Jose Mourinho

[fishhhandaricecake]

There is always a lot of hyperbole around our squad after transfer windows. Even after the last summer transfer window there were people going on about “best ever PL squad” etc etc. As you say, what may look good on paper, reeling off names etc may sound good, but when you scratch the surface all is not as rosy.

Moura has some great moments, but is unbelievably inconsistent and his all round game is poor. Love Lamela’s attitude, but he consistently makes poor decisions and doesn’t execute in the final third and Bergwyin has potential and did well in his first few games, but hardly setting the PL alight. Even Gio, who is clearly a good player, has continual fitness issues and is elevated beyond his status by some fans imo based on what he has done so far.

Don’t get me wrong, we have a lot of good players and I think we had a good transfer window, but some of the talk after the window shut was way ott.

Apart from Kane and Son, Redknapp’s squad was far superior in every way. And Poch’s in 2017, although a bit light in numbers was probably better as well.

We still have a way to go, both mentality wise, but personnel wise too.

Good post but agree and disagree.

Our squad is very very strong and in terms of depth it is better than redknapps and poch’s squads for sure. First XI’s is debatable sure.

We have a few issues still:
1. CB we are missing 1 or 2 top top class CB’s like prime Toby & Jan
2. DM cover. PEH is good but Winks is not his cover, Skipp needs to step up next season or we need to buy one
3. Consistency of back-up attacking options. Vinicius looks good and to me was unfairly pulled off at HT, but Lucas, Lamela and Bergwijn aren’t consistent enough in delivering goals and assists and Dele these days is offering nothing, Bale will come good I’m sure.

It was a bad day at the office, the squad isn’t perfect and re-build isn’t ‘complete’ yet but we still have a very very strong squad and can still do very well in all comps. If Roden could’ve played tonight that would’ve mabye made a difference, but mainly was just a bad day at the office, we move on.

 

[yiddo]

His half time substitutions are very hit and miss.

I think the Vinicius and Lo Celso substitutions require justification from him. They made no sense at the time and they still don’t. It looks like he’s singled out two of our better performers in the first half and let the likes of Winks, Davies and Reguilon off who were all unacceptably poor.

Agree. I think Jose went for the big overhaul to force a reaction from the players, as the effort in the 1st half was so poor.
But Vinicius in particular would have been far more useful against a stacked defence than Moura for example.

 

[RikkiRocket]

He is one angry man.

Is he turning into Donald Trump and just letting all his guff out onto social media. I’d prefer if he didn’t.

 

[RikkiRocket]

He's been trying to improve his public image for some time and this is another way of doing it.

or doing the opposite. Goes both ways.

 

[Saoirse]

Some of you actually seem to expect to go invincible in all competitions. It's mad. The first away game all season we don't win and you'd think he was the worst manager we've ever seen. Total knee-jerk nonsense. Get behind the team!

 

[Hazelton]

Interested to see his "future" decisions. Hopefully we'll see less of Winks for a start, I think it's safe to call time on Dele too. Time to figure out who his first choice eleven is and stick with it for a while.

Rotation is great but the core team needs to play together and gel first, especially with so many new signings. We're chopping and changing too much while Liverpool and City basically know their first choice lineup and only make small changes.

It's no wonder that our defence is so leaky when we seemingly play a different backline in every game, for example.

 

[dagraham]

Good post but agree and disagree.

Our squad is very very strong and in terms of depth it is better than redknapps and poch’s squads for sure. First XI’s is debatable sure.

We have a few issues still:
1. CB we are missing 1 or 2 top top class CB’s like prime Toby & Jan
2. DM cover. PEH is good but Winks is not his cover, Skipp needs to step up next season or we need to buy one
3. Consistency of back-up attacking options. Vinicius looks good and to me was unfairly pulled off at HT, but Lucas, Lamela and Bergwijn aren’t consistent enough in delivering goals and assists and Dele these days is offering nothing, Bale will come good I’m sure.

It was a bad day at the office, the squad isn’t perfect and re-build isn’t ‘complete’ yet but we still have a very very strong squad and can still do very well in all comps. If Roden could’ve played tonight that would’ve mabye made a difference, but mainly was just a bad day at the office, we move on.

Agree with a lot of that, but we’ll have to agree to disagree on being better than Redknapp’s squad. We have more international standard players for sure, but whether the real depth or quality is better I’m not convinced.

I can’t agree our pool of CB’s is better than King, Dawson, Gallas and Kaboul. Nor that Winks, Sissoko, PEH, GLC and N’Dombele is better than Sandro, Parker, VDV, Modric and Krankjar.

Anyway, it’s all pointless comparing I suppose, and as you alluded to, Rome wasn’t built in a day.

 

[bubble07]

I agree with the public attitude of Jose but he must explain why he subbed vinicus and lo Celso at half time.

If he wanted to make a statement. 3 subs would have been enough. Bergwijn Dele Winks for Son, Lamela, Hojberg

 

[bubble07]

Also we have a very very good squad but having 2 teams wont get the best out of the 2nd team when they play so infrequent

To keep everyone sharp and everyone motivated there needs to be more of s mix

 

[dagraham]

It's no wonder that our defence is so leaky when we seemingly play a different backline in every game, for example.

I make you right on this point. Continuity is very important for a back line, but I think the amount of games we’ve already played this season and will be doing until the group stages are over is having a bearing on this.

 

[thebenjamin]

Also we have a very very good squad but having 2 teams wont get the best out of the 2nd team when they play so infrequent

To keep everyone sharp and everyone motivated there needs to be more of s mix

They're lucky we're in the EL. If we were in CL we wouldn't be able to rotate and squad players would be getting hardly any game time.

 

[dagraham]

Also we have a very very good squad but having 2 teams wont get the best out of the 2nd team when they play so infrequent

To keep everyone sharp and everyone motivated there needs to be more of s mix

Agree, and would be interesting to know Jose’s thoughts on this privately as he’s hinted during the transfer window that the squad in some ways may actually be too big ( this isn’t a dig at Levy or our transfer window either before anyone jumps on this comment).

 

[Athenspur]

Four subs at half time and another at 57 minutes is sheer madness, unless it was pre-determined.
It wasn`t like we were 0-3 down or anything. We weren`t even playing that horribly, not bad enough to justify using all 5 subs with half an hour to go.
Was the man drunk tonight?

 

[mpickard2087]

Not inclined to defend Mourinho, but swear some of you don't watch the games or are so busy typing away in the match thread you're not paying attention. Needs to explain his subs? Fucking hell. Lo Celso was struggling to break into anything more than an ultra slow trot for 45 mins and was nearly as off the pace as Bale. Looking at that display I wouldn't even be surprised if we was still carrying an injury. That's why he went off, fairly obvious. I get he might be one of the golden boys fans are pinning their hopes on to form the midfield triumvirate, and so they will irrationally bemoan him getting taken off, but he looked nowhere near ready to play tonight.

 

[bubble07]

Not inclined to defend Mourinho, but swear some of you don't watch the games or are so busy typing away in the match thread you're not paying attention. Needs to explain his subs? Fucking hell. Lo Celso was struggling to break into anything more than an ultra slow trot for 45 mins and was nearly as off the pace as Bale. Looking at that display I wouldn't even be surprised if we was still carrying an injury. That's why he went off, fairly obvious. I get he might be one of the golden boys fans are pinning their hopes on to form the midfield triumvirate, and so they will irrationally bemoan him getting taken off, but he looked nowhere near ready to play tonight.

What about Vinicus? What did he do wrong?

 

[freeeki]

I agree with the public attitude of Jose but he must explain why he subbed vinicus and lo Celso at half time.

If he wanted to make a statement. 3 subs would have been enough. Bergwijn Dele Winks for Son, Lamela, Hojberg

Why must he?

He wanted to go for a tactical change bringing on Son, Moura and Lamela, and therefore Bergwijn, Dele and Vinicius had to make way.

He probably assumed that as the most experienced player who started in attack, it was best to leave Bale on for the time being.

As for Lo Celso, every chance that he wasn’t yet fully match fit.

This idea that he needs to explain every action taken when we lose for only the second time this season, irrespective of the fact that he’s already taken full responsibility, is nauseating.

 

[fishhhandaricecake]

Only criticism of Jose this season is why sub Vinicius at HT today when he was playing well. If it was tactical to play with more pace then the gamble didn’t work this time. Seemed like a strange move to me but suppose he can’t get em all right.

 

[fishhhandaricecake]

Agree with a lot of that, but we’ll have to agree to disagree on being better than Redknapp’s squad. We have more international standard players for sure, but whether the real depth or quality is better I’m not convinced.

I can’t agree our pool of CB’s is better than King, Dawson, Gallas and Kaboul. Nor that Winks, Sissoko, PEH, GLC and N’Dombele is better than Sandro, Parker, VDV, Modric and Krankjar.

Anyway, it’s all pointless comparing I suppose, and as you alluded to, Rome wasn’t built in a day.

To be fair I loved that Redknapp team and squad mate the midfield + VDV was insanely good.

 

[rez9000]

What about Vinicus? What did he do wrong?

Maybe nothing. Maybe he picked up a knock. Maybe he's still not fully fit. Maybe Jose wants to save him for another match. Maybe he wasn't right for what Jose wanted the team to do in the second half.

The possibilities are endless. I don't wish to be rude, but just because one doesn't know the reason for something, it doesn't mean that a reason doesn't exist, does it?

 

[fortworthspur]

he screwed up today. didnt need. wholesale changes. but for a moment of individual craptitude by Davies we'd have been level at the half. The 2nd half squad looked no better and maybe a little worse.