No, the bile that rises to the back of my throat is inspired by Chelsea’s—and, more specifically, by Mourinho’s—game plan. I get it; it makes sense; I’ve even promoted it from time to time when we’ve gone in to face an in-form, even superior, opponen: take a point from top-four opponents and take all three from those below. However, to make it the bedrock of one’s season is cynical and insulting. Having brought in Willian this summer for £35m and Schurrle for £22m, and having brought in Hazard for £40m and Oscar for £32m last summer, not to mention Mata for £27m the summer before that, I’d think Mourinho could afford to be a little more ambitious than to sit back, eight or nine or ten men behind the ball, launching only the occasional counter-attack. Why, the Hazard-Oscar-Mata midfield alone should be enough to generate some possession, not to mention scoring chances.
Nope. 31% possession was all that Chelsea bothered to achieve. 31% is the kind of possession-stat we might see from Sunderland or Aston Villa or Cardiff (no offense, gentlemen), not from a top-of-the-table, contending-for-the-Prem-title squad whose payroll probably exceeds the GDP or more than a few nations. What a bloody kick in the teeth to paying fans, be they Chelsea or Arsenal, to have to sit through that farce of a performance in the miserable, rainy conditions that they had to endure. It takes a “special” kind of self-serving arrogance to assemble such a stable of players, only to trot out the kind of snooze-worthy, yawn-inspiring drivel that we saw on Monday. What a waste of talent. What a waste of resources. What a slap in the face to all of the other clubs that can’t afford one player of the caliber of Mata or Oscar Schurrle, who didn’t even start, the latter two not even subbing in until the last 17 minutes or so of the match.
People fork over some hard-earned cash to attend these matches, and while these are not performances put on solely for the entertainment of the fans, they pay on the expectation that they’ll see something a little more engaging than the tripe they were served. Chelsea-Arsenal used to be an epic fixture, delivering famous results one way or the other. Not with Mourinho at the helm, it seems. It’s been pointed out that Arsène has now failed to defeat Mourinho in ten consecutive matches. We’re going to have to start putting an asterisk after some of these results if Mourinho refuses to play football. That wasn’t football; that was more like table-soccer, except that Mourinho, that craven, fly-bitten, canker-blossom, snuck in the night before and took all of his foosmen from the midfield and attack rows and put them on defense. It’s a strategy that’s bound to work; how can one score through such a thicket of arms and legs and torsos? That we came as close as we did through Giroud twice (one he should’ve done better on, one he did as well as any one could) is cold comfort.
We do share some of the blame. We had to know that Chelsea would come out and offer just such a parked-bus, brass-knuckle affair. That Willian or Ivanovic weren’t sent off for cleats to various body parts embodies the cynicism of the evening. However, we had to know that Chelsea were going to sit back and defend and absorb pressure, and we just didn’t do enough to unlock them. Maybe Cazorla should have started instead of Walcott, or at least replaced him once the depth of Chelsea’s stubbornness came clear. Maybe Giroud should have been dropping deeper for the build-up. Maybe we should have conceded possession more often to lure Chelsea forward and catch them on counters more often. Maybe, maybe, maybe.
One thing’s for sure: Mourinho is a tight-fisted, boring old Scrooge. He got his draw, but he’s hoarding talent and scrounging for points like the worst of misers. It’s ugly to watch, whoever you root for. I can see it from clubs that lack the wealth that Abramovich has, clubs that hope for a famous draw at the Emirates or Old Trafford, but from Chelsea, one of the wealthiest, well-oiled, and deepest clubs in the world, it’s more than boring—it’s a bloody black mark on the game. You waste everyone’s time, Mourinho—the players, the fans, the stadium-workers—and I really hope Abramovich tires of you sooner than he did with those managers who actually use the players he’s splurged on over the years. I rued the departures of Di Matteo and Benitez, even Villas-Boas, among others, but I can’t wait for you to get sacked. Lumps of coal in your stocking, indeed.
Bitter & deluded as ever – first off you have added just north of £30 million to the transfer fees. As for your possession statistics you make it sound like Arsenal bossed Chelsea that is so far from the truth. But if you like statistics how about 1st shot on target – 85th minute, half of Chelsea's shots, half of Chelsea's shots on target. Goals in the league this season; AFC 33, CFC 32 – wow what a superior attacking force you are. And what about Ozil (about £60m using your figures)?? Anyway you stick to your team & try not to get quite so angry about something you clearly don't understand.
All of this +1
He's absolutely right-this was Chelsea playing not some mid-table team content with a point. Your Daddy, Roman, hasn't forked out close to a billion pounds for the garbage you offered up last night. Mourinho wants 12 years-he'll be lucky to get 12 months playing that type of drivel. More to the point your fat waiter, Rafa, had you playing better football. I'll be loving it when your love fest with that classless wanker goes tits up. Ho Ho Ho
All summed up quite nicely and succinctly. Poor, deluded, gooners.
Redand dead. The sack of shoite that you put on last night was just pathetic. No answers, no questions and then all the toys come out of the pram. Remind me when Wenger last got the better of Jose?
Oh and how many shots on target?
We over at Chelsea have thoroughly enjoyed winning every trophy (bar one) available over the last 10 years, and in order to do so we have had to sit through drab matches were we've had to grind out results. However last night does not fall into that category. Last night was a fascinating and engaging tactical display were mourinho out witted Wenger, who didn't even make a substitution for fear of his teams shape and losing. Sounds pretty safe and tepid for young Arsene.
as per JMs post match comments…”you know they like to cry…its tradition”…bit like their season ending in march
Dave's right I'm afraid. I ain't gonna get drawn into slating either teams fans or performance but wtth all the supposed attacking talent the home team have, to wait until the last 10 ,minutes for a shot on target is poor, very very poor. Chelsea had more chances on and off target. Do you expect them to roll over and make things east for you? Both managers said they didn't want to lose, so Arsene is just as bad as Jose. That anyone thought it was going to be an end to end high scoring game is quite absurd. Arsenal got battered at City and Chelsea shipped 8 in their last 3 away games so a tight draw was always on the cards. Takes 2 to tango and if Arsenal ain't got the nous to break down a team at home, blame them and Arsene. happy xmas.
Get13Dave – He was talking specifically about this match, not about the games against lesser smaller sides where it's easy for chelsea to come out and attack, and he didn't claim arsenal dominated the game just because of the possession stat (the possession stat was the result of the type of football that chelsea were playing, it was mourinho's intention to have little of the ball). He was saying that it's a crime for Mourinho to use the incredible resources at his disposal to play such a negative and uninspiring game. Winning wasn't the goal for him yesterday, just as it wasn't against Utd (who were in a much poorer position when you faced them than we were yesterday). Yeah we spent a lot on ozil, but we use that attacking talent to at least try to play proper football. You've loaded up your squad with incredibly gifted attacking midfielders but when you come to a difficult game, mourinho's not allowing them to express themselves and plays for a draw.Neither side played well yesterday but that's how chelsea wanted it. From what I saw, chelsea looked the better side in the first half and we looked stronger in the second and despite not managing to hit the target for so long in the game we did have 2 excellent chances, to your 1, and should have had a penalty in the first half.
What a trash !!! How about Arsenal registering first shot at 45th min. of the game? what about having only 2 shots on target all game round? Thats a wonderful stat.Football is all about tactics, employ urs and let me employ mine. you fool
And he never cries about stuff going against him? He's just trying to wind up Arsenal, probably because he knows he went to the emirates and played like a small club, basically just trying to avoid defeat and maybe the boring boring chelsea chants got to him a bit.
Your teams going down quicker than the Xmas decorations,how quickly you forget '1-0 to the arsenal 'under Georgie boy
Penalty was 100% even for a blind man…but Mikel vs Arteta??? Both right footed…going at a ball suited for a right footer…the one on the wrong side of that ball was MIKEL his studs were up and directed ANY WHERE NEAR THE BALL and if miss A LEG WILL DO…RED!
Chelsea with th return of Jose Mourinhio Is finished, tht boring style of play, one should not even claim That it was th desire but the fear of being riped apart by a more strong arsenal This season. Such type of boring play style,bt fr how long. Season continues, stamfordbridge, thre we come.Gooner
Typical deluded goons. Expect to win every game (and trophies every year) and when they don't it is always someone else's fault – referees, other managers, 'dirty' players, free-spending owners (forgetting they were free-spending themselves 15 years ago as well as stealing other club's Academy players). Chelsea dominated the game and should have won (our striker problems again – ring a bell goonies?). Even so,Lampard hits the underside of the bra when clean through. But no, the pathetic cry for penalties, offside decisions and red cards go up. – just like they did after they got thumped by Citeh.No doubt they will be getting the Victory Bus out again when they finish in 4th place in May.
Do these people actually listen to themselves, Arsenal playing at home took till the 85th minute to have their first shot on target, Chelsea doubled Arsenal on shots on and off target. Would have been interesting in that case if Chelsea had been trying.
I thought arsenal were shite….lampard should have scored and not a shot in target until the 85th. Arsenal look lightweight. .they're only up there because city drop points away and chelsea have nothing up front. I agree with Jose. ..cry babies..hilarious when ozil squared up to Ivanovic…llittle tosspot
Crying babies . For all their self acclaimed pretty football, Chelsea still had more shots on target and really kept Arsenal quiet at d Emirate. .
one signing of this magnitude hardly puts Arsenal in Chelsea's class when it comes to spending, Chelsea, who regularly spend and spend and spend. so it took us 85 minutes to put a shot on target. credit goes to Chelsea for defending so well, but why such a defensive, negative strategy? surely Chelsea has found enough firepower to try a little harder to score. Playing not to lose is boring, boring football. So Arsenal tried to attack but failed to generate chances? That's still better than refusing to try in the first place.
What the hell is going in here guys arquing over nonsense stats jose this jose that heýyyyyy u chelski fu…………rs just because u faild to get ozil doesnt makr him a bad signing and 9ne more thing u the one is zis talking about chelski I dont know wat ever ur fu……….ing name is shut the hell up and talk sence we beat every small grade teams that chelse lost to so close ur mouth and talk like sportsmanship and by the way if u guys wanna talk about history firstly be a invincible and then open ur mouth mate arsenal all the wayyyyyyyyyydont forget wenger creats class , jose oppps oils buys class that is a diffrent and jose wants to be wenger in your dream mate anyway I will ser u in may
I think you're really unfair to Mourinho.Chelsea had more shots and shots on target than Arsenal and if anyone was going to win , it was Chelsea.I found myself wishing he pushed harder for a win , but he can't be faulted for not attacking
That was pure negative game, jose didnt play his game and he knows… The cry talk was just the feeling he had… He wanted to cry
We should not be concerned with Mourinho or other managers game plan. Mourinho is conceited and play psychological games to affect the opponents and we must not fall into his trap. He will only target his direct competitors like Arsenal and Liverpool, City, so leave him alone and he will be frustrated. Let's concentrate on winning games.
We should not be concerned with Mourinho or other managers game plan. Mourinho is conceited and play psychological games to affect the opponents and we must not fall into his trap. He will only target his direct competitors like Arsenal and Liverpool, City, so leave him alone and he will be frustrated. Let's concentrate on winning games.