I put sack now as my response. But I was waiting to post until after the Stoke game. Reasons he should go. We're a third into the season. How much longer can we give? Do we give him another third? We keep saying it will get better but it isn't. We can't wait forever, we'll go down! System, formation, tactics, whatever group of words you want to use, it's always the same. You'd think a team who had lost 7 of their first 13 games would try something differently to get a win? Nope, never. Lack of chances for perfectly capable players. Okay, so Rahman hasn't worked out, he's dreadful. Just think, we could've had Bertrand playing today, or even Filipe....RLC has barely been given an opportunity. There isn't even anybody playing well to keep him out of the team?! Traore hasn't been given a chance at all despite scoring almost 1 in 2 in the Dutch league last year and why on earth Costa is still getting picked over aren't ill never know. His excuses, it's never that we played poorly. Always some excuse, usually the referee. Sometimes it's better just to admit that we weren't good enough. This links to his behavior in the media. He's been a ****er this season, needs to look at himself and stop blaming others. We need somebody to come in andsalvage our season (although that might not be possibly by now) and then next summer we will need a lot of rebuilding.
I look at this Chelsea side, and I see fear every time it takes to the field. The belief has gone. Who, out there, is going to come in and get you believing again?
If you go on the assumption that CL is now out of reach (it isn't, quite) and that you won't go down, you might as well stick with him for the season. What great manager is there currently available? There'll probably be better options in May, perhaps including Guardiola.
My thoughts exactly. The fact we've become so bad so quick ironically could give Jose more time. If someone could come in and challenge for the title they may think about a change. Right now though the season looks a right off so what's the best a change will bring? Europa? Guardiola and Simeone could be available come the summer. If the board are thinking about a change, may as well see what we can do this season and then look in the summer if need be. I think the results are worse than the performances as well. We're not getting the rub at the moment, that's for sure.
Do you think you will finish in the top 4? If you don't do you think any of those threads about United fans having midweek evenings off will resurface?
No I don't think we will finish top 4. Though outside City and maybe Arsenal, the other teams aren't great or consistent so anything can happen.
You could still get top 4 if a change was made now, I do genuinely believe that. If you re hired someone like Ancelotti id really fancy you to go on a charge up the table. Realistically the top 3 is sewn up with ourselves, City and Arsenal but that 4th spot is still wide open. Leicester won't last so I'm quite happy to rule them out, and your only 10 points behind Spurs who I see as favourites for that 4th position, and your only 6 behind Liverpool who I'd say are 2nd favourites. 10 points is a lot but it isn't impossible, I seem to recall Arsenal making up 10 points on Spurs 1 year for 4th, and that was a lot later in the season, so it can be done. Its up to the board though if they want to make a change, as as things stand you will have no chance of getting 4th if that clown stays in charge for much longer
We're in much better shape with our current squad and manager, than we were when we foolishly conceded all that ground to Arsenal. For Chelsea to overtake us would take a drastic implosion by Poch and the boys, and I cannot see that happening.
No really. We still play you twice. Take 6 points and the gap is down to only a few points with over half the season left. Not saying it will happen at all but the gap is not the problem, its our form.
I also think we'd be better off with a new manager but only in the short term. A similar situation would arise in a few seasons time and we'll end up sacking whoever is in charge again. We need longevity and Mourinho has earned himself a chance to salvage this, he just needs to drastically change both the teams he is putting out and the way we are playing. The likes of Loftus Cheek, Kenedy and Traore need to be given a fair go at proving themselves in the league and also Costa needs to be benched ASAP. I would much rather see Falcao or Remy.
Saying that, I do still love Ancelotti and the rumours of him and Makalele taking charge are appealing.
I have to say I'm not that sold on Ancelotti returning but can't figure out why! He did very well in his 2 years with us and we scored for fun in that first season. Very likeable guy and did his reputation no harm at Madrid with that 10th C.L. But for some reasons I'm just not convinced. I think it's party because he has become a bit of a journeyman now (albeit a very good one) and I think I'm more looking for Jose mark 2 next. Someone with fresh ideas and hungry to prove himself as opposed to some 'name' just coming for a pay day who will want a war chest. LVG if you like. Klopp's not going to happen now, but that's the sort of guy. Bilic and Koeman are doing the kid of job at their respective clubs that we probably need at ours (albeit scaled up of course to match our stature, money etc). It also doesn't look great to take back another manager we've already sacked!
Well you had a pretty good side back then too, with the likes of Bale and Modric in the side, and at one point you where even considered title contenders, so I'm not buying that your a lot better now. You have a good side now, and you had a good side then. This is not me having a go at your team, as I rate your side now highly aswell, the way you outplayed Arsenal for most of the game at the Emirates was an eye opener to how good you are playing. And that's exactly why I see you as favourites for 4th. But things can change in football quickly, 10 points really isn't all that much with 2/3 of the season to go, so whilst I agree your favourites, I wouldn't rule out Chelsea catching you if they make a change and the new manager can get the players back on side. This is Chelsea after all the team who won the league last year, they are a side who have the quality to go on a charge
Doesn't it alarm you at how badly you actually are under Mourinho now though? A bad season for a club like Chelsea is 4th place, not languishing down by the relegation zone, not even averaging a point a game. We know Fergie had his troubles early on establishing United as trophy winners, but once he got there he never had slumps anywhere near as bad as your current slump, the worst he finished was 3rd and that was seen as a transitional season. The same with Wenger another long term manager when Arsenal where on a slump they'd always still manage to get atleast 4th, and they've never been in the situation you guys are currently. Your slump now is almost an unthinkable position for a side like yours, and other long term managers of top sides have never performed this badly, so it begs the question is Mourinho just not cut out to managing a team long term? Is he a short term impact manger who's methods become stale with players after a while? That's what I think anyways, that's why I think a change is inevitable and the longer they leave it the harder it's going to be for the new man to salvage something from this season. I agree with giving the young players a chance, as atleast he'll have a group of players that will be eager to impress and try to win games for him. I'm not sure you could say the same about some of the current first team players
Throwing perhaps a random one out there for the sake of debate....what about Mark Hughes? A lot of interesting points. I would say that Fergie by and large didn't manage in a P.L as competitive as this one though. United were never going to realistically finish outside the top 4 because there just wasn't the competition. Most years United won the league (and certainly before our money came in), it was United and 1 other going for the league. Nowadays even the smaller clubs can spend a lot of money and attract very good players (Shaqiri at Stoke for example). Fergie evidently was a one off though and no one will last that long at a P.L club again. Wenger is probably more comparable and I agree he has done very well to maintain top 4 year on year. But I'd rather a good year winning the league and a bad year the next season then just making top 4 each year and standing still for effectively 10 years. Our position in the league is alarming but the performances by and large aren't massively dissimilar to our last few months of last season. Now rather than edging wins, we are edging losses though. Hard to pin point exactly what the difference is but just blaming Jose seems lazy. These are world class players and you can't blame Jose for Hazard being so poor this season IMO. I've seen some signs of improvement and if we can keep 11 players on the pitch and if a few key decisions start going our way then the wins will come. The next 4-5 games are of course crucial.
It's very alarming, which is why I definitely wouldn't blame the board if he were to be sacked - like I've said previously, it's not just the results but his awful behavior of late too. However, I also said that he has earned the right to salvage this as he is Chelsea's greatest ever manager and let's be honest, whoever is brought in will probably be gone again in another 2/3 seasons tops. I'd rather give him to the end of the season at least and even a summer of signing who he wants to sign. The players are a massive part of the problem too. If you compare this squad to the last one Jose had it looks pathetic in terms of leaders/characters. The likes of Cech, Terry, Carvalho, Cole, Essien, Ballack, Lampard, Drogba, J Cole would have all been looked up to in the dressing room. I can't think of any, Terry aside (who is in massive decline) who are anywhere near the names I mentioned in that respect and when Terry goes I struggle to see who is worthy of taking the armband right now.
The bold is the critical point. Diego costa, fabregas and oscar have been poor for maybe 10 months worth of footy. You can blame jose for trusting those word class players to come good but i wont. Their performance levels alongside ivanovic, matic et al. Have been unacceptable. All of those have been benched/subbed/injured and even tbeir replacements have largley been crap. As weve seen recently joses been tinkering with tactics: oscars played deep in a 3, weve gone ultra defensive, we've gone at stoke, we've had hazard through the middle. Nothing doing. So what would the next guy do thats better? What is jose actually doing wrong? Is a 6 month lift more appealing than the execution of a 6 year plan? Jose and the board are complicit, but the responsibility largley resta with the players
Assuming you need roughly 70-71 points to achieve top 4, your average points score from now on needs to be 2.37 points per game. That's title winning form for the rest of the season. Nigh on impossible given the way you're playing. Stick with him. Football is all about the highs and lows. Sometimes the journey's far more eventful than the destination. Modern football is far too much about the here and now. I actually think this is a good grounding for CFC following the last decade
