As a pretty tough critic of Jose, I was very pleased to see him make the statements he did yesterday. He said he wants to stay as long as the Club wants him. He is not "desperate" to win this year, but will try anyway. He is trying to make the transition from the last decade to the next. He is no longer interested in more money, he has enough. This is precisely what I was hoping was in his mind, and my criticism was that he has been trying to win every game at the expense of change. That he wasn't giving players enough game time because in doing so, he might weaken the team temporarily and lose some matches.That he has not been adaptable enough in his tactics and thinking to use the available talent properly. Well, in light of his statements I'm going to give him some slack. What he has said is exactly what I hoped he was going to do, and exactly what I think he needs to do. The only thing he didn't say, which I firmly believe, is that the rebuilding should include some of our fabulous young players, already primed for the big step up. So I will definitely not make any more unnecessary criticisms, get behind Jose, and watch with interest as the new team evolves.
CP--As we all know ,what Jose says and what he thinks are two completely different things! What I've come to believe is that he is eyeballs out for every trophy possible and thinks he can achieve it, but wisely, covers his posterior should things not go as planned! It may not have been pretty stuff so far this year but I'm not complaining about our results!
Right on, results are something he gets one way or another. But he's suggesting that winning Premier League, at least this season, is less important than working out his best players, trying a few new things and strengthening the obvious striker, midfield, CD problems we have. I hope he's serious, because he is here for the long term, and better to get the foundations in straight and strong before building on them. Time will tell of course, but he looked and sounded deadly serious. Then again ..........
Whatever he says, the pressure is on him to win. He and his predecessors have spent massively and the aim was/is to win the prem. if he doesn't it will be seen as failure. No one is fooled.
But so have city, spurs and even arsenal on ozil. We can't all win it. Moyes definitely under greater pressure.
He has been spinning this line all season (not that anyone buys what he says, he's not sacrificing results for stability or planing, he will try to do both simultaneously) Why are you siding with him all do a sudden? You've been saying all season it's wrong on the field and that's an indication of it being wrong off the field. Why the sudden volte face?
You have answered your own question, almost, except you got the quote slightly wrong. I said ( and it's not an original line of mine )" WHEN it's wrong on the field ........ ." Well it's no longer so wrong ON the field, in fact it's starting to look much better ON the field. Oscar is developing very well, Willian, apart from his habit of giving the ball away, is looking much better, the C defence is at least playing better, but still short of real pace, the midfield has been strengthened, whether by the type of player we desperately need is still debatable, but a great buy anyway, and God forbid, a striker has scored a hat trick. Luiz is being given a run in midfield in a big game, and Hazard is back to his best. All of the above suggest 2 things. 1. Jose is getting the shape and pattern he wants, starting to plug the gaps, and the players are finally adapting and beginning to play well again in a slightly different way. 2. Jose is adapting his own usually rigid thoughts and at least trying things out i.e. Luiz. So virtually all of my criticisms are well on the way to being answered, the rebuilding IS happening, the Team which went backwards for a time, is now on the up, and both Manager and players look to be more comfortable with each other. So now it's better on the field, maybe it's better off as well??
Pleased you are more positive now CP. We all said give Jose time instead of hitting the panic button in autumn with all this "it's wrong off the field" business. The team "went backwards" for three months but still was in the top 3. The team has gone back to being more "rigid" and Jose-like since the Sunderland and Stoke games... hence we are conceding less. Since the Arsenal game we have not pressed as high (apart from Liverpool first half maybe) and played classic Jose counterattack transitional football. Injuries forced Jose's hand with Luiz, and Jose spent the first 15 mins against United screaming at him about being out of position. Jose is not perfect and will probably bugger off after two or three years so let's just enjoy him when he is here
I hope he doesn't bugger off in a few years, it would be stretching things to look past 5, but just maybe the new financial restrictions might reduce options for all players and managers moving around at the drop of a hat. If he gets the Team to the point it only needs tweaking every year, and keeps near the top of the tree, he will have done a mighty job.
