Jose Mourinho

Ossie85 said:

I think Mourinho is starting to realize that Poch made some players look better than they actually are.

I know it's early days, but there's been no change in how we play. I hope Mourinho signs several players this window, or it's going to be a long season

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Ionman34 said:

Those of us without the memory of a Goldfish will recall how Liverpool played when Klopp first arrived. His default tactic was to have the ball hit long for the likes of Salah to run onto and attack their backline. He then patiently built up his squad to include players that now allow them to play in a variety of different ways, but they still employ the long ball tactic on a regular basis even now, as it is still an effective tactic when employed at the right time.
It has taken him 4 to 5 seasons to get the balance right and his player procurement has been, quite frankly, exemplary.

JM has inherited a disfunctional squad, with confidence issues and some glaring holes in it. I'm not going down the "blame game" route that many on here seem to default to as it achieves nothing other than creating division on here. We are where we are.

We are currently looking on Liverpool with envy and complaining about how far behind us they used to be, whilst expecting a new manager to magically redress the balance just because he has a winning CV, yet ignoring the fact that the manager we are so envious of has taken 4 to 5 seasons to work his own particular brand of magic.

The significance of this seems to be eluding many on here, blinded it seems by the intense dislike of the perceived character of our own manager.

Personally I couldn't give a flying fuck about his perceived character, us older fans will recall that the great Bill Nic wasn't exactly the warm and cuddly type, his response to Cliff Jones, when he came looking for a raise, bear that out, but we worship Bill Nic because he was a winner with a winners mentality.

I personally like JM, always have, but even if I didn't I wouldn't give a toss about his character so long as he gets the club up there challenging and winning pots. He's our manager, he'll be doing his utmost to get the club where we all believe we belong and, as such, will get my support whether I like him or not. I don't give a shit if he's doing it for personal reasons, winning is winning.

But the key point here is that if we want what Liverpool currently have, we need to give him the time and support required, same as Klopp got.

This includes DL. I'm BSoDL as most on here know, but the club's success comes first and foremost. He's done a terrific job up till now with getting all of the foundations in place, including an elite manager. I believe he WILL back JM, but don't necessarily expect to see a huge outlay this window. However, if he doesn't start bringing in the required personnel from this coming Summer then I too will be adding my voice to the general discontent towards our Chairman.

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muppetman said:

I do wonder if Poch "turning his nose up" at certain players was because he'd played nice with the likes of N'jie and N'Koudou and decided to put his foot down and ask for the players he wanted. I personally think he'd earnt that level of trust but that may not be how Levy is willing to operate.

As ever, we are all guessing but I am struggling to see Levy allowing the level of spend required to buy our way out of the mess we appear to be in at the moment. New GK, CB, LB, RB, CDM, CM and backup striker/AM - I just can't see it.

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JUSTINSIGNAL said:

Bingo.

Poch didn't get enough credit for creating a system/philosophy that made the team perform better than the sum of it's parts. I think once players started believing their own hype and not running and working for each other as much, everything started falling apart.

We're not one of those teams like Chelsea or Man City who can simply survive and compete at the top of the table by having better players than most of the other teams. Poch took us to a new level through his coaching and tactics and we need Mourinho to find a way to do the same without spending huge money.

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Ronwol196061 said:

I have to scratch my head with Dele.He is capable of brilliant things but you can never count on him.

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danielneeds said:

Poch‘s philosophy certainly improved players, but it’s not coincidence things started falling apart with the decline and sale of Dembele. He gave us such control in midfield on which everything else could be built on.

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BringBack_leGin said:

Going across this site, apparently we have no good goalkeepers who are unable to stop shots or distribute and make silly mistakes, full backs who can’t defend and offer no creativity, centre backs who can’t play out of defence nor can they deal with simple opposition attacks, a midfield which can neither protect its defence nor create for the attack and absolute can’t keep the ball, and attackers who don’t make runs, don’t play with their heads up, don’t have any technique and can’t do the simple things. At the same time, the manager has no clue, is a has been and only knows long ball.

Fuck me we are in the shit.

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whitelightwhiteheat said:

Dembele was the boy. He's a massive loss to our style of play. Our midfield is weak as fuck without him. We need to bring someone in who can do that role now.

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THOWIG said:

What one aspect of our team has improved since he took over?

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danielneeds said:

Ndombele is probably as close to it as you can get. But he needs to adapt and get tougher. People forget that Poch wasn’t convinced by Dembele as a CM at first either.

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whitelightwhiteheat said:

He's really not like Dembele at all though, as a player. Different skillsets. I do like Ndombele, but replacing Dembele is kind of an impossible task. Dembele was built and as strong as a tank that can move as graceful as a ballerina. He's an absolute unique one off player.

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whitelightwhiteheat said:

He's really not like Dembele at all though, as a player. Different skillsets. I do like Ndombele, but replacing Dembele is kind of an impossible task. Dembele was built and as strong as a tank that can move as graceful as a ballerina. He's an absolute unique one off player.

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whitelightwhiteheat said:

Dembele was the boy. He's a massive loss to our style of play. Our midfield is weak as fuck without him. We need to bring someone in who can do that role now.

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Russ1201 said:

Wish i could winner this twice! Most of the players are a disgrace to the badge of this great club! No fight at all in them. Would rather have some of the youngsters playing, atleast there will try!

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Japhet said:

Dembele was the very epitome of a player you need in a CM2. Strong as an ox, accurate in his passing, could take the ball under pressure and find accurate passes. At a push he was OK as the defensive one as well. Wanyama was also a great CM2 player. Since those 2 have gone, we really don't have anybody who fits the template, but in spite of this Jose keeps wheeling out the same formation that repeatedly gets blown away by just about anybody that isn't Burnley. Why the fuck he continually tolerates passengers up front and our midfield being ripped to bits is totally beyond me, but then I'm not a 'tactical genius'.

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Japhet said:

Dembele was the very epitome of a player you need in a CM2. Strong as an ox, accurate in his passing, could take the ball under pressure and find accurate passes. At a push he was OK as the defensive one as well. Wanyama was also a great CM2 player. Since those 2 have gone, we really don't have anybody who fits the template, but in spite of this Jose keeps wheeling out the same formation that repeatedly gets blown away by just about anybody that isn't Burnley. Why the fuck he continually tolerates passengers up front and our midfield being ripped to bits is totally beyond me, but then I'm not a 'tactical genius'.

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Ossie85 said:

He has different skills, but overall he's as close as you can get to Dembele in world football right now. I can't think of a more similar player than Ndombele

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whitelightwhiteheat said:

Sissoko is too clumsy to effectively fill the DM role.

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Ronwol196061 said:

Ndombele is the same yet more industrious with a creative mind and a sensational pass.
Dembele was great but more conservative if a player

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