Jose Mourinho - SACKED

[StephenH]

It's a worry we started badly yesterday.

With Mourinho as your football manager, it is just about winning and results.

I can't think of many who will put up with poor results and the style of Mourino for long.

Let us also remember he can't buy his way out of prolonged poor form.

 

[StephenH]

and I dont think this was his mind games thing

We are talking Jose Mourinho here?
Just thought I'd check.

 

[DeanoAustin]

Mourinho said a week or two back we are still a way away from being title challengers, and I dont think this was his mind games thing - He knows what a title winning team looks like, and whilst some were getting over excitable about being top of the league most were still expecting a tail off in results. There is non-figuratively no team, Liverpool included who can go month after month without having a couple of bad results and considering we hadnt lost since the open day was inevitable a little run like this would happen. non-figuratively every top team has been yo-yoing and will continue to do so this season, we are in no way superior that it wasnt going to happen to us too. We are in a good position for our goals, 2 points off second having played every top team in the first 14 games.

It wont be until Feb/March time the distance between those challenging at the top will be a little wider from the rest and only then should we really judge on how we are looking. Emirates Marketing Project and Man U were looking poor now on the up,Everton looked really good then tailed off and now back again, Aston Villa/Southampton the same - anyone can beat anyone this league, and it would be silly to start looking for issues that arent really there based on a poor few games - otherwise almost every manager would have been sacked this season already....

I think that’s a good post but I don’t believe Mourinho didn’t or doesn’t consider us title contenders. You could see how angry and hurt he was on Wednesday. He doesn’t work to make up the numbers, he wants to win. Kane also said after Burnley “we believe we can do something special this season”. He isn’t talking top 4 with that.

I’ve no doubt the squad and management believe they are in the hunt. They just let themselves down badly this last week and performed below expectations. But as you say, it’s a mad season so let’s get back on the horse/pony and see where it takes us.

 

[MKSpur]

Has Mourinho played a back 3 much in his career?

I’m thinking that if we added Rodon as a cb and gave Dier a little licence to step out with the ball we gain some extra defensive aerial dominance and some technical ability in deep possession. The loss is the ground covered I guess.

 

[harr1984]

I think that’s a good post but I don’t believe Mourinho didn’t or doesn’t consider us title contenders. You could see how angry and hurt he was on Wednesday. He doesn’t work to make up the numbers, he wants to win. Kane also said after Burnley “we believe we can do something special this season”. He isn’t talking top 4 with that.

I’ve no doubt the squad and management believe they are in the hunt. They just let themselves down badly this last week and performed below expectations. But as you say, it’s a mad season so let’s get back on the horse/pony and see where it takes us.

I honestly don’t believe Mourinho looks at this squad, and thinks we can win the league with this group I really don’t. Jose is a winner, he is going to be angry at any defeat. But fair enough if you think differently here.

Of course Kane et al are going to come out with those sound bites, I would damn well hope they have the belief otherwise there really is no hope. I think the mental side is being worked on and improved and there’s no one better for this than Jose, but we have a way to go still. And let’s be honest, these claims are voiced by players constantly and often amount to nothing. Auba was coming out with how Arsenal could challenge for the title at the start of the season....

 

[Bedfordspurs]

Has Mourinho played a back 3 much in his career?

I’m thinking that if we added Rodon as a cb and gave Dier a little licence to step out with the ball we gain some extra defensive aerial dominance and some technical ability in deep possession. The loss is the ground covered I guess.

Not that I know of but I’ve always liked the system
I also think it would suit the midfield options we don’t have

 

[Spur of the moment]

A week ago we were on a PL run of 11 games without defeat. Once a run like that comes to an end it's normal for things to go a bit brick for a while. Also it's worth noting that all three of our PL defeats thus far have come against teams currently in the top four.

So my takeways from the above are :

a) we were probably never good enough to win the League in the first place
b) a top four finish is still very much on​

 

[DeanoAustin]

A week ago we were on a PL run of 11 games without defeat. Once a run like that comes to an end it's normal for things to go a bit brick for a while. Also it's worth noting that all three of our PL defeats thus far have come against teams currently in the top four.

So my takeways from the above are :

a) we were probably never good enough to win the League in the first place
b) a top four finish is still very much on​

It's a well made point but I don't agree. There is no way we shouldn't be expecting results against Leicester and Everton. With Liverpool away, we're a minute away from a point and a decent finish away from getting all 3 up at their place.

This squad is good enough to challenge for the league. That we're now 6 points behind rather than level in the space of 5 days is down to them delivering poor performances over the last week (certainly in the 2nd half at Palace and the 90 mins yesterday).

 

[StephenH]

This squad is good enough to challenge for the league.

Sadly there are too many 'nearly good enough's' in the squad.

I feel sorry for Serge as he has been a revelation until yesterday.
But there are too many that are still hit miss at this level.
Doughty is just not good enough. Lucas aka 'Mr Tumble' in this house just baffles me.

 

[Bedfordspurs]

Sadly there are too many 'nearly good enough's' in the squad.

I feel sorry for Serge as he has been a revelation until yesterday.
But there are too many that are still hit miss at this level.
Doughty is just not good enough. Lucas aka 'Mr Tumble' in this house just baffles me.

Doherty is more than good enough
Just needs time... that age old problem with football
Lucas is just gash now

 

[parklane1]

“We started bad,” Mourinho said. “The first 20 minutes was a poor performance, some empty spots in terms of pressing, attitude, recovering the ball. I didn’t like [it] at all. The fact we didn’t start well is not because I didn’t tell them to start well. I didn’t tell them: ‘Don’t be proactive or be reactive.’ But I admit we did start bad."

“It is a game we lost on a pelanty and an own goal and the result looks like the opponents were totally in control or better than us, but that is not the reality,” he said. “Our performance was not good but the game was not like they deserved to win or we deserved to lose. It was not a good game.”

Is this the beginning of "self-protective Mou"? Not knee-jerking, just asking. Off the back of "the best team lost" it is starting to become a question worth asking...

Not really mate, its usually means its fans reading into something that is not really there.

 

[parklane1]

A week ago we were on a PL run of 11 games without defeat. Once a run like that comes to an end it's normal for things to go a bit brick for a while. Also it's worth noting that all three of our PL defeats thus far have come against teams currently in the top four.

So my takeways from the above are :

a) we were probably never good enough to win the League in the first place
b) a top four finish is still very much on​

This.

 

[JerusalemMan]

It's a well made point but I don't agree. There is no way we shouldn't be expecting results against Leicester and Everton. With Liverpool away, we're a minute away from a point and a decent finish away from getting all 3 up at their place.

This squad is good enough to challenge for the league. That we're now 6 points behind rather than level in the space of 5 days is down to them delivering poor performances over the last week (certainly in the 2nd half at Palace and the 90 mins yesterday).

We should expect results. But it's no enormous calamity for us to have lost games against the top two teams in the league in the last week. Especially when we can clearly see that we weren't playing at our peak and still losing.

 

[DeanoAustin]

We should expect results. But it's no enormous calamity for us to have lost games against the top two teams in the league in the last week. Especially when we can clearly see that we weren't playing at our peak and still losing.

Yeah I think that’s fair. I’m not angry in the same way I was against West Ham. That day I was fuming. I’m just disappointed with the results. Liverpool and Leicester are good teams. But we can play better and we should expect to play better. And I think we’ve made it very difficult to challenge for a title that we are good enough to compete for.

 

[StephenH]

Yeah I think that’s fair. I’m not angry in the same way I was against West Ham. That day I was fuming. I’m just disappointed with the results. Liverpool and Leicester are good teams. But we can play better and we should expect to play better. And I think we’ve made it very difficult to challenge for a title that we are good enough to compete for.

I hate the term 'body language' but our teams on Sunday was dreadful. That really bothered me, the performance was as bad as I've seen in many a year in the league.
Jose now has a big job on hands as I think the players 'maybe' a little disillusioned after Liverpool.
I'm not a fan of some Jose antics but he's our manager and we need him to get the show back on the road.

 

[JerusalemMan]

Yeah I think that’s fair. I’m not angry in the same way I was against West Ham. That day I was fuming. I’m just disappointed with the results. Liverpool and Leicester are good teams. But we can play better and we should expect to play better. And I think we’ve made it very difficult to challenge for a title that we are good enough to compete for.

Yes. Much like the Champions League final, a bit of a better showing would have seen us win these last two games. And our players & team have shown that they have that performance level within their locker so it is intensely frustrating when it doesn't appear at a time of great need.
Still, at least we've been able to do over both Manchester clubs already this season.

 

[JerusalemMan]

I hate the term 'body language' but our teams on Sunday was dreadful. That really bothered me, the performance was as bad as I've seen in many a year in the league.
Jose now has a big job on hands as I think the players are little disillusioned after Liverpool.
I'm not a fan of some Jose antics but he's our manager and we need him to get the show back on the road.

I'm not sure that's true, because they really shouldn't be. Not for long anyway.
Objectively, it's right for them to be told that they were a couple of minutes away from getting at least a point. In a game where the defence had - up to then - only been breached by a deflected shot and where we'd had a number of chances that should have been taken. Kane missing a free header from so close to goal isn't all that regular an occurrence.

 

[StephenH]

I'm not sure that's true, because they really shouldn't be. Not for long anyway.
Objectively, it's right for them to be told that they were a couple of minutes away from getting at least a point. In a game where the defence had - up to then - only been breached by a deflected shot and where we'd had a number of chances that should have been taken. Kane missing a free header from so close to goal isn't all that regular an occurrence.

"I'm not sure that's true" either because none of us 'knows' for sure, probably not even Mourinho. From the outside looking in, we look like we had a big wobble. We all hope it's a short-lived wobble.

 

[JerusalemMan]

"I'm not sure that's true" either because none of us 'knows' for sure, probably not even Mourinho. From the outside looking in, we look like we had a big wobble. We all hope it's a short-lived wobble.

Of course you are correct there.
But my gut is that a last minute loss to the league leaders in a game we could have won will have less of a mental hit than, say, losing to Leicester or (GHod forbid) losing to Stoke

 

[Baleforce]

we are in a negative spiral