Only if he played no part in the failure to bring anyone in...... Suggestions that there was in fact money to spend would reflect otherwise.
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Only if he played no part in the failure to bring anyone in...... Suggestions that there was in fact money to spend would reflect otherwise.
As a side note, did any hear Redknapp on transfer deadline day re- Hazard ?
Basically he was saying that a deal was done for him, but Hazard was waiting as he wanted CL football.
We finished 4th, but Chelski won the CL, so he joined them instead.
Eden Hazard would've joined Tottenham had Chelsea not won the UCL: Harry Redknapp
Harry Redknapp explained how Chelsea's UCL triumph and qualification led to Hazard preferring a move to Stamford Bridge over Tottenham in 2012.
www.republicworld.com
Earlier this week, Harry Redknapp spoke to Sky Sports about Tottenham's chances of winning the league under Jose Mourinho. He said: "You need a bunch of great forward players to win the league and Spurs have Bale, Kane and Son, so I definitely think they can do it this year." The 73-year-old added that he had Bale in his Tottenham squad in 2012 and wanted Eden Hazard to link up with the Welshman to give a Spurs a chance at ending their drought for a league title.
Redknapp continued: "We had seen him (Eden Hazard) at Lille and he was our top target in the summer. He wanted to play Champions League football and we had finished fourth, while Chelsea finished in sixth. But then, Chelsea won the Champions League and took our spot in the competition next season." Redknapp concluded by stating that if Chelsea hadn't won the Champions League that year, he would have signed Eden Hazard at Spurs.
As a side note, did any hear Redknapp on transfer deadline day re- Hazard ?
Basically he was saying that a deal was done for him, but Hazard was waiting as he wanted CL football.
We finished 4th, but Chelski won the CL, so he joined them instead.
Eden Hazard would've joined Tottenham had Chelsea not won the UCL: Harry Redknapp
Harry Redknapp explained how Chelsea's UCL triumph and qualification led to Hazard preferring a move to Stamford Bridge over Tottenham in 2012.
Earlier this week, Harry Redknapp spoke to Sky Sports about Tottenham's chances of winning the league under Jose Mourinho. He said: "You need a bunch of great forward players to win the league and Spurs have Bale, Kane and Son, so I definitely think they can do it this year." The 73-year-old added that he had Bale in his Tottenham squad in 2012 and wanted Eden Hazard to link up with the Welshman to give a Spurs a chance at ending their drought for a league title.
Redknapp continued: "We had seen him (Eden Hazard) at Lille and he was our top target in the summer. He wanted to play Champions League football and we had finished fourth, while Chelsea finished in sixth. But then, Chelsea won the Champions League and took our spot in the competition next season." Redknapp concluded by stating that if Chelsea hadn't won the Champions League that year, he would have signed Eden Hazard at Spurs.
Yep. As I said in my rating - Rodon in pushes it to a 9 to a 9.5/10. Skriniar would have made it a 10/10 IMO.
bus-conductor
Thanks. As usual, I believe you make some good points and some points with which I disagree. You encouraged me to join TFC after you were booted out of SC by the control freak maniac A&C. After some initial "Whoah this is a crazed war zone" impressions, I now much prefer the anarchy of TFC and the Fight Club rules. So here's a response to your arguments.On the criteria you have used to judge the players and the window, I think Regui is better than your judgement - at least an 8 for quality and 9 for potential - and Hojbjerg showed me things against manure that I didn't think he could do. I also think the deal for Bale was a calculated gamble with little risk given it's a one-year loan for less than half his salary with an option to extend by a year if it proves successful. Otherwise we walk away. Just like Carlos Vinicius, this is not a Soldado situation where we're stuck with a declining asset. If either Bale or CV flops, we can get out after a season with zero additional financial commitment. If they succeed, we have the option to extend their stay at the club.
The only signing who has little sell-on value is Doherty. But his presence has already led Serge to up his game.
But I want to go outside your terms of assessment to make some broader points.
Crucially, we hired Jose Mourinho and history shows if you're going to back him, you need to do it early doors. Levy, with some major help from Mendes (Ruben Dias cost Shitty £51 million up front +£10m to bail out Benfica, once that was done we signed Vinicius for a £3m loan), has delivered players Mourinho was happy to accept to "complete his squad puzzle".
I've been looking in some detail at Mourinho's teams - chavski 1 & 2, Inter, Real, manure - specifically the players he inherited and the players he added. I've also been reading often surprising quotes from former players. Perhaps the most insightful comments were from Claude Makelele.
Context is important. Makelele went from Celta Vigo to Real Madrid, where he was the straight man in a team of Galacticos. Real President Perez then famously dissed Makelele as a short passing easily replaceable water carrier as he sold him to chavski in 2003. His new manager was Claudio Ranieri, who was sacked after Makelele's first season in London. Enter Mourinho in 2004.
----------------------------------------------------------
Claude Makelele says Jose Mourinho turned ‘insecure’ Blues into winners
CLAUDE MAKELELE vividly remembers Chelsea before the Jose Mourinho era.
He walked into the dressing room at Stamford Bridge in 2003 and was shocked.
Makelele: “When I first arrived at Chelsea, I saw something that shocked me. There were big teams, Manchester United and Woolwich, and all the time we would play them and I’d hear, ‘F***ing hell, it’s going to be difficult’.
“What? We can’t beat Woolwich? My team-mates were insecure and that shocked me, I had come from Real Madrid where I won everything. I understood my team-mates — Woolwich won with Thierry Henry scoring and with Patrick Vieira. But they were my friends and I played with them for the national team and I wouldn’t be afraid.
“When I saw this, I wanted to change it with my team-mates and say ‘No, this is possible’. We did change the mentality and, after, we beat them all the time and were fighting for the Premier League.
“I learnt a lot with Mourinho about being a competitor, about being focused on details and the consequences of your management.
---------------------------------------------------------------------
So did chavski have small time players at the time? Well, in that first 2004-5 season, Mourinho inherited Makelele, Terry, Lampard, Gudjohnsen and Gallas - hardly shrinking violets. But he also bought Cech, Drogba, Carvalho & Robben - all very strong characters. Clearly from Makelele's comments, Mourinho's priority was to change the mindset of chavski's dressing room.
black echo posted a revealing interview with Mourinho where he clashes with Abramovich, who is desperate to buy very expensive established CFs for his new coach. Mourinho turns down the big name strikers and insists on the less famous Didier Drogba from Marseille. Mourinho tells the oligarch he only wants Drogba: "Mr Abramovich, don't speak. Pay!" (See link at bottom.) And it's in large part because of Drogba's hunger and mentality.
bus-conductor
So, I think the most important factor that is missing from the criteria you use to assess our window is mentality. Mourinho has targeted players he thinks can help him change our mindset into a winning one.As with chavski in 2004-5, Mourinho has inherited some players of high quality - eg Kane, Sonny, World Cup winner Lloris - but he has also added players with strong mentalities.
He's also lucked out with GLC being a better player & stronger character than he initially thought, and has challenged Ndombele & Dele to up their fitness & competitiveness - with admittedly mixed results. But GLC & Tanguy can provide the midfield creativity that his best teams have had - Sneijder, Ozil, Modric. Hell, he even bought Pogba for manure, before getting frustrated by his attitude & inconsistency.
Carlos Vinicius spoke in his Spurs Official interview of how he nearly quit football a couple of seasons ago. As well as physically being a Drogba type, I suspect Mourinho has also seen that hunger and competitiveness to prove himself at the highest level. And this is why CV was allegedly Mourinho's first choice, when we clearly could have bought a Callum Wilson or an Ollie Watkins. And if CV fails, it's a £3 million pound failure.
Now, before you think this is an Ode to Jose, it's not. Those Makelele quotes are from a 2018 piece in the Super Soaraway (linked below). I've also found Makelele quotes from 2011 (also linked).
--------------------------------------------------
Claude Makelele Accuses Jose Mourinho of Hypocrisy and Drunken Behavior
Claude Makelele has decided to remember the time he played for Chelsea FC under the reign of Jose Mourinho. The revelations were harsh in tone with regards to Mourinho who is currently coaching Real Madrid.
Makelele accused Mourinho of being hypocritical and being drunk with the players. He declared: "We would gather together to crack jokes and get drunk".
Makelele said: "After the party, he (Mourinho) would distance himself from us and then reclaim all of the glory for himself. For him, the new stars were worth more than the old ones."
After further questioning, Makelele praised the work of Jose Mourinho as a coach without praising the person.
"Mourinho is a winner. He knows how to motivate and use people to get the best of them in a match. The problem is when he wants to put you down, there is cold calculation, cruelty and ambition".
Makelele confessed that he could not take it any more with a "coach who put himself above the team". He talked about (again) how Mourinho forgot about the team and claimed credit for himself.
Makelele finished his declarations by saying that Mourinho wanted the "spotlight for himself".
----------------------------------------------
Before he became our coach, this was always one of my big problems with Mourinho. He is pretty much the only coach I know who says "I won this, I won that" rather than "We won this, my team won that".
And this may be the key to why Mourinho often loses the dressing room after a couple of seasons. As his hair has greyed, I hope he's learnt to emphasise the team above the individual. But we shall see.
Fundamentally though, I believe Mourinho's "project" is about creating a winning mentality, and constructing a "squad puzzle" where he has options. I believe this transfer window significantly helped these aims. Yes, we still need a dominant CB and a genuine DM 6. But I rated the window as an 8, judging it on what I believe Mourinho is trying to achieve.
https://thefightingcock.co.uk/forum/threads/carlos-vinicius.37514/page-6#post-2506797
Claude Makelele interview: Chelsea players were insecure before Jose Mourinho arrived and turned us into winners
Claude Makelele Accuses Jose Mourinho of Hypocrisy and Drunken Behavior
Last edited:
If you need to know why this is promising - look no further than Salah being a signing that went over Klopp's head but was happy enough giving him a go.
That whole post might be one of the worst things I've read on this forum.
And I remember the days of transexual porn posting.
I really like your post, which summarises my perception of Mourinho
On the criteria you have used to judge the players and the window, I think Regui is better than your judgement - at least an 8 for quality and 9 for potential - and Hojbjerg showed me things against manure that I didn't think he could do. I also think the deal for Bale was a calculated gamble with little risk given it's a one-year loan for less than half his salary with an option to extend by a year if it proves successful. Otherwise we walk away. Just like Carlos Vinicius, this is not a Soldado situation where we're stuck with a declining asset. If either Bale or CV flops, we can get out after a season with zero additional financial commitment. If they succeed, we have the option to extend their stay at the club.
The only signing who has little sell-on value is Doherty. But his presence has already led Serge to up his game.
But I want to go outside your terms of assessment to make some broader points.
Crucially, we hired Jose Mourinho and history shows if you're going to back him, you need to do it early doors. Levy, with some major help from Mendes (Ruben Dias cost Shitty £51 million up front +£10m to bail out Benfica, once that was done we signed Vinicius for a £3m loan), has delivered players Mourinho was happy to accept to "complete his squad puzzle".
I've been looking in some detail at Mourinho's teams - chavski 1 & 2, Inter, Real, manure - specifically the players he inherited and the players he added. I've also been reading often surprising quotes from former players. Perhaps the most insightful comments were from Claude Makelele.
Context is important. Makelele went from Celta Vigo to Real Madrid, where he was the straight man in a team of Galaticos. Real President Perez then famously dissed Makelele as a short passing easily replaceable water carrier as he sold him to chavski in 2003. His new manager was Claudio Ranieri, who was sacked after Makelele's first season in London. Enter Mourinho in 2004.
----------------------------------------------------------
Claude Makelele says Jose Mourinho turned ‘insecure’ Blues into winners
CLAUDE MAKELELE vividly remembers Chelsea before the Jose Mourinho era.
He walked into the dressing room at Stamford Bridge in 2003 and was shocked.
Makelele: “When I first arrived at Chelsea, I saw something that shocked me. There were big teams, Manchester United and Woolwich, and all the time we would play them and I’d hear, ‘F***ing hell, it’s going to be difficult’.
“What? We can’t beat Woolwich? My team-mates were insecure and that shocked me, I had come from Real Madrid where I won everything. I understood my team-mates — Woolwich won with Thierry Henry scoring and with Patrick Vieira. But they were my friends and I played with them for the national team and I wouldn’t be afraid.
“When I saw this, I wanted to change it with my team-mates and say ‘No, this is possible’. We did change the mentality and, after, we beat them all the time and were fighting for the Premier League.
“I learnt a lot with Mourinho about being a competitor, about being focused on details and the consequences of your management.
---------------------------------------------------------------------
So did chavski have small time players at the time? Well, in that first 2004-5 season, Mourinho inherited Makelele, Terry, Lampard, Gudjohnsen and Gallas - hardly shrinking violets. But he also bought Cech, Drogba, Carvalho & Robben - all very strong characters. Clearly from Makelele's comments, Mourinho's priority was to change the mindset of chavski's dressing room.
black echo posted a revealing interview with Mourinho where he clashes with Abramovich, who is desperate to buy very expensive established CFs for his new coach. Mourinho turns down the big name strikers and insists on the less famous Didier Drogba from Marseille. Mourinho tells the oligarch he only wants Drogba: "Mr Abramovich, don't speak. Pay!" (See link at bottom.) And it's in large part because of Drogba's hunger and mentality.
As with chavski in 2004-5, Mourinho has inherited some players of high quality - eg Kane, Sonny, World Cup winner Lloris - but he has also added players with strong mentalities.
He's also lucked out with GLC being a better player & stronger character than he initially thought, and has challenged Ndombele & Dele to up their fitness & competitiveness - with admittedly mixed results. But GLC & Tanguy can provide the midfield creativity that his best teams have had - Sneijder, Ozil, Modric. Hell, he even bought Pogba for manure, before getting frustrated by his attitude & consistency.
Carlos Vinicius spoke in his Spurs Official interview of how he nearly quit football a couple of seasons ago. As well physically being a Drogba type, I suspect Mourinho has also seen that hunger and competitiveness to prove himself at the highest level. And this is why CV was allegedly Mourinho's first choice, when we clearly could have bought a Callum Wilson or an Ollie Watkins. And if CV fails, it's a £3 million pound failure.
Now, before you think this is an Ode to Jose, it's not. Those Makelele quotes are from a 2018 piece in the Super Soaraway (linked below). I've also found Makelele quotes from 2011 (also linked).
--------------------------------------------------
Claude Makelele Accuses Jose Mourinho of Hypocrisy and Drunken Behavior
Claude Makelele has decided to remember the time he played for Chelsea FC under the reign of Jose Mourinho. The revelations were harsh in tone with regards to Mourinho who is currently coaching Real Madrid.
Makelele accused Mourinho of being hypocritical and being drunk with the players. He declared: "We would gather together to crack jokes and get drunk".
Makelele said: "After the party, he (Mourinho) would distance himself from us and then reclaim all of the glory for himself. For him, the new stars were worth more than the old ones."
After further questioning, Makelele praised the work of Jose Mourinho as a coach without praising the person.
"Mourinho is a winner. He knows how to motivate and use people to get the best of them in a match. The problem is when he wants to put you down, there is cold calculation, cruelty and ambition".
Makelele confessed that he could not take it any more with a "coach who put himself above the team". He talked about (again) how Mourinho forgot about the team and claimed credit for himself.
Makelele finished his declarations by saying that Mourinho wanted the "spotlight for himself".
----------------------------------------------
Before he became our coach, this was always one of my big problems with Mourinho. He is pretty much the only coach I know who says "I won this, I won that" rather than "We won this, my team won that".
And this may be the key to why Mourinho often loses the dressing room after a couple of seasons. As his hair has greyed, I hope he's learnt to emphasise the team above the individual. But we shall see.
Fundamentally though, I believe Mourinho's "project" is about creating a winning mentality, and creating a "squad puzzle" where he has options. I believe this transfer window significantly helped these aims. Yes, we still need a dominant CB and a genuine DM 6. But I rated the window as an 8, judging it on what I believe Mourinho is trying to achieve.
https://thefightingcock.co.uk/forum/threads/carlos-vinicius.37514/page-6#post-2506797
Claude Makelele interview: Chelsea players were insecure before Jose Mourinho arrived and turned us into winners
Claude Makelele Accuses Jose Mourinho of Hypocrisy and Drunken Behavior
I like to think that after his difficult time at ManU (of which I think he is secretly not that proud as he shows) he went to a period of introspection and he has faced his dark side a bit. He still doesn't miss any opportunity of reminding everybody what HE has done and won, but at the same time I see a more humble person, a guy who is embracing the idea that a leader is everybody's servant.
We will see how it goes. For the moment I am enjoying the feeling that things have started to work between him, the squad and the club, and I thing we will see some great moment under his tenure
What the actual fuck
What the actual fuck
For historical accuracy purposes I need to correct this. I was actually banned because my PM to you and a handful of others, saying that I was going to spend more time here and less there (and why don't you join me) in which I also referred to A&C as Herr Commendant Nobgag found it's way to A&C's inbox (for someone who spends so much time cracking said nobgags, he seems bereft of a sense of humour...or even, self....go figure)
On the criteria you have used to judge the players and the window, I think Regui is better than your judgement - at least an 8 for quality and 9 for potential - and Hojbjerg showed me things against manure that I didn't think he could do. I also think the deal for Bale was a calculated gamble with little risk given it's a one-year loan for less than half his salary with an option to extend by a year if it proves successful. Otherwise we walk away. Just like Carlos Vinicius, this is not a Soldado situation where we're stuck with a declining asset. If either Bale or CV flops, we can get out after a season with zero additional financial commitment. If they succeed, we have the option to extend their stay at the club.
The only signing who has little sell-on value is Doherty. But his presence has already led Serge to up his game.
But I want to go outside your terms of assessment to make some broader points.
Crucially, we hired Jose Mourinho and history shows if you're going to back him, you need to do it early doors. Levy, with some major help from Mendes (Ruben Dias cost Shitty £51 million up front +£10m to bail out Benfica, once that was done we signed Vinicius for a £3m loan), has delivered players Mourinho was happy to accept to "complete his squad puzzle".
I've been looking in some detail at Mourinho's teams - chavski 1 & 2, Inter, Real, manure - specifically the players he inherited and the players he added. I've also been reading often surprising quotes from former players. Perhaps the most insightful comments were from Claude Makelele.
Context is important. Makelele went from Celta Vigo to Real Madrid, where he was the straight man in a team of Galacticos. Real President Perez then famously dissed Makelele as a short passing easily replaceable water carrier as he sold him to chavski in 2003. His new manager was Claudio Ranieri, who was sacked after Makelele's first season in London. Enter Mourinho in 2004.
----------------------------------------------------------
Claude Makelele says Jose Mourinho turned ‘insecure’ Blues into winners
CLAUDE MAKELELE vividly remembers Chelsea before the Jose Mourinho era.
He walked into the dressing room at Stamford Bridge in 2003 and was shocked.
Makelele: “When I first arrived at Chelsea, I saw something that shocked me. There were big teams, Manchester United and Woolwich, and all the time we would play them and I’d hear, ‘F***ing hell, it’s going to be difficult’.
“What? We can’t beat Woolwich? My team-mates were insecure and that shocked me, I had come from Real Madrid where I won everything. I understood my team-mates — Woolwich won with Thierry Henry scoring and with Patrick Vieira. But they were my friends and I played with them for the national team and I wouldn’t be afraid.
“When I saw this, I wanted to change it with my team-mates and say ‘No, this is possible’. We did change the mentality and, after, we beat them all the time and were fighting for the Premier League.
“I learnt a lot with Mourinho about being a competitor, about being focused on details and the consequences of your management.
---------------------------------------------------------------------
So did chavski have small time players at the time? Well, in that first 2004-5 season, Mourinho inherited Makelele, Terry, Lampard, Gudjohnsen and Gallas - hardly shrinking violets. But he also bought Cech, Drogba, Carvalho & Robben - all very strong characters. Clearly from Makelele's comments, Mourinho's priority was to change the mindset of chavski's dressing room.
black echo posted a revealing interview with Mourinho where he clashes with Abramovich, who is desperate to buy very expensive established CFs for his new coach. Mourinho turns down the big name strikers and insists on the less famous Didier Drogba from Marseille. Mourinho tells the oligarch he only wants Drogba: "Mr Abramovich, don't speak. Pay!" (See link at bottom.) And it's in large part because of Drogba's hunger and mentality.
As with chavski in 2004-5, Mourinho has inherited some players of high quality - eg Kane, Sonny, World Cup winner Lloris - but he has also added players with strong mentalities.
He's also lucked out with GLC being a better player & stronger character than he initially thought, and has challenged Ndombele & Dele to up their fitness & competitiveness - with admittedly mixed results. But GLC & Tanguy can provide the midfield creativity that his best teams have had - Sneijder, Ozil, Modric. Hell, he even bought Pogba for manure, before getting frustrated by his attitude & inconsistency.
Carlos Vinicius spoke in his Spurs Official interview of how he nearly quit football a couple of seasons ago. As well as physically being a Drogba type, I suspect Mourinho has also seen that hunger and competitiveness to prove himself at the highest level. And this is why CV was allegedly Mourinho's first choice, when we clearly could have bought a Callum Wilson or an Ollie Watkins. And if CV fails, it's a £3 million pound failure.
Now, before you think this is an Ode to Jose, it's not. Those Makelele quotes are from a 2018 piece in the Super Soaraway (linked below). I've also found Makelele quotes from 2011 (also linked).
--------------------------------------------------
Claude Makelele Accuses Jose Mourinho of Hypocrisy and Drunken Behavior
Claude Makelele has decided to remember the time he played for Chelsea FC under the reign of Jose Mourinho. The revelations were harsh in tone with regards to Mourinho who is currently coaching Real Madrid.
Makelele accused Mourinho of being hypocritical and being drunk with the players. He declared: "We would gather together to crack jokes and get drunk".
Makelele said: "After the party, he (Mourinho) would distance himself from us and then reclaim all of the glory for himself. For him, the new stars were worth more than the old ones."
After further questioning, Makelele praised the work of Jose Mourinho as a coach without praising the person.
"Mourinho is a winner. He knows how to motivate and use people to get the best of them in a match. The problem is when he wants to put you down, there is cold calculation, cruelty and ambition".
Makelele confessed that he could not take it any more with a "coach who put himself above the team". He talked about (again) how Mourinho forgot about the team and claimed credit for himself.
Makelele finished his declarations by saying that Mourinho wanted the "spotlight for himself".
----------------------------------------------
Before he became our coach, this was always one of my big problems with Mourinho. He is pretty much the only coach I know who says "I won this, I won that" rather than "We won this, my team won that".
And this may be the key to why Mourinho often loses the dressing room after a couple of seasons. As his hair has greyed, I hope he's learnt to emphasise the team above the individual. But we shall see.
Fundamentally though, I believe Mourinho's "project" is about creating a winning mentality, and constructing a "squad puzzle" where he has options. I believe this transfer window significantly helped these aims. Yes, we still need a dominant CB and a genuine DM 6. But I rated the window as an 8, judging it on what I believe Mourinho is trying to achieve.
https://thefightingcock.co.uk/forum/threads/carlos-vinicius.37514/page-6#post-2506797
Claude Makelele interview: Chelsea players were insecure before Jose Mourinho arrived and turned us into winners
Claude Makelele Accuses Jose Mourinho of Hypocrisy and Drunken Behavior
Lets agree to disagree about our assessment of of the players we've bought. You say you saw something against Utd from Hojbjerg, and he did play well enough, but it was against 10 men for 70 minutes of a team who I think have a manager well out of his depth. I can't ignore everything else I've seen from him for us and Southampton prior to that. I hope I'm wrong and you're right and he's better than I reckon and/or improves.
The stuff about mentality/mindset for me has always been a bit of misnomer. It's wonderful when it's attached to some talent (and at Chelsea they had the budget to combine those qualities) less useful when it's not. Seems a bit too much of a coincidence for me that in the whole of Europe, so much of our missing jigsaw pieces could only be found in Mendes's puzzle box.
I was interested to see if Mourinho had evolved, not just from 10 years ago, but from his time out since at Utd. So far I'm not really seeing it. That doesn't mean he can't get results out of us, I think he probably can (and has) I'm just a long way from buying into his methodology - the tactical and philosophical.
For me, the Makelele quotes are fundamental. He left Real Madrid for Ranieri's chavski, and walked into a dressing room containing the likes of Terry, Lampard, Gudjohnsen and Gallas. Makelele says he was shocked because at that time these players were frightened of the likes of Woolwich and did not expect to win big matches. He states that it was the arrival of Mourinho, in Makelele's second season, that changed the mentality and turned those players into winners, rather than simply talented players.
I can see clear parallels between that chavski core group and the likes of Kane, Lloris, Sonny. Mourinho wants them to be leaders who expect to win, and he's challenging every one of our players to be more competitive and committed - the notorious "nice guys don't win, intelligent cunts do" philosophy.
Hojbjerg had been banging on in the press about his leadership qualities, and this is presumably one of the reasons Mourinho targeted him. The ultimate proof of the pudding is on the pitch, not the rather silly pre-match huddles. Against manure PEH did play like a leader, bossing the midfield alongside Ndombele who was courageous in showing for & receiving the ball in tight situations.
As for Jorge Mendes, whilst I've been explicit about my concerns, my judgement is that he was working for Mourinho, and thus by default Levy, throughout the window.
Once Benfica were knocked out of the Europa League and placed in financial difficulty, two of Mourinho's supposed top targets, Ruben Dias and Carlos Vinicius, became available. Shitty came in for Dias, and were extorted for £51 million up front, with the total fee being £61 million.
This presumably sorted Benfica's short term cash flow problems. At the start of the window, we were apparently quoted £50 million for Carlos Vinicius. With Dias gone to Shitty, we signed Carlos Vinicius for a loan fee of 3 million Euros. with an option (not obligation) to buy if the player is successful.
I find it impossible to believe this would have happened without Mendes. And Mourinho is not just another client of Mendes. Without Mourinho, it is strongly arguable that Mendes would not be one of football's super agents.
Compare our situation with Wolves. Coach Nunes, another Mendes client, had to accept the sale of an established player in Diogo Jota and his replacement with the 18-year-old Fabio Silva, who had played just 12 times for Porto, for £35 million. Fabio Silva may develop into a great player, but in the short term this clearly hurts Wolves' chances this season. I doubt Mourinho would have accepted such moves at Spurs.
Perhaps the more interesting Mendes/Wolves move is the 28-year-old Doherty to us for around £16 million, and his eventual replacement with the 26-year-old Nelson Semedo for £27 million plus £9m in add-ons. Both players are Mendes clients.
At the start of the window, it wasn't clear whether Barca would sell Semedo. So Mourinho may have moved for Doherty because he was PL-proven and gettable once he moved to Mendes' agency. But if Semedo had been available, it's interesting to know whether Mourinho would have opted for him over Doherty.
And this is where the "squad puzzle" is relevant too. If we'd bought Semedo at roughly twice the price of Doherty, would this have prevented us moving for other targets? For instance, we may not have been able to afford to buy Reguilon in such circumstances.
Mourinho has clearly been pragmatic during the window. But I do see a method and a rationale for our purchases. Crucially, we've used loans to limit our financial liability if it doesn't work out as well as we all hope.
We can chuck in CCV though who must be worth £7/8m if they fancy him.
we've tried to flog him for 5m nobody wanted him, then I believe it went down to two and there were still no takers.
You made the effort to explain your low score and I can appreciate that I just almost entirely disagree with your negativity, hate to just hit disagree with no explanation so:
Is Hojbjerg going to be your new Sissoko "glaring weaknesses in his game" but no explanation? Can't wait to read your endless near identical negative reviews week in week out ... guess you have all Sissoko's on cut and paste so just a name change required.
All your scores are low but this one is just laughable:
Potential 4/10 - LoCelso who you completely ignored but who we paid 32m for this window is just 24, Reguilion is just 23 and comes with a guaranteed 15m profit, Hojbjerg is just 25, Vinicius is just 25 ... but yeah 4/10 for potential that seems fair.
9 out of 10.
Doherty coming in whilst keeping Aurier makes me happy. I rate both of them. Very good depth there.
Reguilon is a top class LB. Addressed a problem area in style.
Right there we've gone from some of the worst fullbacks in the top 6 to having great options.
Hojbjerg looks like he will do the dirty work. We needed legs in the middle and got it. He's settling in and even looks like he can play ball.
Bale is unreal and shocking. We have potentially become of those rare teams in Europe with a devasting front 3 consisting of world class players.
Carlos Vinicius I haven't seen much of but I'm a fan of his profile. Strong guys who can also move are ideal. His style combined with his scoring record is everything we could have hoped for in a backup striker. With Kane able to drop deep with ease we have so many options.
Levy backed his manager this time. A CB would have made it a 10/10 window but this is still one of the best in my lifetime if not the best.
Doherty coming in whilst keeping Aurier makes me happy. I rate both of them. Very good depth there.
Reguilon is a top class LB. Addressed a problem area in style.
Right there we've gone from some of the worst fullbacks in the top 6 to having great options.
Hojbjerg looks like he will do the dirty work. We needed legs in the middle and got it. He's settling in and even looks like he can play ball.
Bale is unreal and shocking. We have potentially become of those rare teams in Europe with a devasting front 3 consisting of world class players.
Carlos Vinicius I haven't seen much of but I'm a fan of his profile. Strong guys who can also move are ideal. His style combined with his scoring record is everything we could have hoped for in a backup striker. With Kane able to drop deep with ease we have so many options.
Levy backed his manager this time. A CB would have made it a 10/10 window but this is still one of the best in my lifetime if not the best.
Do you think we lacked a strong mentality under Pochettino during his peak - years 2/3 - because I don’t. We were beating everyone, feared no one, Liverpool, City, ManU (Mourinho’s ManU) Chelsea (ended their record winning streak), Real Madrid. We were also good at clever fouls high up etc, that clever cunty thing. I think the only thing between us and a trophy during that phase was some poor tactical decisions on big days and maybe a bit of rub.
I don’t think it was a lack of strong mentality per se that was our downfall, I think it was a shit storm of other things that saw us decline under Poch, including Poch himself and the things he did/didn't do (as well as others) and the mentality fell away as a consequence.
I know that Mourinho is all about mentality, and I can see he does work heavily on this, but most successful managers are good motivators too, good psychologists, in their own differing ways. But you need more than this to succeed these days (and maybe ever), you need good coaching and decent tactics (and good/smart players help too obviously).
I'm not convinced that Mourinho excels at any of those disciplines any more, even his mentality by confrontation thing seems a bit outdated and hit and miss to me. I'm not saying he's a total failure either, I think he's an intelligent guy, still has some decent managerial tools, I'm just unconvinced those tools place him in the very top echelon of managers any more, and I personally am having difficulty enjoying his methods and the performances they produce, for the most part. Last Sunday was possibly the first time since he arrived that I have actually laughed with enjoyment at one of our games, and a large part of that was the car crash that is Utd under Solskjaer.
I hope I'm proven wrong and he wins me round.
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Same here.
How about not being so sensitive?
And it takes a big man to apologise so just accept it with good grace ffs
Bus Conductor I am gonna put this in Jamaican terms "Laaaaawd yu miserable bad bad bad bad" Just sing with me now "Don't you worry Bout a ting cus every likkle thing gonna be alright"