16 minutes ago, abister1 said:

Zeta I'm loving the objectivity (to borrow a phrase from Mou himself) of your post. 

Which is all TB needs to be. Look at things objectively and GP us nowhere near this team. 

I don't know if Mou will win anything if he comes back here honestly but what I'm sure is he will get every one sitting up and paying attention. 

A club he loves and a man that loves to prove a point in this land.....dangerous combo 

He'll do that, our rivals will be pissing themselves, if they're not too busy signing our young talent off us that is.

7 minutes ago, Argo said:

He'll do that, our rivals will be pissing themselves, if they're not too busy signing our young talent off us that is.

Our rivals were laughing the day we appointed Potter.

Dirty spurs supporting mate text left me a lovely voice note laughing when we appointed him after I'd gave him stick saying they were going to end up with Potter before they got Conte.

I'm not an advocate of Mou coming back but he'll certainly cause our rivals more concern than Potter ever will unless we consider our new rivals Luton and QPR.

At least he understands the club and what Chelsea should be which is something the ownership, manager and seemingly some of our so called supporters have forgotten lately.

Edited February 26, 20233 yr by TimesUpPotter

10 minutes ago, TimesUpPotter said:

While you did say it may rile people.

Saying Mourinho has never been a great football coach might be the single worst football opinion of all time.

You’ve slightly misinterpreted this. Of course he’s a very very good football coach. He’s extremely knowledgeable about football.  But that wasn’t his edge or X factor. He wouldn’t have made it to the top purely on that. It was the other stuff. The football, the tactics etc were pretty basic. This is a defensible viewpoint. No need to be rude.

21 minutes ago, Drogba1 said:

He was definitely a great coach in the 2000's, what he did with Porto and Inter was incredible, better than anything Guardiola has ever achieved

I agree and am not diminishing his achievements. But the secret sauce wasn’t in my view the football itself. As in, that wasn’t what set him apart from other managers.  It’s more the other stuff I mentioned plus (particularly at inter) the siege mentality he created. Going down to 10 men and winning the CL (correct me if I have facts wrong) with inter was an incredible achievement. 

5 minutes ago, TimesUpPotter said:

I'm not an advocate of Mou coming back but he'll certainly cause our rivals more concern than Potter ever will unless we consider our new rivals Luton and QPR.

That would only be a relevant point if Potter and Mourinho were the only two managers on the planet.

As sh*t as he's been Potter gets sacked tomorow and he leaves the new manager a squad with a core James, Fofana, Chilwell, Enzo, Felix to build around with Nkunku and Colwill still to come. I am 10000% sure that's more healthy than the rooster Mou would leave us with if he comes back.

9 minutes ago, Dean said:

You’ve slightly misinterpreted this. Of course he’s a very very good football coach. He’s extremely knowledgeable about football.  But that wasn’t his edge or X factor. He wouldn’t have made it to the top purely on that. It was the other stuff. The football, the tactics etc were pretty basic. This is a defensible viewpoint. No need to be rude.

Your point hasn't been misinterpreted at all it's simply laughable.

It only makes a shred of sense if your measure of a managers ability to coach football teams is solely based on passing triangles or midfield patterns but the game consists of both attack and defence and management hinges on the balance between them.

Mourinho is or at least was one of the best defensive coaches in the history of the game, you don't win champions leagues with teams like Inter and Porto or set records for clean sheets, not conceding goals and undefeated runs just because you have a winning mentality.

Maybe the game has moved on now but the idea that Mourinho wasn't an elite tactician is completely indefensible to the point I genuinely can't believe someone would debate it.

Edited February 26, 20233 yr by TimesUpPotter

3 minutes ago, Dean said:

I agree and am not diminishing his achievements. But the secret sauce wasn’t in my view the football itself. As in, that wasn’t what set him apart from other managers.  It’s more the other stuff I mentioned plus (particularly at inter) the siege mentality he created. Going down to 10 men and winning the CL (correct me if I have facts wrong) with inter was an incredible achievement. 

This is a great vid on Mourinho's time at Porto, which somewhat goes under the radar these days. I don't think there's been a bigger underdog CL win since then.

I agree it was a mix of his man management and training methods along with his tactics, but he truly was a revolutionary manager at the time.

Edited February 26, 20233 yr by Drogba1

4 minutes ago, Argo said:

That would only be a relevant point if Potter and Mourinho were the only two managers on the planet.

As sh*t as he's been Potter gets sacked tomorow and he leaves the new manager a squad with a core James, Fofana, Chilwell, Enzo, Felix to build around with Nkunku and Colwill still to come. I am 10000% sure that's more healthy than the rooster Mou would leave us with if he comes back.

In fairness to him, he has apparently integrated a lot of academy players at Roma. Still think there's much better options out there though, especially if we hire a caretaker and look in the summer.

Edited February 26, 20233 yr by Drogba1

18 minutes ago, Argo said:

He'll do that, our rivals will be pissing themselves, if they're not too busy signing our young talent off us that is.

I'm already seeing it now, he'll spunk 200 million on Rice then kick out Enzo because he doesn't run about enough. 

Emma Hayes? Why not..

1 minute ago, Drogba1 said:

This is a great vid on Mourinho's time at Porto, which somewhat goes under the radar these days. I don't think there's been a bigger underdog CL win since then.

I agree it was a mix of his man management and training methods along with his tactics, but he truly was a revolutionary manager at the time.

Us in 2012.

Although it should never have got to that point given our resources we had no right to win even a "normal" UCL let alone one with that Barca and facing an away final.

The old guard were past their past and the closest we had to world class players was an erratic Luiz, technically flawed Ramires and technically excellent but physically weak Mata.

Just now, JM7 said:

Emma Hayes? Why not..

With all respect to what she's doing, the jump from women's league is bigger than non league to PL.

And if it wasn't, the women's team are dominating so I'd rather leave them be.

4 minutes ago, Victor90 said:

I'm already seeing it now, he'll spunk 200 million on Rice then kick out Enzo because he doesn't run about enough. 

I think Enzo would still play but I can already picture him picking fight after fight with him. 

1 minute ago, Argo said:

I think Enzo would still play but I can already picture him picking fight after fight with him. 

Obviously I'm having a laugh, he did play with Fabregas after all. 

I just couldn't stand some of his decisions during his 2nd stint here. I know hindsight is 20/20 and all that but he really did make some catastrophic decisions here when we had a boat full of young fresh talent. I wouldn't let him anywhere near this one after last time. 

3 minutes ago, Victor90 said:

Obviously I'm having a laugh, he did play with Fabregas after all. 

I just couldn't stand some of his decisions during his 2nd stint here. I know hindsight is 20/20 and all that but he really did make some catastrophic decisions here when we had a boat full of young fresh talent. I wouldn't let him anywhere near this one after last time. 

Indeed. Last time can be sort of countered with the title, a title that won't come this time round.

Many asking for an interim appointment.

If we do decide to do down that road, and given both the ownerships love of the Red Bull model and Vivell working within that organization, I would honestly expect 2 names at the top of an interm list to be former RB Leipzig managers Ralph Hasselhuttl and Jessie Marsch.

We can't go back to Mourinho now. We are desperate and it's clouding our judgement a bit. When you really think about, Mourinho is not the one to get us out of this mess. 

Mourinho isn't a miracle worker anymore, things become toxic very quickly and there is no chance he could work with these owners. They would get sick of him and he would get sick of them and it would hurt us on the pitch. Mourinho would come in and likely demand some of these new players sold, players that he feels wouldn't gel with what he believes makes a team successful. Unlike with De Bruyne and Salah, I don't think the new owners would even entertain the idea of selling them, and that would immediately upset Mourinho. His ego will not settle for anything but having things his way.

We also need to remember that when Mourinho was sacked, things were pretty much as bad as things are under Potter. That Mourinho that left Chelsea is very similar to the Mourinho of today. His managerial style has not evolved much at all and I think as desperate as we are, we cannot go back to Mourinho.

Another name I see mentioned a lot is Pochettino. This is a resounding NO. First off, I don't think he is all that and secondly, it would be Benitez all over again. Too much history, too much bad blood. I don't want him anywhere near our club.

Go all out for Flick.

I know he's a lunatic who makes Conte look humble but f**k it at this point, it would be a lot of fun for a year and his football is sustainable for the next guy to pick up the baton when that moment comes.

45 minutes ago, TimesUpPotter said:

Your point hasn't been misinterpreted at all it's simply laughable.

It only makes a shred of sense if your measure of a managers ability to coach football teams is solely based on passing triangles or midfield patterns but the game consists of both attack and defence and management hinges on the balance between them.

Mourinho is or at least was one of the best defensive coaches in the history of the game, you don't win champions leagues with teams like Inter and Porto or set records for clean sheets, not conceding goals and undefeated runs just because you have a winning mentality.

Maybe the game has moved on now but the idea that Mourinho wasn't an elite tactician is completely indefensible to the point I genuinely can't believe someone would debate it.

being an elite football manger is a multifaceted role - a perhaps underappreciated fact. Football knowledge/tactics is obviously a huge component but there are many others. If you had an elite football manager top trumps, it wouldn’t be his strongest suit. He would still rank highly sure. That and his being a great defensive coach aren’t mutually exclusive. He got the better of equally good or better tacticians because of other stuff - like instilling that work ethic/desire in players to play for him - Ivanovic playing with his foot bleeding like crazy and other examples. Anyway, it’s the last I’ll say on it, and I wish you a pleasant rest of the evening. 

An Interim wouldn't be a bad idea, do you want sign another manager ( very few high quality options available) on a 5 years deal right now? We need someone to come in to remind the players the standard and expectations, train hard, put a shift in or get out of the club. We don't even need a tactical genius right now, we just want win a few games to stay off the relegation, and brings back a bit of normal service back. No more of this let's take a couple of days off after a lose, there should be consequences for poor performances, not chilling at home.

He's still here then...?

New from Romano is that Potter is still being backed fully but things can change.

Erik ten Hag has the feel of a transformative manager, with his air of authority and tactical acumen, and now has a trophy to prove it. It is a success Manchester United have been craving for almost six years.

Six years... let's hope it doesn't take us that long to get back on track.

1 hour ago, Argo said:

Go all out for Flick.

I know he's a lunatic who makes Conte look humble but f**k it at this point, it would be a lot of fun for a year and his football is sustainable for the next guy to pick up the baton when that moment comes.

I'm honestly over the one-and-done seasons at the club. Even though Potter isn't working I would hope the same approach is applied to the next manager, that is, someone who is here for the long haul.

Just now, Frankie8Lampard said:

I'm honestly over the one-and-done seasons at the club. Even though Potter isn't working I would hope the same approach is applied to the next manager, that is, someone who is here for the long haul.

Ofcourse that's the ideal but it's not always possible. We don't need to hold onto managers for the sake of stability, players like James and Enzo/Anthony Barry/the recruitment team will have us more than covered in that regard.

If we go to pluck random example Potter/Flick/Pioli/Enrique over the next 5-6 years I think we can ride out manager changes pretty comfortably. It only becomes a problem if we go for different styles constantly like say Jose next, then go back to Sarri, then Zidane, then Flick, then Simeone.