Jose Mourinho

[SargeantMeatCurtains]

We don't want him to fail but he ain't doing a lot to convince us that he won't..

If you were a batsman and I took your cricket bat away, how many times would you fail? Judging him on this season when he’s joined mid way and is having to deal with an injury crisis is so short sighted and unfair it’s unbelievable.

 

[guiltyparty]

We’re going to become a pub quiz answer: name the clubs Mourinho failed to win a trophy with

 

[Twizzle]

I just cant see this lasting.

There doesn't seem to be any structure or game plan and we have some pretty decent quality players in our squad, yet cannot beat one of the worst teams in the PL. We let in 7 goals in our last 3 PL games and he blames our lack of strikers for lack of results.

Sure he's won a lot of cups but spent gazillions doing it which wont happen here.

I think we can do better and we should make a move sooner rather than later and if we end up well out of UCL contention I cannot see our board supporting him for another season as our bean counters will be looking at the financial loss of not having UCL as a big concern for their pockets as well.

 

[Japhet]

The main issue isn’t Poch or Mourinho, it’s the critical lack of investment/scouting over a 2/3 year period which allow this squad to degrade. Given a balanced squad I’d expect results with either manager to be pretty decent. Poch’s time was up just like so many of our managers but it didn’t have to be had we invested at the right time in the right players and not let everything go stale, that’s the shame of it.

And if Mourinho isn’t properly backed it’s going to go stale a lot quicker than the 5 years we had with Poch.

The problem with that is that backing Mourinho properly is about as expensive as it gets and we know what Levy will make of that. Mourinho whinged about being given 'only 300m' at Man Utd so fuck knows what he'll be saying come the summer.

 

[dbspurs]

I’ve been behind Mourinho since day one but I agree. It’s not the way to attack (or not!) these games. But I think he’s hamstrung by injuries and tiredness in attacking players. Bergwijn, Lucas and Dele were visibly shattered by ten minutes into the second half. They just don’t have it in their legs to attack and defend all game. It’s a real problem and won’t change from between now and until we get Kane and Sissoko back so everyone will just have to suck it up I’m afraid.

This is the thing. I think Jose has them playing with less intensity because injuries and tiredness have crept in. He can't risk any more injuries.

Our attacking football from Jose's appointment to January was pretty decent in the main and we had (i think) the third best points tally in the league

Unfortunately, i don't think he has factored that the players that are left can't play this system but what can he do because If we get any more injuries before the others come back we really will be down to the bare bones.

 

[bubble07]

I strongly believed JM appointment was perfect. He seemed rejuvenated, spoke extremely well, appointed new coaches to work with him, commands respect due to what he has won ..

 

[Betha]

What do any of you think Poch would’ve done differently in this situation? We were 14th in the table, eliminated by Colchester in the EFL Cup, he’d allegedly lost the dressing room, we’d been on the backend of an absolute battering at home to Bayern, we’d only won once away from home in an entire calendar year and that was with a mostly fresh squad, nowhere near the level of injuries we have now.

Why does it matter what Poch would have done? We are discussing how Mourinho is doing.

For the sake of it, I thought Poch should have left after the CL final. I was very much against hiring Mourinho.

 

[SargeantMeatCurtains]

Why does it matter what Poch would have done? We are discussing how Mourinho is doing..

This is basically my point though. Most people who are calling for Mourinho’s head are also screaming that we were wrong to sack Poch.

 

[alamo]

It's a tough situation and very much indicative of the "painful rebuild" that Poch alluded to.

I managed to get a pass from the wife to watch the game yesterday - more's the pity - and the continuing trend I have seen from the few games I have witnessed this season is a general malaise and a distinct lack of ability to retain meaningful possession. We can be incisive on occasion but the frequency with which other teams dominate the midfield and get into dangerous positions is disturbing to say the least.

Injuries have exacerbated things for sure but the current squad has deficiencies resulting from inadequate, unbalanced recruiting that mean they don't perform to the sum of their parts.

I honestly don't think Mourinho could do better with the hand he has been dealt. We need an overhaul in key areas before I would expect us to substantially improve.

 

[Betha]

This is basically my point though. Most people who are calling for Mourinho’s head are also screaming that we were wrong to sack Poch.

I still don't see the relevance. If Poch was still here, we would have discussed how he was doing, in the same way as we are discussing how Mourinho is doing.

 

[Metalhead]

It's a tough situation and very much indicative of the "painful rebuild" that Poch alluded to.

I managed to get a pass from the wife to watch the game yesterday - more's the pity - and the continuing trend I have seen from the few games I have witnessed this season is a general malaise and a distinct lack of ability to retain meaningful possession. We can be incisive on occasion but the frequency with which other teams dominate the midfield and get into dangerous positions is disturbing to say the least.

Injuries have exacerbated things for sure but the current squad has deficiencies resulting from inadequate, unbalanced recruiting that mean they don't perform to the sum of their parts.

I honestly don't think Mourinho could do better with the hand he has been dealt. We need an overhaul in key areas before I would expect us to substantially improve.

Some people are saying that he won't be backed but that just begs the question, if he doesn't get backed then how can we have any confidence that another manager can come in and do better? People can say that they will be satisfied as long as the football is good or that someone else can come in and bring the kids through as long as the football is good but fans these days don't have the patience. They want good football but they also expect results so if anyone comes in and struggles to get results they will get moaned at.

 

[Metalhead]

I still don't see the relevance. If Poch was still here, we would have discussed how he was doing, in the same way as we are discussing how Mourinho is doing.

I think to a level that Mourinho has got so much baggage that some on here won't give him a chance like they might with someone else.

 

[Dougal]

What do any of you think Poch would’ve done differently in this situation? We were 14th in the table, eliminated by Colchester in the EFL Cup, he’d allegedly lost the dressing room, we’d been on the backend of an absolute battering at home to Bayern, we’d only won once away from home in an entire calendar year and that was with a mostly fresh squad, nowhere near the level of injuries we have now.

I’m putting anyone on ignore who stupidly argues that he “deserved time”.

He deserved time.

Can’t ignore a Mod.

 

[E17yid]

He’s got to be given until Xmas at least. However, if he’s going to Levy in the summer and getting him to sign off on players like Willian, Matic and Smalling then we might as well just sack him.

I never expected him to be here longer than 3 years but didn’t expect things to go so pear shaped so quickly

 

[leray]

You could see that when Parrott came on, he was more concerned with covering space and their central midfielder than he was getting in to attacking positions or pressing the defenders.

That would have come form Mourinho.

It was so frustarting to watch. A young lad full of energy being instructed, as a team, that we weren't going to take the initiative against the bottom of the league Norwich but play like we had to contain them.

Normally, it'd be Lo Celso that would cover that space, but he was completely knackered so somebody had to do it. Parrott had the legs and motivation. It wasn't pretty, yeah, but had to be done.

 

[Deleted member 29446]

People need to stop the Poch-crap everytime we lose.

He didn't want to be here. He lost the dressing room. End of.
And NO we shouldn't have stuck with Poch.

This is about Mourinho. We just shouldn't have appointed Mourinho and be fooled into thinking he's some magican who has invented a new style blah blah and has won multiple trophies. Football have evolved too much since.

Fabio Capello was once a great manager, that doesn't mean he's now.

 

[Metalhead]

He’s got to be given until Xmas at least. However, if he’s going to Levy in the summer and getting him to sign off on players like Willian, Matic and Smalling then we might as well just sack him.

I never expected him to be here longer than 3 years but didn’t expect things to go so pear shaped so quickly

Realistically we haven't recovered from before Poch left.

 

[Dougal]

I don’t want Mourinho at the club, never did, but you have to give him a couple of seasons to sort this mess out. It’s a complete overhaul of the squad and bedding in new players. You may even call it a painful rebuild if you knew what you were talking about. Bitter medicine. Levy just decided to administer it from the bitter Portuguese Doctor instead of that nice Argentine Doctor with the lovely bedside manner who gave you a wawwy pop and told you everything was going to be ok.

 

[Metalhead]

People need to stop the Poch-crap everytime we lose.

He didn't want to be here. He lost the dressing room. End of.
And NO we shouldn't have stuck with Poch.

This is about Mourinho. We just shouldn't have appointed Mourinho and be fooled into thinking he's some magican who has invented a new style blah blah and has won multiple trophies. Football have evolved too much since.

Fabio Capello was once a great manager, that doesn't mean he's now.

Agree with the first part but for better or worse we've got Mourinho until at least the early part of next season. If Levy won't give him what he needs then he might as well bring someone else in but without sufficient backing we're going to struggle anyway.

 

[thebenjamin]

You could see that when Parrott came on, he was more concerned with covering space and their central midfielder than he was getting in to attacking positions or pressing the defenders.

That would have come form Mourinho.

It was so frustarting to watch. A young lad full of energy being instructed, as a team, that we weren't going to take the initiative against the bottom of the league Norwich but play like we had to contain them.

Yeah, noticed that too. Mourinho's philosophy presupposes that every team we play is superior to us. That's why it's always hang in the game till the last few minutes then have a go.

We've gone from 'be brave' to 'be afraid'. A total dismantling of the identity and dna we had built up under Poch as the Borussia Dortmund of the premier league. Now we've turned into a very poor man's Atletico Madrid.