₦airaland Forum

Griffon:
The report making the rounds has it that Chelsea has rejected Monaco's £35m bid for Mourinho.

It's understood that Roman Abramovich would be willing to part with Jose if only the french outfit can triple the quoted figure.

I tell you, this is class. How a man having a bad patch would be sought earnestly in the transfer market is boggling to the mind.

Say what you have to say about the man Mourinho, he's still the best in the business.

Could you share any further insight on Jose Mourinho? Is he truly finished and is it just a matter of time before he’s sacked?

My inside knowledge goes only so far. I don’t know if Chelsea will sack Mourinho, only the board knows that.

In fact, at this moment, only owner Roman Abramovich knows that.

So I can only give you my thoughts – in a series of questions and answers – as somebody who has seen this situation before.

What started all this?

Hanging pyhsio Jon Fearn and club doctor Eva Carneiro out to dry in public.

Managers pick on staff and players all the time in order to make a wider point to the squad and remind them who is in charge.

But in this case, Mourinho could not have got it more wrong.

Fearn and Carniero are loved at Chelsea. They are friends of the players because they interact with them on a daily basis and have no agenda other than their well-being. They are neutral territory.

You know how much the kitman is loved at Chelsea, don’t you? The players love him and the fans love him when he appears on “Soccer AM”. This is like that.

Fearn and Carniero are totally respected by the playing staff and Mourinho has made a massive mistake in trying to make his point at the expense of two members of staff who were just doing their job and are seen as an easy touch.

Why did Mourinho need to make a point? His team are champions, after all.

Managers make a point to their squads all the time, usually in the form of a sacrifice from the playing squad.

A successful team usually rests on its laurels unless it is made clear by the man in charge that they are dispensable at any moment.

If this was Sir Alex Ferguson, he may well have sacrificed a squad player for the sake of it.

Who knows? If Mourinho had landed Everton centre back John Stones – and he must have thought that he had – maybe that sacrifice would have been John Terry warming the bench for the rest of the season.

Mourinho has tried to follow that through but suspensions and loss of form has meant that he’s needed to play Terry.

So that particular sacrifice looks half-arsed now. It undermines him in the minds of the players…

Is that it?

Since that moment, Mourinho’s ego has been hurt and has demanded that he reinstate the prescene that he had before.

His ego is why he didn’t apologise, when he most certainly should have.

What has happened since has been the total and utter abandonment of Mourinho and his philosophy by the players.

Mourinho is bang to rights and the players know it, so they are now trying to make their point on the pitch.

I have it on the best authority possible that the players have told the manager that they hate the way they play.

They hate the way they have to sit back against inferior opposition; they hate the way they aren’t allowed to express themselves.

I’m told that Cesc Fabregas is the leader of that mini-revolt. And as a player, you do things like this when you know you are in the right.

You try your luck. Why not?

It’s your way of saying to the manager: “You can either listen to us, and give the go ahead to change and give us what we want, or we’ll keep serving you up the same old shit and embarrass you.”

Is there anything else that we should take into account before we wave goodbye to Jose?

There certainly is. For starters, Chelsea have the best manager in the world; nobody in the game disputes that.

And despite this crisis, Abramovich would be loath to lose him because Mourinho will simply walk into one of the world’s top jobs with a Russian cheque in his pocket.

I know Abramovich has all the money in the world but he has made a point of trying to cooperate with Financial Fair Play (FFP) in recent years and the spendthrift days of his early tenure have waned.

The compensation fee that Chelsea would have to pay Mourinho is rumoured to be £30-£40 million, possibly tipping them over the FFP limit.

What is likely to happen?

If you want my honest opinion, I think that you haven’t seen Mourinho at even a tenth of his anger.

He is hurting from the fact that the players who he put together are revolting too publicly.

If he has that Ferguson streak in him, and if Abramovich allows, I think you will see the most ruthless culling of Chelsea’s squad in at least five years, with fresh talent coming in.

I think that the Chelsea board have written off this campaign and have accepted that they will start again next season.

As long as Mourinho qualifies Chelsea for the Champions League, I believe that he will keep his job and that next season will be very different.

raumdeuter:
Assuming they really hated each other

1. Why did he sign for the same Jose?

2. How did he convince others that have been there before him, some before h even started playing football to hate him

fabregas is one of the newest Chelsea players but he is the one who convinced the players against jose

Its like saying Schneiderlin or Herrera is leading Rooney, Carrick etc to revoly

lordfalcao:
I will keep saying this thing. British media is the worst media in this world, believe everything they say in your own detriment. Now fabregas has released a statement that he is not against any revolt.


British press is spoiling the beauty of English football. the person that started this rubbish should should be sued. from Hazard, now it's fabregas maybe next will be matic, another will be Oscar.



Tufia anytime I read there article I feel like throwing up, they lack class

nateevs:
Actually Jason was contradicting himself a few times. I listened to him on the Alan Brazil show yesterday morning and last night on the Sports Bar with Andy Goldstein.

Jason on one hand says we stopped hunting in packs but just Nihilist, forgot we stopped doing that midway during the season and started grinding results out till the end of the season. It happened right after the Spurs game.

Although he is right on both issues, he is wrong on the timing of the occurrence. We didn't stop hunting in packs this season.

How Nihilist forgot this beats my imagination. When I said this problem never started this season, he disagreed vehemently and consistently, pointing only to the league win, conveniently forget what up to the win.

I remember in the summer, many times whilst drawing a transfer list, I came up with options that excluded Fabregas totally from the midfield. I went Koke, Vidal and one more I cannot remember. I quite recall you Lacer saying that will not happen and asking what happens to Fab. But your comments then are besides the point. That said, I do remember you also, like me, calling Fab a passenger. This was the main reason behind the desire to buy players that totally excluded Fab from the team.

Ibime pointed to not being in the mood for Vidal citing 'having no time for another ninja who doesn't ninja who doesn't put the ball to ground'

Many times after games last season, I cited a faulty attacking unit referring to our method of attack as very poor and only designed to go through Hazard. I brought up the point in Pre-season again and pointed out that the problems still exist.

My point is, my view, Ibime's one, Lacer's one, heck even BlueDiva all alinged with a long standing problem. A problem of midfield that did not just begin this season.

Why do folks think we were saying all this last season? Because there were problems.

I remember Ibime stating at some point last season, that JM may have over-achieved with this bunch. Some of us may have disagreed with that point but our collective view was born out of what we saw.

And contrary to what Nihilist and the rest think now, NO we did not finish on a high last season. We ground out results until the end. Just like Jason Cundy said, we were called 'boring boring' many times. Because the Fab Matic pivot caused huge problems early on and Fab was removed from it and pushed forward.

So no, don't just point to the league win. Remember the issues. This midfield problem did not start today and certainly not this season.

Yes there other mental issues and off-field wahala but the structure on the pitch to play ourselves out of it is absent.

While I don't disagree that shoring up will make is defend better, I also.believe fortifying the midfield will enable us carry play to the opposition which makes us more dangerous with Willian, Hazard and Pedro. (This is why I have stayed out of the Hazard arguments. Cos I can see why dude is not playing well).

So yes, when 'Kurt phocking Zouma' has been drafted to midfield for an extended period of time, unless you are on a mission to prove something else, you should know you have a major phocking MIDFIELD CRISIS.

Griffon:
The lines in green are for airmak, who thinks collective responsibility is harming us. Like I told you yesterday, it's a group morality thing. When the team is playing not to complement eachother, then we're in trouble.

The lines in red are for Chelseafan1 who thinks outscoring our opponents is the way to go. Hombre it doesn't work that way. When you're in a position like this, going defensive and grinding out results is your best bet. I'm sure Ibime told you that yesterday.

The whole article is for my homie Nihilist who thinks attacking is our biggest problem. Just like myself, Ibime and now Jason whom I'm sure isn't registered on NL would have it, failure to maintain a good defensive shape has been our biggest undoing, a defensive shape that starts from how the pivot are faring.

I hope Jason doesn't get accused of being bitten on the neck by Vampire Ibime

Ibime:
Griffon has sense. Now we are just praying for you to receive sense! Abrigidipapawamananama. . . . in the name of Fenibeso. . . . receive sense!

Quit telling us about what Fabregas did in 2014. Fabregas has been removed from pivot since Jan 1st 2015!

Start of last season teams were in awe of Chelsea's new signings and came with mentality of parking the bus. Once they clicked that Fabregas is a weak link if you attack him, he was removed from the pivot to prevent obvious rapings that were taking place. Infact, you spent good chunk of last season telling us our RCM is abysmal defensively, abi na lie?

Wetin concern us with blaming attacking players. We have more goals than Man Utd . . . . yet we are battling relegation!!!!

You said yesterday the team is sitting back and playing safe. If the team is "sitting back and playing safe", obviously we won't score that many goals. . . . yet the same ninjas "sitting back and playing safe" manage to concede 3 goals every phucking game. Their incompetence is made in Makurdi.

Abi we go score 3 goals each game just to collect one point?

Griffon:
This is balderdash brah. Cesc is no CM. Being a central midfielder doesn't end at stringing together passes and dictating play.

Following the departure of Patrick Viera to Juventus, Cesc was expected to fill the void left by the Frenchman, that he was given the number 4 shirt. Just like we saw with Chelsea last season, Cesc kept chalking up goals and assists for the gunners whilst amassing several personal awards. He was idolised by many. But guess what? The almighty Cesc had only one FA Cup title to show for his eight seasons at Arsenal.

It was all sexy football at Arsenal with nothing to back it up, same shit we're being served this season. Arsenal couldn't stand Chelsea or even Manyoo then. Cesc's inability to provide some steel in the gunners' midfield was the symptomatic of the larger problem surrounding Arsenal then.

I'm sure Cesc is the only CM in the history of football to have been featured as a striker for his team. Being used in a variety of different roles simply entails that he's yet to make the CM role his.

I can't imagine either of Lampard, Scholes, Gerrard, Schweinsteiger, Keane, Modric, Kroos, Xavi, Alonso or even Vidal being used a false nine. These are men that win the midfield battle, men that win you the game.

Joeace3000:
Too much lamentation, fighting and cursing on this thread. Celebrate i and my twin on our birthday today...staunch united supporters.

Griffon:
Nihilist, Cesc was never meant for the pivot system, forget the one season wonder.

Dude doesn't have what it takes to carry out the duty of a CM. The needed aggression and positional intelligence are always missing in his game. No be by up through passes, no be wetin we go chop.

The phucked up midfield is the primary cause of our downslide, followed closely by the confidence issues you've been on which is just the secondary cause.

Phucked midfield = Bad results = Confidence fizzles out = More horrendous displays and more bad results

This is how I see it brah.

Ibime:
Believe it or not, yes we do have about the 15th best midfield in the Premiership when it comes to the basic job of keeping the midfield tight.

If you doubt me, peep this. . .

There is NOT A SINGLE CLUB in the Premiership that will prefer Kurt Zouma to any of it's midfielders or consider playing him in midfield as Chelsea basically did from January to May last year.

That is FACT for you, live and direct!

He said: 'Let me tell you what I know on the Chelsea story. My information comes from a Chelsea first team player.

'The information was actually passed to me by a football contact. I was told that Jose Mourinho's relationship with many of his players is at rock bottom.

'I was told they're fed up with the way he's been dealing with some of them. They're fed up with his outbursts. I was told that his relationship particularly with Eden Hazard was under immense strain.

Here's a staggering quote. One player said recently, "I'd rather lose than win for him". Now that last quote may well have been said in the heat of the moment, but it perhaps gives an insight into the mood of some of the players.'

Chelseafan1:
Bro, I have personally insulted Hazard today, I wasn't impressed with the way he played buh Chelsea's current predicament is beyond Hazard's shitty play, the way he keeps getting bashed on here is unnecessary and equally unreasonable.

He cannot be playing for Barca, Bayern, Madrid or even Man city and get blamed like this, the team is in a serious crises, even the world best footballer wud have it tough turning things around in this Chelsea team.

Ronaldo scored a lot of goals last season, Casillas and the defence let him down, they couldn't win any major trophy.

This is a team sport, every postion has to be up and running.

Costa was scoring for fun last season, Matic was rock solid, Fabregas held the league's highest no of assists, we had 2 great goal keepers who were trying to impress, the defense was the best in the league, can you say the same about the players this season?

sephia:
Why bother?
I wouldn't personally compare Hazard with Neymar. However, if i must, then i would expect Hazrd to also be given the same quality of support as Neymar has.
Meanwhile, stop arguing with haters. Hazard is world class. It's sad that the WHOLE TEAM is going through a very rough patch right now. Even Messi or Ronaldo would be poor right now if they were a part of the team.

Chelseafan1:
This is nonsense.

Don't deviate, you told nateevs that Messi is so spectacular, he carries his team and can deliver magical moments for Barca, he was like, if he was that spectacular, why hasn't he won the world cup with Argentina ever since.

Address that and quit saying something g else.

nitlad:
Look, I am not saying that Mikel and Ramires are capable.

I admit the effort required to show them up as incompetent sods is little - which Coutinho and co did.

I am also telling you in the same vein that the effort required to call out Can and Lucas as unreliable serfs is equally little - which Hazard and co didn't do.

That is the import of my yarns.

Ibime:
Matic is off form because he is destabilised by not having a competent partner to share his workload.

Even if he IS off-form, why don't we have 2 other competent midfielders to rest him?

Matic and Fab pivot got disgraced severally last season. They were lucky teams were scared at the start of the season and sat back allowing them to breathe and build up points to top the table. As soon as Spurs disgraced our midfield, we had to beg Zouma to play midfield to see us through the season and park the bus to cross the finish line.

There is no problem in midfield yet we are conceding 3 goals per game and every talk on here is of which midfield to pick before games to stabilise ourselves?

Na you sabi. Ride on.

Ibime:
Me revisionism? You must be high! Who has been most consistent on this midfield issue over the last 4 years?

Na una dey revise, not me.

Matic and Fab is not a good combination either.

You are preaching to the choir.

Every member of this thread has been calling for a worthy partner for Matic all summer. In my case even longer.

Tiago was not a great midfielder but he won everything for Chelsea. Lucas and Can have the basic requirement to play midfield.

Fabregas, Ramires and Mikel are 1/10 in certain aspects of their game that make them completely unsuitable for the pivot and unbalance the team fatally.

Put Can or Lucas alongside Matic and that midfield is good to go. I am even on record as saying Jack Cork who is 5/10 in everything will improve that midfield.

It is not whether you are world class in certain aspects that make a midfield, you must have every aspect of midfield play to a proficient level to make a stable midfield.

Ibime:
Can and Lucas bring the basic requirements of a standard midfielder, energy and physical strength plus can trap a ball. They are 6/10 in everything, not great but acceptable. They also had Milner with them who is 6/10 in everything.

Mikel and Ramires do not bring the basics.

Mikels ball retention is 10/10. His energy and tracking of runners is 1/10 and speed of passing is 1/10.

Ramires energy is 10/10. His strength on the ball is 1/10, his control and passing is 1/10.

You cannot put both of them together and expect them to compensate for each other. Mikel wants to slow the game, Ramires wants to speed it up. If Ramires runs forward, you just counterattack Mikel easily. If you catch Ramires 1 on 1 and shove him off the ball like Charlie Adam, Mikel will not make up the ground to cover him.

It is a HORRIBLE combination.

Any standard average midfield will better them all other things being equal.

There is a reason David Luiz and Kurt Zouma have been drafted substantially into midfield in the last 3 years.

nateevs:
But what had the attack done? You are looking at it all wrong. What JM did with that sub is modify the shape. Oscar into the middle for a more conventional winger on the left. A point I quite rightly made in the first half.

The shape was fault.y Is still faulty. Fabregas and Ramires in midfield and you complain Fab has lost form.

It's easy to blame Hazard. Very easy.

Ibime:
What has Oscar done in this game?

Fans were on his back before that chip.

We go use that chip chop fufu tonight when every other aspect of his game is subpar?

Yes, Oscar will be sold hundred times before Hazard is even mentioned. Hazard may be rubbish for the last 3 months, but Oscar has been crap for 3 years.

nateevs:
Oya Nihilist and FBS. Hazard is off and we are keeping things simple. We have conceded again and on the verge of another defeat.

Whose fault is it now?