bigmick wrote:I remember reading about Mourinho when he first arrived at Chelsea, how he gave each player a dossier detailing what their behaviour should be, what the new ethos was, talked about diet, preparation, mindset etc. The idea was that from the first minute of the first pre-season game they (Chelsea) were going absolutely all out to win four competitions. Failure simply would not be tolerated, even in pre season friendlies, and winning was a habit which had to be honed so it could be repeated even when all other aspects of the teams performance failed. During pre season they largely fielded their strongest teams, working on different set-ups within the game, working on situations where they scored first and sat, even aping situations where they were behind when they actually weren't. They pressed centrally to force teams wider and encourage them to knock it long into Carvallho and Terry's green zone, they worked tirelessly with the Makeleli axis in order to establish a bridgehead.
That was when he arrived but what about his last two years when all they won was an FA cup (and maybe a CC I cannot remember) surely he employed the same ethos and preparation? Get over the fixation on Mourinho he's never a long term solution.
I think our poor season has a lot to do with all the uncertainty with the Alonso transfer and we never quite got out of the funk. Hard to prepare your team when such a key player leaves in preseason.