ie. 1 player on a 2 year loan and 2 others on a one year loan. We'll also be able to prepare finances for those eventualities too.

There's also going to be generic wheeling and dealing to be done as well, stuff like KWP and Sessegnon on loan to Saints in exchange for PEH for example.

It's going to require compromise from Levy on valuations and him to actually pay up to make deals permanent, but if we work hard enough at it i'm sure we can at least get 3 or 4 in and at least the same number out.

 

[TheHodFather]

Funny, becase this season in all competitions under Mourinho they are averaging more pressures and with more success.
In Premier League probably the best metric for that - Passes allowed per defensive actions in the opposition half under Poch was 10,98, under Mourinho it's 10,52.

Key point there being "in the opposition half"? If you sit back then of course the opposition is going to be able to get out of their own half quicker...

 

[dtxspurs]

Newcastle have played West Ham, Sheffield Utd and Bournemouth since lockdown, just like us. They stuck nine goals past them and took three more points than we did. We barely even had nine attempts on goal - in fact we've only created one "big chance" in our last three matches - none of which were exactly against elite opposition. I know our squad has deficiencies, but are you actually telling me that Newcastle have a better team than us right now?

Excellent post and what damning statistics.

 

[DiVaio]

Funny, becase this season in all competitions under Mourinho they are averaging more pressures and with more success.
In Premier League probably the best metric for that - Passes allowed per defensive actions in the opposition half under Poch was 10,98, under Mourinho it's 10,52.

Key point there being "in the opposition half"? If you sit back then of course the opposition is going to be able to get out of their own half quicker...

But the opposition isn't able to get out of their own half quicker.

 

[IamSpurtacus]

And in which way our academy is worse than other top 10 academies apart from Chelsea, Arsenal and United?

Do you think our academy is better than Liverpool, City, West Ham & Saints (City have high calibre - they just don't get a chance because they spend, similar to chelsea before Lampard came in but look at Sancho, Foden etc)?

Genuine question.

 

[danielneeds]

Do you think our academy is better than Liverpool, City, West Ham & Saints (City have high calibre - they just don't get a chance because they spend, similar to chelsea before Lampard came in but look at Sancho, Foden etc)?

Genuine question.

City and Chelsea’s are massively financially doped, so it’s not even worth comparing. They give kids crazy contracts. I’d say with the others we’ve produced about the same number of 1st team players over the last 10 years.

 

[LeParisien]

March 11th:

Mourinho deserves time, another transfer window, a preseason and a full squad. Nonetheless it is frustrating that there doesn’t seem to be a style of play or long game being worked on. That is surely the right strategic decision regardless of injuries?

I get that we can’t work on link up play with a #9 because we don’t have one. But there are patterns of midfield play that could be worked on, defensive solidity, more young players being given a chance (Skipp, Sessegnon, Parrot). At the moment there is precious little evidence of anything that might persist into next season from a collective point of view and only Lo Celso and Tanganga shining on an individual basis.

What’s changed? Kane is back so we could have worked on attacking....