"We had a great chance by Vinicius, we can analyse the game from the first to the last minute. If you want to be pragmatic, one penalty, one goal, 1-0. "When a team is in a difficult game against Chelsea, you concede that penalty and are affected by it. By the end of the the first half I saw a team that was struggling but it was totally the opposite in the second half. "We miss a lot of important players but the spirit in the second half is untouchable. "We don't like it (the form) but the way we finished the game gives me positive feelings. It is not that that stops the defensive mistakes but it gives us a difficult smile on the face and to stick together and go tomorrow." What the flying fack is he on about?!
He gets into positions where he can receive the ball and moves around to create space. Vinicius looked like he'd been instructed to mark Rudiger
"It was a bit of a struggle but how many chances did they have? We ddn't have the ball, correct, we didn't create in the first half, correct. But the struggle was the penalty. In the end a penalty decides the game. In the end they score a penalty which is not a penalty that you say is a dangerous situation, one on one, almost scoring. It's a penalty that is difficult to accept and to lose the game like this is a bit painful. "But in the second half we were different and Lucas [Moura] and [Erik] Lamela helped to change the dynamic. The feeling I have is that we kept together until the end. To finish with a positive spirit helps. "Vinicius is a player with an incredible spirit but his understanding of how to press is something he's still not comfortable with. Then in the second half it was much more difficult for them, we pressed them much better and higher and in the second half I believe we deserved a little bit more." No idea where to even begin with this bollocks. We are paying a man £8m a year to come out with this. A) "A bit of a struggle" B) "How many chances did they have?" - 18 C) "The struggle was the penalty" - And everything either side of it. D) "Which is not a penalty" E) "To finish with a positive spirit helps." - Yep, that's how Blackpool got relegated. F) "His understanding of how to press" - NO ONE was pressing G) "I believe we deserved a little bit more." - Yeah, the Hojbjerg yellow was a bit harsh, I'll give you that. Ladies and gentlemen, The Special One
I know some of you have disagreed with me on this, but I really don't think Levy will sack him anytime soon. Firstly, he seems to weirdly be in awe of Mourinho. I'm not saying Mourinho has a carte blanche to do whatever he pleases, as he'll be judged on his results like any other manager. But he seems to have earned a lot of goodwill from Levy based on his (occasional) charisma and his trophy-laden past. If they have a built up a good rapport, I don't think Levy will be as inclined to sack him instantaneously. Secondly, sacking him would cost an enormous amount. Mourinho earns £15m a year and there's 2.5 years left on his deal. Lord knows if there's any stipulation/clause that he gets a hefty fee on top of that should he get sacked early. Levy would want to give him the benefit of the doubt. Thirdly, irrespective of what the fans think of him (and I do see a massive shift in people wanting him gone), Levy will assess things from a results perspective. Despite your awful form, you are 7 points off the top-4 with a game in hand, in a cup final, into the 5th round of the FA Cup and still in the Europa League knockout stages. He's not going to be reactive. He'll wait to see how far you progress in the league and how you do in the cup competitions before he makes any decision. For what it's worth Brian, I completely agree that Levy made a huge mistake in appointing Mourinho as manager to begin with - but he's invested a lot of resources into him and I can't envisage him getting sacked any time in the near future.
That's not a role difference, is it? Vinicius was never in a position to receive the ball because we never had the bloody thing. They utterly dominated possession for most of the game and by the time we had any we'd lost Ndombele. There was no service for any of our attacking options. Is Son **** too now or could it be a tactical issue?
I know. We've had a really bad run and the players look scared. Mourinho needs to sort it out or go. I thought he'd got us going in the 20 matches before that.
No ... no... NO YOU DON'T MOFO... He's your special one...you defend him ... don't come park your ass on our bandwagon
I've heard that he had 3 PL games to get performances out of the team. One played and we were ****ing shocking and completely clueless. I reckon that we'll lose badly to City and he'll be gone. You heard it here first.
Son had the ball lots of times because he gets into positions where he can be passed to. He couldn't do much with it though. I agree it is a tactical issue but we can't have passengers whatever the tactics. We've signed nine players since Mourinho started and none of them seem better than what we had.
We were top of the table for 26 hours after our fourth game in the 1999-2000 season https://www.worldfootball.net/schedule/eng-premier-league-1999-2000-spieltag/4/
Agreed. Unless we drop towards the relegation zone we're stuck with him until the end of the season. Lack of fans booing and holding up banners is the main reason behind this. Even though match-day revenue is marginal compared to corporate and commercial, booing fans and rude banners on live TV is a terrible image and makes board executives crap themselves.
By the way I think you will find we had the ball exactly the same number of times as Chelsea. They kept it three times as long because they had players who moved into space. Vinicius was only in space twice and he gave it away on one of those.
If that's true, I'll give you your kudos! My view is even if you lose badly to City, though I think he'll be massively under pressure, he'll still be in a job.
