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And you compare this to Rafa Benitez. I get bored listening to him. He doesn't explain his stupid subsitutions (You need a win, so obviously the way to do this is to bring off Baros for Nunez) and you hear nothing about the players bond with him. Jamie Carragher chats about playing for Liverpool, not Benitez. That's the difference. I just wish we had someone like Mourinho.
Who cares if he makes a comment about Frisk? It was an unbelievable sending off. Not his fault the majority of Chelsea fans are stupid Londoners.
Sometimes I dream he hadn't turned down Liverpool. I wonder if we would've kept Stevie then, instead of being resigned to him going to Chelsea/Real in the summer and being lumbered with players like Josemi and Nunez.
EDIT: Granted, Robben is genius :)
Robben
Chelsea have dropped 9 points this season without Robben, and only 4 with him in the team. If Chelsea were robbenless this season, and you assume that this dropping points ratio remained the same then Chelsea would only be 6 points ahead of man utd which is not much at all considering they have to play utd and arsenal still.
Mourinho as best manager in the world
No denying he isnt a great manager, but he just isnt in the same league yet as people like Capello who won serie A 3 seasons in a row + beat Cruyff's Barcelona 4-0 in the champs league final.
Plus i dont think Porto are that smaller a club. They had won the Europeon cup more times than Arsenal before mourinho came along and
> > Nice tactics Stryke...I think it might work but Gerrard on the right?
> I don't really see him being comfortable there...he'd probably leave
> if he was forced to play on the right. It would probably work better
> with Luis Garcia on the right.
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Garcia could only play as a wing-forward in that formation. Use him if Cisse or Baros gets injured (probable). It wouldn't be Stevie on the right, as such. Think about how Chelsea play it. It'd be Stevie in the Lamps role.
> You have to take Robben and Cech into account as Ranieri didnt have
> them at his disposal. The robben influence has been huge. Chelsea
> only went top of the league after he came back from his injury.
Yeah but before that Mourinho played a much more defensive game as he knew Chelsea's attack lacked a lot. All of those 1-0 wins contributed to the massive gap they have right now in the premiership and without them I doubt they'd be that far ahead...all Chelsea did was score and close the defence and no one could get through. Now that Robben is back they open up a bit more even if they are in the lead.
> Wernt Arsenal favourites at the start of the season?
Yes but there was also a lot of pressure on Chelsea to challenge them.
> Still think Mourinho has a while to go before he can be classed the
> best manager in the world. He's up there no doubt, but is still
> behind the likes of Capello in my mind and will always be until he
> wins consecutive titles in one of the top leagues (not saying he
> wont)
Mourinho won the champions league with a fairly unknown team in Europe...he dominated football with a fairly unknown team...you don't see many managers doing that do you?
Nice tactics Stryke...I think it might work but Gerrard on the right? I don't really see him being comfortable there...he'd probably leave if he was forced to play on the right. It would probably work better with Luis Garcia on the right.
Finnan - Carragher - Hyypia - Warnock
Gerrard - Alonso- Riise
Cisse - Morientes - Baros
I know it didn't work when Sven played it, but he used Andy Johnson, OK? Cisse and Baros both have pace to burn and like dragging players out wide with their runs. Baros, although not naturally left-footed, would have Riise to back him up. I reckon playing like this would force defenders to move out of their positions to pick up Cisse and Baros, giving just that little bit more space for Morientes to head the ball. And the lad likes to do that. With Alonso spraying out the passes, it'd be great.
But in the World of Rafa 4-4-2 is the way forward. He even has a tough time with 4-4-1-1.
A few key injuries for Liverpool and they would struggle.
> I see what you're saying Stryke, but I think you're being a little
> harsh. Benitez HAS been terribly unlucky with injuries, and the squad
> was very disjointed at the beginning of the season.
It's true, but in fairness, Jose has been very unlucky with injuries as well.... Robben has broken his foot twice this season, Bridge (our only left back) out for the season, Huth was out for 3 months or so, Duff missed the first couple of months, Drogba's been out for about 3 months in total....
>
>
> And he went to the bar with Liverpool fans in Germany. :P
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Yeah, liverpoolfc.tv loved that, didn't they?
Look what he's done with players like Traore and Biscan - he's brought out the best in them. He's also introduced the youngsters, Stephen Warnock being the best example, and he's also helped Carragher to become one of, if not the best centre halfs in the Premiership this season.
We certainly haven't been consistent enough, but that should come with a little more time...fourth place is achievable, and hey, we're in the quarter finals of the Champions League!
And he went to the bar with Liverpool fans in Germany. :P
And as for Benitez having a hard job? All we want is a 4th place finish. For all the criticism of Houllier, he managed it. And, I might add, with a far poorer squad than Benitez. This is a squad in which Diouf and Heskey played the worst football of their careers. A squad in which, for the last year, Mikey looked increasingly distracted. A squad which Stevie was forced to carry by himself.
This season, he had Xabi Alonso, one of the best midfield players in the world, for half the season. He has Fernando Morientes, one of the best strikers in the world. We have Luis Garcia, who I think is brilliant. Milan Baros was one of the best strikers in the Premiership for the first half of the season.
Last season, Houllier had to fend off Newcastle, who had Given, Shearer and the like. This season, we're behind Everton.
Big difference.