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Jose Mourinho

How do you feel about Mourinho appointment

  • Excited - silverware here we come baby

    Votes: 666 46.7%
  • Meh - will give him a chance and hope he is successful

    Votes: 468 32.8%
  • Horrified - praying for the day he'll fuck off

    Votes: 292 20.5%

  • Total voters
    1,426

dbspurs

Well-Known Member
Sep 21, 2005
1,781
3,416
This was what I was scared of. Mourinho's style of football when you're winning it's quickly forgotten however when you lose being weak and passive it truly highlights the awful outdated style we've adopted.

We lost being weak and passive under Poch for most of the last 12 months. Shall we get rid of another manager before he's had a chance to freshen the squad?
 

THOWIG

Well-Known Member
Feb 14, 2005
6,499
8,329
Regardless of players we’ve sold or who are injured you can still have a style of play. We look completely rudderless.
 

fishhhandaricecake

Well-Known Member
Nov 15, 2018
18,702
46,941
LOOK, there are two sides to this:
1) style of play: yes it’s a bit negative and mabye doesn’t suit our current players BUT people can’t deny that it CAN be effective as since Jose took over we closed an 11 point gap on 4th place for goodness sake. The issue really is longer term how effective can it be and is the trade off worth it to possibly kick and scrape and scream and shout towards an fa cup or league cup etc, it’s a tricky one.

2)Jose’s hands are tied: yes he’s renownd for a siege mentality so he’s overstating our issues BUT the issues are actually fairly bad because one thing Jose does know is how to manage a squad across a season to get success and right now we have :
- no other RB apart from Aurier
- no other good CB options after Toby & Sanchez apart from a mabye past it jan and a 20yr old who’s played a handful of games for us
- in attack were without our top 2 goal scorers for most of the rest of the season if not all of it, added to that we can even refresh the attacking options as ndombele can only manage 20 mins and lamela is only just back and I’d imagine will be out again in a game or two’s time as he’s constantly picking up niggly injuries so then with 2 games a week most weeks we will run the likes of bergweign lucas dele lo celso into the ground and then come the final 10 games of the season our form will fall off a cliff.

So it’s a tricky one because next season if we have son and kane and sissoko back and have signed say 4-5 players then we will have a hell of a squad and Jose could really get us playing well, if at that point we still park the bus in almost every game and look like not a threat at all and results are poor then he’ll be gone don’t even worry about that as the fans won’t put up with it BUT on the other hand you could see the positives in our performances so far under Jose come through and with a line up like the below in most games with real quality coming into the side off the bench we should look a much more balanced side:

lloris

new RB
new CB?
Toby
Davies

Ndombele (fit)
Lo celso

son
Dele/ new AM
Lucas/bergweign

Kane / new ST

so some of you are being too harsh on Jose as the reality is the squad is in a bad state BUT I agree the lack of football that we are playing is boring, frustrating and a little worrying as not sure how long our fans will want to put up with it, but if we can become a little more adventurous whilst also being solid and effective then he could be really successful for us so I think a little patcience is needed here.
Klopp took 2-3 seasons to really start to show his lpool side, Jose has taken over a team mid season who were on horrible form with a mess of a squad and who are without their best 2 attacking players.

To be clear, I’m not 100% sold on Jose yet but a little bit of realism to our situation is needed.
 

Chimbo1

Well-Known Member
Dec 14, 2006
553
551
It's almost like some of you never watched us play under Poch for the final 12 months. Rewind to the Ajax first leg. That was as bad as what we saw for an hour tonight.

The squad needs refreshing and on top of that hes been doing it without Kane and now without Son.

Cut him some slack until at least this time next season.
To be fair the squad has had a re-fresh, not too many playing who played in Madrid, we can't change them all!
 

double0

Well-Known Member
Aug 29, 2006
14,423
12,258
It's almost like some of you never watched us play under Poch for the final 12 months. Rewind to the Ajax first leg. That was as bad as what we saw for an hour tonight.

The squad needs refreshing and on top of that hes been doing it without Kane and now without Son.

Cut him some slack until at least this time next season.
Yeah but Pochittinho didn't have the players Mourinho had.

Pochittinho imo squeezed everything out of the squad with one hand tied behind his back.
 

cjbyid

Well-Known Member
Jan 4, 2009
7,165
24,991
If it was this time next year and we got performances like that I'd be worried.

With the season we've had, injuries we've had, I'm happy to sit through it until the summer. Judge him then.
 

JCRD

Well-Known Member
Aug 10, 2018
19,153
30,013
LOOK, there are two sides to this:
1) style of play: yes it’s a bit negative and mabye doesn’t suit our current players BUT people can’t deny that it CAN be effective as since Jose took over we closed an 11 point gap on 4th place for goodness sake. The issue really is longer term how effective can it be and is the trade off worth it to possibly kick and scrape and scream and shout towards an fa cup or league cup etc, it’s a tricky one.

2)Jose’s hands are tied: yes he’s renownd for a siege mentality so he’s overstating our issues BUT the issues are actually fairly bad because one thing Jose does know is how to manage a squad across a season to get success and right now we have :
- no other RB apart from Aurier
- no other good CB options after Toby & Sanchez apart from a mabye past it jan and a 20yr old who’s played a handful of games for us
- in attack were without our top 2 goal scorers for most of the rest of the season if not all of it, added to that we can even refresh the attacking options as ndombele can only manage 20 mins and lamela is only just back and I’d imagine will be out again in a game or two’s time as he’s constantly picking up niggly injuries so then with 2 games a week most weeks we will run the likes of bergweign lucas dele lo celso into the ground and then come the final 10 games of the season our form will fall off a cliff.

So it’s a tricky one because next season if we have son and kane and sissoko back and have signed say 4-5 players then we will have a hell of a squad and Jose could really get us playing well, if at that point we still park the bus in almost every game and look like not a threat at all and results are poor then he’ll be gone don’t even worry about that as the fans won’t put up with it BUT on the other hand you could see the positives in our performances so far under Jose come through and with a line up like the below in most games with real quality coming into the side off the bench we should look a much more balanced side:

lloris

new RB
new CB?
Toby
Davies

Ndombele (fit)
Lo celso

son
Dele/ new AM
Lucas/bergweign

Kane / new ST

so some of you are being too harsh on Jose as the reality is the squad is in a bad state BUT I agree the lack of football that we are playing is boring, frustrating and a little worrying as not sure how long our fans will want to put up with it, but if we can become a little more adventurous whilst also being solid and effective then he could be really successful for us so I think a little patcience is needed here.
Klopp took 2-3 seasons to really start to show his lpool side, Jose has taken over a team mid season who were on horrible form with a mess of a squad and who are without their best 2 attacking players.

To be clear, I’m not 100% sold on Jose yet but a little bit of realism to our situation is needed.

I agree you cant deny that but did we not look better in th elast 25 mins when we actually tried to play football? Same goes for the Southampton game a few weeks ago? How about Olympiakos where the first 20 2-0 down then we started to play?

I dont really mind not being entertained because it is about winning but i also think we could win without having to sit back and hoof it away whilst we give away chance after chance - it keeps happening where we are giving away chance after chance - tonight, Villa, Southampton, Man City...

Tonight for 70 mins it was not pleasant viewing.

ps I also blame Levy for not getting in a damn striker...
 

fishhhandaricecake

Well-Known Member
Nov 15, 2018
18,702
46,941
I agree you cant deny that but did we not look better in th elast 25 mins when we actually tried to play football? Same goes for the Southampton game a few weeks ago? How about Olympiakos where the first 20 2-0 down then we started to play?

I dont really mind not being entertained because it is about winning but i also think we could win without having to sit back and hoof it away whilst we give away chance after chance - it keeps happening where we are giving away chance after chance - tonight, Villa, Southampton, Man City...

Tonight for 70 mins it was not pleasant viewing.

ps I also blame Levy for not getting in a damn striker...
Completely agree mate
 

Chimbo1

Well-Known Member
Dec 14, 2006
553
551
The lack of striker doesnt pave over the blinking obvious. We’re completely devoid of ideas and movement and that comes from the coach.
I agree with this, yes we have a depleted squad but it's still a bloody good squad, we've got quality all over the park! Imagine what the Leipzig manager or the young Ajax manager could do with this sdad, even without Kane or Sonny! I don't Mou's ideas are forward thinking enough
 

Dillspur

Well-Known Member
May 18, 2004
3,747
9,926
If it was this time next year and we got performances like that I'd be worried.

With the season we've had, injuries we've had, I'm happy to sit through it until the summer. Judge him then.

Unless we're 15 points clear at the top of the PL....?
 

ajspurs

Well-Known Member
Jul 7, 2007
22,985
31,166
To be honest there were times when we looked just as clueless even with Kane and Son in the side or just Kane , Southampton away in the league springs to mind but with the two of them, United and Wolves away in which we looked poor in both, despite winning one of them.

The thing that I thought was the problem before the injuries was the play that was behind the striker, the build up and general football. I remember not being as disappointed as I probably should have been when Kane got injured, because we weren't getting the ball up to him anyway and he was feeding off mere scraps.

IMO it's the football that's being played before the striker even comes into the equation that needs to improve. Our playing out from the back and through midfield mostly.

Kane back would obviously see us be getting over the line more often than not, but the football needed to drastically improve even with him in the side. I respect that we're still developing and evolving under Mourinho and we can't head in the direction we want (or at least no where near as fast) with the players we have out but having Kane and Son back at this stage wouldn't have us playing attractive football all of a sudden. I'm not trying to belittle how much it would mean to have them back, I just mean we had glaring issues even with them present under Mourinho. The things we needed to really improve when they were present are the same things we need to really improve on now.
 

THOWIG

Well-Known Member
Feb 14, 2005
6,499
8,329
I think it's harsh to leave it all at his door.

We've sold arguably the two best fullbacks the club has seen and not replaced. We replaced arguably one of the best CMs in Dembele and replaced him two windows too late. We're the 6th richest team in world football and the only top flight club without another recognised central striker.

I don't think it's gonna work with Jose. He's just not going to function alongside Levy. He'll be gone by Xmas imo. But this mess isn't his fault. But there are things he could be doing to improve the situation.

Completely agree.

I agree with this, yes we have a depleted squad but it's still a bloody good squad, we've got quality all over the park! Imagine what the Leipzig manager or the young Ajax manager could do with this sdad, even without Kane or Sonny! I don't Mou's ideas are forward thinking enough

Apart from maybe 3 of their players who played tonight. None of the rest are better that what we had our there. They are just better coached.
 

ButchCassidy

Well-Known Member
Jul 12, 2012
3,986
15,843
I'm reserving judgment until I see how we play in the Chelsea game. I suspect that had an impact on everything tonight, from team selection to the intensity of play. For me, and I suspect for Jose as well, that is the more important fixture - we simply are not going to win the CL this season, its absolutely not going to happen, not without Kane and Son and not with the team struggling like they have the past year. But top 4/top 5, to put us there next year with a fit Kane and a refreshed (God I hope) squad, is absolutely there for the taking and the game at the Bridge is probably the single most important match in terms of us getting there or not.
 

mmidgers

Well-Known Member
Jul 21, 2009
1,682
3,334
Can't judge mourinho until next season. He'll have to get his players in to fit his system, can't realistically judge him before that imo. This season is a write off for me
 

Joely

Well-Known Member
Jan 20, 2011
1,724
4,648
Struggling to be too critical of Mourinho. We have gaping holes in this team which his predecessor alluded to on more than one occasion and the chickens have come home to roost. Having the likes of Kane and Son, patch up those holes somewhat but without them, it really unmasks the weaknesses in the team and maybe explaining him taking the pragmatic approach. He won't say it openly as he knows the players he has are the ones he has to rely on for the rest of the season so needs to keep them onside to get the best out of them, but bet inside he probably knows a fair few of them are not up to it.

This season, the aim has to be to try and get into the CL and try and try and pick up the FA Cup. Even if we somehow managed to get through this tie against Leipzig, this team with the injuries it has, is heading out as soon as we come up against one of the European heavyweights.

Time to judge him will be next season provided he is backed sufficiently in the summer. Do see some positives signs in terms of players for him to build on. Lo Celso is starting to look a real player and if Ndombele can sort out his fitness from now until the start of next season, we have two midfielders with genuine quality. Add a quality DM and suddenly that could be a top notch midfield. Alongside that, think Mourinho will want 2 new fullbacks, a CB and a back up striker. He get's at least 4 of those that are quality, think we can really push on. If he doesn't. it starts unravelling fairly quickly next season imo.
 

Metalhead

But that's a debate for another thread.....
Nov 24, 2013
25,351
38,294
I even think the Saints or Wolves manager would do better with our squad than Mou
Why not? They are both evidently decent managers - especially Nuno who has evidenced this over the last season and half. The thing is though that Levy has made his decision and he's not going to do anything until at least the end of next season unless something drastically bad happens. He has done the 'project' thing and now he clearly wants trophies. Whether Jose will deliver trophies remains to be seen but Levy won't be twisting again until the end of next season at the earliest I reckon.
 
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