Jose Mourinho

[SpartanSpur]

The happiest he has looked in quite some time, I think he feels like he is starting to get some traction finally. The NLD obviously helped big time.

Feels like he is starting to get a breakthrough defensively and with the team mentality since the restart. Concentration and team ethic is definitely improving. We need to keep this momentum going into the summer. We need more positivity around the place.

The football is rough to watch at times but maybe it was a likely byproduct of these big changes. Could be quite handy for him to get transition period out of the way before crowds come back.

We are being very wasteful in transition right now, if we can fix that we will get our fair share of goals, even if we don't have huge possession stats.

I'm glad he has finally put some foundations down (why didn't he do this sooner?) but the attacking side is where the jury is still out on him. I think he can make us competitive in the cups and the top four chase with some decent additions this summer, but if he's to really succeed here the trick is going to be establishing attacking play that is able to break down stubborn defences. Hopefully he can.

Looking forward to the game on Sunday now. First time I've said that for a while! Leicester will need a win, should suit us.

I hope Levy does everything he can to back Jose this summer. If this appointment is going to work this summer is the key moment IMO.

 

[CornerPinDreamer]

The game plan is

Aurier cross
Counter attack like mad bastards
Mostly park 2 x buses

I missed the game.. game plan unchanged?

 

[Twizzle]

I'm really over this Backward Ball style game, pass backwards and just defend and defend and defend and hope, or play for a fast break.

Its a dangerous style to play against top teams and just not pretty to watch, but that's me, just not a Jose fan.

 

[Japhet]

Credit to Mourinho for setting us up much better in the last few games. Maybe without Dele he fell into the choices he made but being continually outnumbered in midfield was previosly starving us of any control in games. We've had the players for a 3 man midfield all along but both he and Poch insisted in 2 in there which was making us piss easy to get at. Last night Winks looked like the player we know he can be and pulled the strings from the middle. Sissoko was free to concentrate on St Maximin and then make his own breaks forward, and Lo Celso had the freedom to push further forward without compromising the defensive side too much. We'll see what happens when Dele is fit agin, but for now I'm just happy to see us not being bossed by our opponents in the middle of the park.

 

[feet01]

Credit to Mourinho for setting us up much better in the last few games. Maybe without Dele he fell into the choices he made but being continually outnumbered in midfield was previosly starving us of any control in games. We've had the players for a 3 man midfield all along but both he and Poch insisted in 2 in there which was making us piss easy to get at. Last night Winks looked like the player we know he can be and pulled the strings from the middle. Sissoko was free to concentrate on St Maximin and then make his own breaks forward, and Lo Celso had the freedom to push further forward without compromising the defensive side too much. We'll see what happens when Dele is fit agin, but for now I'm just happy to see us not being bossed by our opponents in the middle of the park.

Thought winks was good, but he is too slow on the turn and isn’t able to protect our defence enough. There were still times when the Newcastle players were running straight at our defenders

 

[lincspurs]

Thought winks was good, but he is too slow on the turn and isn’t able to protect our defence enough. There were still times when the Newcastle players were running straight at our defenders

Thought Winks had a good game linking play which is what he’s in the team to do.
it appeared to me it was only the one player that continually took us on which, to be fair, he had been doing to almost every other team when I’ve seen him play.

 

[Dzejkob]

Interesting game yesterday. We conceded a lot of shots but to be fair lot of them were shots from distance. Also I think few of them could be easily prevented. When it comes to ball retention, attacking movement, passing I think we were much much comparing to the rest of the games after restart. NLD could be big confidence boost. Son finally looked like Son, Kane was also very good.

 

[arunspurs]

Lets not put blinkers on eyes - There are still frailties - Yesterday's game showed the players losing possession to bad first touch, bad passing, bad decision making. But whats more clear is, its clearly not managers fault but the said players.

Its more than ever clear now that we need to shift some of them and get more tactical & technical players to suit Mourinho.

Jose & Poch training method could not be more polar opposite for their way of playing. Poch used to have strenuous training sessions but Jose does more ball work based trainings. Yet, how they setup & play their team is opposite.

This kind of says why - with Jose' style, its so important to have that better first touch, better pass to get out in transition...

So IMO, our style will improve for the good under Jose , if we can find better technical players who also ready to do the dirty work on the pitch.

 

[spursfan77]

Lets not put blinkers on eyes - There are still frailties - Yesterday's game showed the players losing possession to bad first touch, bad passing, bad decision making. But whats more clear is, its clearly not managers fault but the said players.

Its more than ever clear now that we need to shift some of them and get more tactical & technical players to suit Mourinho.

Jose & Poch training method could not be more polar opposite for their way of playing. Poch used to have strenuous training sessions but Jose does more ball work based trainings. Yet, how they setup & play their team is opposite.

This kind of says why - with Jose' style, its so important to have that better first touch, better pass to get out in transition...

So to summarise, IMO, our style will improve for the good under Jose , if we can find better technical players who also ready to do the dirty work on the pitch.

With the amount of games they’ve played recently I wonder how much of that might be down to tiredness?

 

[Stamford]

Only lo

I'm really over this Backward Ball style game, pass backwards and just defend and defend and defend and hope, or play for a fast break.

Its a dangerous style to play against top teams and just not pretty to watch, but that's me, just not a Jose fan.

Yet all our best performances are against top teams. Just the trust the process, this man has consistently won trophies and we're consistently losers.

 

[olliec]

If the players believe in the Jose philosophy and are all pushing in the same direction I believe we are on the cusp of something major. The man is a Chess master and has us setup different for each individual game to compliment both our strengths and weaknesses. Poch just played high intesntity giving the players too much freedom, which isn’t bad but I can see from the last few games we are better coached and more organised now. If we get Jose the players he wants I can see him taking us to the top. We haven’t got the arrogant players like Pogba who unbalanced the dressing room, so he doesn’t have to worry about egos upsetting the dressing room. This could be one of Levy’s best moves. Only times will tell.

 

[rossdapep]

What is a tactical player ? A player that fits a system ?

Anyway he is a technical player which is what I was responding to.

Then you obviously ignored the part where is said 'tactical/technical' players.

Yes he's very technical but he isn't technical in an off the ball sense and he's probably the least tactical player we have.

 

[emiley heskey]

What is a tactical player ? A player that fits a system ?

Anyway he is a technical player which is what I was responding to.

Tactic and technic two different things ... Ndombele has got abundance of technic on the ball but he is not tactical that you can't play him anywhere in the midfield ... Tactic is for setting the team and technique is player's own ability ...

 

[enfieldyid]

Tactic and technic two different things ... Ndombele has got abundance of technic on the ball but he is not tactical that you can't play him anywhere in the midfield ... Tactic is for setting the team and technique is player's own ability ...

Sorry are you talking about tactical awareness, and if you are how do you know how good at it he is because no one has seen NDombele play enough. Not a criticism of him not playing.

 

[emiley heskey]

Sorry are you talking about tactical awareness, and if you are how do you know how good at it he is because no one has seen NDombele play enough. Not a criticism of him not playing.

I have watched ndombele in his lyon days ... He has never been tactically switched off player though ... But he has got plenty of technique to go with

 

[BringBack_leGin]

If Ndombele were fit, who’s place in last nights midfield three would he take? Sissoko was there for power, Winks was there for control and Lo Celso was there to link midfield and attack, before Lamela came on and picked up where he left off. On the premise that we wouldn’t sacrifice Lo Celso, Ndombele would need to show that the trade off for his imagination and creativity isn’t a complete drop off in control if he replaced Winks, or energy if he replaced Sissoko.

Given how clearly gifted Ndombele is, I don’t for a second think Mourinho would leave him out if he was showing that he could bring his attacking prowess without weakening the system. The most imaginative and creative playmaker of recent memory is Iniesta but he also showed for every pass, carried out his instructions with militant attention and was exceptionally fit. Sneijder, Ozil and Cole all had their best times under Mourinho because they learnt to be more than just mercurial flair players who only came alive if the play was near them. Ndombele needs to go the same direction.

Look at City. Can you ever accuse De Bruyne or Silva of looking anything less than 100% fit and sharp? Foden is now breaking through and he is an absolute dynamo. Guardiola, who I’m sure we can all agree loves to nurture mercurial talent, doesn’t stand for slackers, why should Mourinho? Pep did farm out Ronaldinho from Barcelona in his first transfer window and replaced him with an older, less talented, on the wane but supremely fit and professional Henry.

I feel like the questioning of Mourinho’s treatment of Ndombele is far more to do with preconceived negativity against Jose than anything else. If it was a more loved manager then I reckon that manager would get full support.

And I say this knowing how bitterly disappointed I’ll be if Ndombele fails with us as I live to watch all dribbling, all flair playmakers and I’d rather watch Tanguy than any other midfielder we have, but for that to happen the manager needs to be shown that he can rely on him. Hopefully José gets through to him otherwise he, the club and all our fans will end up missing out.

 

[SpartanSpur]

If Ndombele were fit, who’s place in last nights midfield three would he take? Sissoko was there for power, Winks was there for control and Lo Celso was there to link midfield and attack, before Lamela came on and picked up where he left off. On the premise that we wouldn’t sacrifice Lo Celso, Ndombele would need to show that the trade off for his imagination and creativity isn’t a complete drop off in control if he replaced Winks, or energy if he replaced Sissoko.

Given how clearly gifted Ndombele is, I don’t for a second think Mourinho would leave him out if he was showing that he could bring his attacking prowess without weakening the system. The most imaginative and creative playmaker of recent memory is Iniesta but he also showed for every pass, carried out his instructions with militant attention and was exceptionally fit. Sneijder, Ozil and Cole all had their best times under Mourinho because they learnt to be more than just mercurial flair players who only came alive if the play was near them. Ndombele needs to go the same direction.

Look at City. Can you ever accuse De Bruyne or Silva of looking anything less than 100% fit and sharp? Foden is now breaking through and he is an absolute dynamo. Guardiola, who I’m sure we can all agree loves to nurture mercurial talent, doesn’t stand for slackers, why should Mourinho? Pep did farm out Ronaldinho from Barcelona in his first transfer window and replaced him with an older, less talented, on the wane but supremely fit and professional Henry.

I feel like the questioning of Mourinho’s treatment of Ndombele is far more to do with preconceived negativity against Jose than anything else. If it was a more loved manager then I reckon that manager would get full support.

And I say this knowing how bitterly disappointed I’ll be if Ndombele fails with us as I live to watch all dribbling, all flair playmakers and I’d rather watch Tanguy than any other midfielder we have, but for that to happen the manager needs to be shown that he can rely on him. Hopefully José gets through to him otherwise he, the club and all our fans will end up missing out.

Ideally I think he takes Sissoko's place, at his best he can make interceptions and has the ability to progress the ball with dribbling and obviously is a superior passer to anything we have currently. He definitely needs to show significant improvement in fitness, effort and concentration however as currently it clearly hasn't been good enough (some of this could be due to injury).

Hopefully he stays and comes back strong next season, wouldn't be the first signing to flourish after a ropey start.

Levy/Jose are going to be very tempted if a big offer comes in however.

 

[spurs mental]

I'm really over this Backward Ball style game, pass backwards and just defend and defend and defend and hope, or play for a fast break.

Its a dangerous style to play against top teams and just not pretty to watch, but that's me, just not a Jose fan.

We narrowly lost to Liverpool and actually should have gotten something but were wasteful in front of goal. We beat City. We were dreadful v Chelsea. We drew with United and could have won but for a soft soft penalty. We beat Arsenal. Does this make any sense to you?


Edit:

Would people honestly prefer to see us try and play open expansive football and concede a ton of goals and maybe score a few more goals?

 

[BringBack_leGin]

Ideally I think he takes Sissoko's place, at his best he can make interceptions and has the ability to progress the ball with dribbling and obviously is a superior passer to anything we have currently. He definitely needs to show significant improvement in fitness, effort and concentration however as currently it clearly hasn't been good enough (some of this could be due to injury).

Hopefully he stays and comes back strong next season, wouldn't be the first signing to flourish after a ropey start.

Levy/Jose are going to be very tempted if a big offer comes in however.

I’d suggest that with Hojbjerg likely signing and a clear indication that Skipp is going to be getting more responsibility next season, the only think that’ll stop us selling Ndombele will be a lack of a suitable offer, as he’s run out of time now to show anything this season and if we want to go into next season set up to succeed we can’t afford to place our bets on someone who hasn’t shown he’s up to it yet.

 

[Everlasting Seconds]

Interesting game yesterday. We conceded a lot of shots but to be fair lot of them were shots from distance. Also I think few of them could be easily prevented.

This might very well be a tactical desire and active wish. Rather than fight the ball back while it's still in pay, invite your opponent to be fooled into thinking they've got a easy shot, only for them to waste ball possession, give the ball to you, and most likely waste time, too. Not that I know first hand that was indeed a deliberate plan yesterday, but it can very well be deliberate on a general basis.