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Jose Mourinho - SACKED

SpurMeUp said:
I started the post with "I know Mourinho is more than a one-trick pony."

I agree he is one of the more flexible managers. And I think he is adapting our tactics to a. the condensed amount of games this season and b. our squad of very decent but not exceptional players. Poch tried to get us to add a defensive block to our game. But it never quite worked. Poch didn't have the faith to see it through. It has taken Mourinho a year. I am all for Mourinho's approach, but we will need more in other games. We need to keep developing. Work on playing through the middle which Ndombele certainly improves.
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You answered your own question, think today's game

- With Ndombele coming on for Gio
- With a fit and in form Bale coming on for Bergwijn
- And Lucas/Lamela/Dele (whoever in form) being an option

This side is no where playing at it's peak, because we don't need to be .. the combined might of City, Chelsea, United and Scum have scored 1 goal against us, we haven't needed to put on a show. People miss we have won games 7-2, 4-0, 6-1, etc. when we take the shackles off just a little ..
 
We had the best defense in the league the season we left WHL, then Wanyama Dier and Dembele all spontaneously combusted leaving us with a hole in the middle of the pitch for 2 years that we could only fill with Sissoko and Winks
 
Robspur12 said:
FIFY
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You know I think Poch's biggest failing was a lack of confidence (and maybe also a lack of nouse in the transfer market). I think he started adding a defensive block to our play. So we could see out games and not have to use up so much energy pressing. But when it didn't work initially he changed it up again and we just had a lighter press in the end. It has basically taken Mourinho a year to get us to play like this in a convincing way, and as you say some transfers too.

It wasn't the only time Poch changed things that didn't seem to work rather than stick to his guns (story of his final season). When I think his initial plan and ideas were good. Mourinho has more conviction.
 
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Baleforce said:
He didn’t have Hojbjerg, that’s true.

He did have Wanyama and Dembele though..

I remember getting quite angry at our approach at anfield one year.
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I don't agree with @Robspur12 on this one

- Lloris, Davies, Dier, Toby (arguably a better version), Aurier, Sissoko are all players when Poch was here
- Add Jan plus a Dier that worked in midfield, plus Wanyama/Dembele at times
- Jose has PEH and Reguilon

We are better defensively because

1. Jose is fudging ruthless

- No midfield passengers who won't put in a shift
- Got Sanchez out of the starting lineup
- Made Aurier step up or out
- Identified a player he needed at a small cost and got him (PEH)

2. Jose doesn't give a fudge about possession for possession sake, he thinks about how we play with the ball and without
3. He counters the opposition, he's not going to play a high line if the opposition can murder you by a punt over the top (fudging infuriating how many years I had to watch that)
 
Raziel said:
You answered your own question, think today's game

- With Ndombele coming on for Gio
- With a fit and in form Bale coming on for Bergwijn
- And Lucas/Lamela/Dele (whoever in form) being an option

This side is no where playing at it's peak, because we don't need to be .. the combined might of City, Chelsea, United and Scum have scored 1 goal against us, we haven't needed to put on a show. People miss we have won games 7-2, 4-0, 6-1, etc. when we take the shackles off just a little ..
Click to expand...

I didn't ask a question as far as I know!
 
billyiddo said:
We had the best defense in the league the season we left WHL, then Wanyama Dier and Dembele all spontaneously combusted leaving us with a hole in the middle of the pitch for 2 years that we filled with Sissoko and Winks
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How do you have the best defence and not win the league?

Sissoko was a smart signing though, full credit for that, I used to think he was brick, he’s one of our most important players.
 
SpurMeUp said:
I didn't ask a question as far as I know!
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It was to the point "At some point we'll need to come back from going a goal down. And to take the pressure off, we need to be able to pass and hold the ball."

So I simply showed you a scenario where we would have been able to do that today .. (didn't because personal and circumstance)
 
Baleforce said:
How do you have the best defence and not win the league?

Sissoko was a smart signing though, full credit for that, I used to think he was brick, he’s one of our most important players.
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Because we lacked squad depth against a Chelsea side who had no other distractions. Especially not European football.
 
Raziel said:
It was to the point "At some point we'll need to come back from going a goal down. And to take the pressure off, we need to be able to pass and hold the ball."

So I simply showed you a scenario where we would have been able to do that today .. (didn't because personal and circumstance)
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For sure. And I agree.

Do you ever think that games of football play out the way they do, not only because of a manager's instructions but because of habit and culture in the side? Managers can be spectators with teams not always achieving their vision.

The point I was trying to make was a team can get used to a way of playing. The manager may not set the team up to play that way on the day, but the team default to it. I know Mourinho will have other setups for us. But at the moment, this is our default. It is a great defensive foundation and I'm glad we have it. But I am sure Mourinho aspires to more and wants the team to develop. If we can always find our defensive shape we can lock out games etc. However, ontop of this foundation there is more to come.
 
SpurMeUp said:
For sure. And I agree.

Do you ever think that games of football play out the way they do, not only because of a manager's instructions but because of habit and culture in the side? Managers can be spectators with teams not always achieving their vision.

The point I was trying to make was a team can get used to a way of playing. The manager may not set the team up to play that way on the day, but the team default to it. I know Mourinho will have other setups for us. But at the moment, this is our default. It is a great defensive foundation and I'm glad we have it. But I am sure Mourinho aspires to more and wants the team to develop. If we can always find our defensive shape we can lock out games etc. However, ontop of this foundation there is more to come.
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Mourinho said afterward if we were chasing the game he would use a press and do things differently but we didn’t need to
 
No. They can't be relegated. Too big. Too well connected. Too important to the football industry as a whole.

But they can be made to suffer. So far this season, they're the new West Ham. Now, about to spend more time looking over their shoulders than ahead.
 
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