Newcastle United 0 vs Liverpool 3 - 24/11/07 - Post match reaction from page 19

[Guest Li3nZ]

Allardyce was totally outmanoeuvred tactically by Benitez. Sam wanted to play 3-5-2 but this plan went pear shaped when Benitez stuck 3 up front and left our defence and midfield wondering what to do for 20 minutes. There was no plan B and Allardyce should have been out of his seat in the stands after 5 minutes and on the touch line to try and get some semblance of a formation sorted. I felt sorry for Oba and Viduka who had nothing but poorly directed 50 yard punts to try and get some attacking momentum started. Pathetic!!!

 

IMO the most telling part of the afternoon came when the Newcastle players came out of the tunnel for the second half looking like condemned men on their way to the gallows, it must have been a less than inspiring half time team talk from Allardyce and, much as I hate the phrase and the concept, he seems to have lost the dressing room and I think his days here are numbered.

 

I agree and there is never a plan B with Sam Allerdyce, or so it would seem. The team either plays his way or like today, may as well have not turned up.

 

DIsgraceful performance, no heart, lacking conviction, zero effort, stupid tactics and to echo the chants around the ground sam it really seems like "you don't know what you're doing". This has been a poor week for football.

[robbo_11]

pains me to say it but as long as anyone here is alive we will win nowt.  We should just play 11 geordies so at least we can take some pride in our team.  Bilbao style. 

 

W. F. Shepherd 

 

Could you name a Geordie 11?

[Decky]

Just seen the highlights on RTE, it was the worst performance ive ever seen from us, from start to finish we played like it was game over. Barton, Viduka and Rozenhal in particular were disgraceful and uninterested. Viduka barely broke fucking stride!

[Guest mandakin]

Allardyce was totally outmanoeuvred tactically by Benitez. Sam wanted to play 3-5-2 but this plan went pear shaped when Benitez stuck 3 up front and left our defence and midfield wondering what to do for 20 minutes. There was no plan B and Allardyce should have been out of his seat in the stands after 5 minutes and on the touch line to try and get some semblance of a formation sorted. I felt sorry for Oba and Viduka who had nothing but poorly directed 50 yard punts to try and get some attacking momentum started. Pathetic!!!

 

IMO the most telling part of the afternoon came when the Newcastle players came out of the tunnel for the second half looking like condemned men on their way to the gallows, it must have been a less than inspiring half time team talk from Allardyce and, much as I hate the phrase and the concept, he seems to have lost the dressing room and I think his days here are numbered.

 

Liverpool fan here. I am not here to gloat or anything but just an observation. Rafa played a 3-5-2 against Newcastle away in the last 2 years. I dunno maybe Allardyce saw that and decided to play a3-5-2 to neutralize Liverpool. We have had numerous discussions on our message board about the 3-5-2 formation. The problem with the 3-5-2 is that it is very easy to become defensive and camp 8 players in your own half effectively becoming 5-3-2 with the two strikers isolated. Thats clearly what happened today. You invite pressure on yourself and a sudden superstrike and the equation changes totally.

 

It is a very difficult formation to implement especially when your low on confidence. Rafa experimented with a lot of formations and tried to be too clever in his first season and we did not do that well. When he reverted back to the plain old 4-4-2 our performance improved and once we got the confidence back Rafa started experimenting with formations. Even now when we go on a winless streak, Rafa reverts back to the 4-4-2( Besiktas for example).  As it is the easiest to implement and the least confusing for players with well defined roles for everyone.

 

 

If there was one aspect I was really really surprised was the performance of your midfield. Considering the experience of the players you had the very least they could do was retain possession by making short simple passes.  Lucas Leiva our 20 year old 4th choice midfielder displayed more intelligence and calmness than all the three of yours combined( Butt, Emre/Barton and Smith). The way football is evolving you need someone like him to take the ball from the defense and retain possession by knocking the ball around.

 

We had to go through numerous such matches ( burnley away defeat, bolton away defeat, we were raped Manu away, boro away, birmingham at home ) in our first 2 seasons before we reached our current level. So all i can say is keep the faith and all the best.

[Guest BooBoo]

An embarassing show. Its difficult to see where Big Sam can go from here.

 

Given 6

Geremi 2

Enrique 4

Beye 6

Rozenhal 3

NZogbia 3

Emre 5

Smith 2

Butt 6

Martins 2

Viduka 3

 

 

Milner 4

Carr 3

Barton 2

 

[bobbydazzla]

fucking joke in the ground today. the fans were more arsed about booing Gerrard than they were about getting behind the lads.

 

To see that lanky streak of shite Crouch geta round of applause from the gallowgate not just when he warmed up but when he came on the pitch was a fucking joke.

 

we got more and more like Engerland with every fucking game.

 

if you only come to the match to boo and whinge then you might as well piss off shopping with the missus and use your energy in eldon fucking square.

 

things may be going wrong on the pitch but its the attitudes in the stands that makes me sick. its a fucking joke.

[Tsunami]

I haven't read any posts & don't want to start a new thread. If you were at the match today you will know that the performance today was a zillion times worse than Pompey & as bad as anything served up by Roeder or Souness. BS has to take the blame for what is happening. We have decent players but shocking tactics and players who do not believe in what they are being asked to do. Again, 10 minutes into the game we had players looking at the bench for guidance & got nothing in return. Again, we did not try to win the game & BS had no idea how to turn it around. His substitutions were baffling beyond belief.

 

I am all for giving a man a chance but these last few performances have been coming & the truth is we are simply awful at the present time. Those that say "give it time; you never have any patience; this is a long road" either do not watch the same things that most of us see or do not understand or have played football. Don't bother with platitudes in reply, they will not wash - we are shite & the manager is at fault. He either needs to sort it out by Christmas or he can fuck off. What we are serving up in unacceptable. Am I over reacting? No. Those that have been to the games so far this season come & post your thoughts; let the others know what the reality is.

 

This is teetering on a crisis. MA will not stand for this. I left after the 3rd goal; the earliest I have left a match in 30 years.

 

Disgusted.

 

 

 

[Guest BooBoo]

f****** joke in the ground today. the fans were more arsed about booing Gerrard than they were about getting behind the lads.

 

To see that lanky streak of s**** Crouch geta round of applause from the gallowgate not just when he warmed up but when he came on the pitch was a f****** joke.

 

we got more and more like Engerland with every f****** game.

 

if you only come to the match to boo and whinge then you might as well piss off shopping with the missus and use your energy in eldon f****** square.

 

things may be going wrong on the pitch but its the attitudes in the stands that makes me sick. its a f****** joke.

 

Crouch played his heart out for England and thoroughly deserved his warm welcome. To do otherwise is frankly laughable.

[Minhosa]

Allardyce was totally outmanoeuvred tactically by Benitez. Sam wanted to play 3-5-2 but this plan went pear shaped when Benitez stuck 3 up front and left our defence and midfield wondering what to do for 20 minutes. There was no plan B and Allardyce should have been out of his seat in the stands after 5 minutes and on the touch line to try and get some semblance of a formation sorted. I felt sorry for Oba and Viduka who had nothing but poorly directed 50 yard punts to try and get some attacking momentum started. Pathetic!!!

 

IMO the most telling part of the afternoon came when the Newcastle players came out of the tunnel for the second half looking like condemned men on their way to the gallows, it must have been a less than inspiring half time team talk from Allardyce and, much as I hate the phrase and the concept, he seems to have lost the dressing room and I think his days here are numbered.

 

Liverpool fan here. I am not here to gloat or anything but just an observation. Rafa played a 3-5-2 against Newcastle away in the last 2 years. I dunno maybe Allardyce saw that and decided to play a3-5-2 to neutralize Liverpool. We have had numerous discussions on our message board about the 3-5-2 formation. The problem with the 3-5-2 is that it is very easy to become defensive and camp 8 players in your own half effectively becoming 5-3-2 with the two strikers isolated. Thats clearly what happened today. You invite pressure on yourself and a sudden superstrike and the equation changes totally.

 

It is a very difficult formation to implement especially when your low on confidence. Rafa experimented with a lot of formations and tried to be too clever in his first season and we did not do that well. When he reverted back to the plain old 4-4-2 our performance improved and once we got the confidence back Rafa started experimenting with formations. Even now when we go on a winless streak, Rafa reverts back to the 4-4-2( Besiktas for example).  As it is the easiest to implement and the least confusing for players with well defined roles for everyone.

 

 

If there was one aspect I was really really surprised was the performance of your midfield. Considering the experience of the players you had the very least they could do was retain possession by making short simple passes.  Lucas Leiva our 20 year old 4th choice midfielder displayed more intelligence and calmness than all the three of yours combined( Butt, Emre/Barton and Smith). The way football is evolving you need someone like him to take the ball from the defense and retain possession by knocking the ball around.

 

We had to go through numerous such matches ( burnley away defeat, bolton away defeat, we were raped Manu away, boro away, birmingham at home ) in our first 2 seasons before we reached our current level. So all i can say is keep the faith and all the best.

 

Cheers mate - nice post.

[Guest optimistic nit]

i remember fondly the people proclaiming viduka coming back would make all the difference

 

turned the corner for me, i want him gone if we have a top class replacement in line. i think if he has enough time, he will improve us as a club, unlike roeder and souness, but he's made too many mistakes, elementary mistakes, for me to support him any more.

i dont think allardyce understands that if we try and draw every away game we will end up with something like 12 wins, 36 points. we'll escape relegation, but finish around 15th.

 

Viduka is woefully short of match fitness to rip apart. Its pretty harsh to pin any blame on him, especially as he had no support from midfield or anyone else.

 

 

i'm not, i'm one of his biggest fans, but people on this forum were expecting viduka to come back and we'd suddenly look like a team again, which i said was riddiculous at the time. just getting a bit of cheap gloating in basically

[Guest optimistic nit]

So what do you think is the reason that no matter what we (nufc) seem to do, it always turns out bad?

 

Big Sam is a decent manager and personally I was expecting a bit of an up and down season this year so long as progress appeared to be being made, but at the moment things look pretty bleak, I have to say.

 

We do have some decent players, although no real stand-out individuals, which is a problem, but they just don't seem to perform, at least not consistently anyway. Why not?

 

There seems to be something fundamentally wrong with the club that prevents anything from working, although I can't put my finger on exactly what it is, but the evidence of the last few years seems to suggest that there are no quick fixes for whatever it is. Therefore, I'm going to try and grit my teeth and bear it 'til the end of the season and see what happens.

 

Like I said, Sam is a decent manager, he's proved that at Bolton, and one day we're going to have to give someone a real chance to sort the club out from top to bottom. That's going to take time and will involve quite a bit of pain I reckon. So if this is the pain and the club's going to end up better for it in the long-run, then I'll take it. Therefore I'm still of the opinion that Sam should be given time, the only reason he shouldn't is if we were able to bring in a truly world-class manager, Mourinho for example, the kind of person you absolutely couldn't see failing to sort things out and even then they'd need to be given time to do it. Unfortunately, I can't see someone like that coming here, can you?

 

I've resigned myself to giving him the rest of the season. Unless we're in relegation trouble we've got to, havent we?

 

in my opinion we should give him at least 2 years, if we want to properly back him. if we don't the only reasons we should not sack him now are that it looks very bad with another bad manager and if we don't have a world class appointment in line.

 

don't have any problem with fans booing today, this is the first home game where it has been warrrented.

[bobbydazzla]

are your serious ?

 

it s not long since the lanky twat was getting booed onto the pitch by engerland fans.

 

and since when has engerland had owt to do with the toon ? apart from Engerlands Michael Owen getting injured whilst playing in a white shirt.....

 

it is fucking criminal for any self respecting NUFC fan to put engerlands misfortune as a higher priority than getting behind 11 lads in black n white shirts.

 

can you imagine engerland getting beat and then owen getting a standing ovation as he took to the pitch at Old Trafford / Stamford Bridge / Emirates. Can you fuck.

 

Joke.

[Parky]

So what do you think is the reason that no matter what we (nufc) seem to do, it always turns out bad?

 

Big Sam is a decent manager and personally I was expecting a bit of an up and down season this year so long as progress appeared to be being made, but at the moment things look pretty bleak, I have to say.

 

We do have some decent players, although no real stand-out individuals, which is a problem, but they just don't seem to perform, at least not consistently anyway. Why not?

 

There seems to be something fundamentally wrong with the club that prevents anything from working, although I can't put my finger on exactly what it is, but the evidence of the last few years seems to suggest that there are no quick fixes for whatever it is. Therefore, I'm going to try and grit my teeth and bear it 'til the end of the season and see what happens.

 

Like I said, Sam is a decent manager, he's proved that at Bolton, and one day we're going to have to give someone a real chance to sort the club out from top to bottom. That's going to take time and will involve quite a bit of pain I reckon. So if this is the pain and the club's going to end up better for it in the long-run, then I'll take it. Therefore I'm still of the opinion that Sam should be given time, the only reason he shouldn't is if we were able to bring in a truly world-class manager, Mourinho for example, the kind of person you absolutely couldn't see failing to sort things out and even then they'd need to be given time to do it. Unfortunately, I can't see someone like that coming here, can you?

 

I've resigned myself to giving him the rest of the season. Unless we're in relegation trouble we've got to, havent we?

 

in my opinion we should give him at least 2 years, if we want to properly back him. if we don't the only reasons we should not sack him now are that it looks very bad with another bad manager and if we don't have a world class appointment in line.

 

It's simpler than that, if he doesn't get money in Jan to bring in the 2/3 players we clearly need then it can only mean MA wants rid in the summer. MA didn't make his money by being half hearted and he doesn't have a track record for fucking around...Once he's sure SA will be out in 24hrs. As I've said before we'll know a lot more during the Jan window.

[Mick]

f****** joke in the ground today. the fans were more arsed about booing Gerrard than they were about getting behind the lads.

 

To see that lanky streak of s**** Crouch geta round of applause from the gallowgate not just when he warmed up but when he came on the pitch was a f****** joke.

 

we got more and more like Engerland with every f****** game.

 

if you only come to the match to boo and whinge then you might as well piss off shopping with the missus and use your energy in eldon f****** square.

 

things may be going wrong on the pitch but its the attitudes in the stands that makes me sick. its a f****** joke.

 

Surely you go to watch the game, not the fans.

[Benwell Lad]

zog left, milner right, a holding midfielder, and attacking midfielder  ... 4 at the back ... 2 upfront ...simple: pass the ball try and get down the flanks..  and try and get crosses in the box why is that so f****** difficult for our army of backroom staff to understand?

 

Rob theres no way you will get paid £3M a year to come up with a simple idea like that.

To be a highly paid manager you need to come up with things like playing left footers on the right and vice versa and play formations that bamboozle everyone (especially ourselves).

If management was as simple as you suggest anyone could do it and you wouldn't need an army of fitness specialists, sports pschycologists and dieticians.

You see - it's all about science not just simple things like picking a team that can win and show passion.

[indi]

So what do you think is the reason that no matter what we (nufc) seem to do, it always turns out bad?

 

Big Sam is a decent manager and personally I was expecting a bit of an up and down season this year so long as progress appeared to be being made, but at the moment things look pretty bleak, I have to say.

 

We do have some decent players, although no real stand-out individuals, which is a problem, but they just don't seem to perform, at least not consistently anyway. Why not?

 

There seems to be something fundamentally wrong with the club that prevents anything from working, although I can't put my finger on exactly what it is, but the evidence of the last few years seems to suggest that there are no quick fixes for whatever it is. Therefore, I'm going to try and grit my teeth and bear it 'til the end of the season and see what happens.

 

Like I said, Sam is a decent manager, he's proved that at Bolton, and one day we're going to have to give someone a real chance to sort the club out from top to bottom. That's going to take time and will involve quite a bit of pain I reckon. So if this is the pain and the club's going to end up better for it in the long-run, then I'll take it. Therefore I'm still of the opinion that Sam should be given time, the only reason he shouldn't is if we were able to bring in a truly world-class manager, Mourinho for example, the kind of person you absolutely couldn't see failing to sort things out and even then they'd need to be given time to do it. Unfortunately, I can't see someone like that coming here, can you?

 

I've resigned myself to giving him the rest of the season. Unless we're in relegation trouble we've got to, havent we?

 

in my opinion we should give him at least 2 years, if we want to properly back him. if we don't the only reasons we should not sack him now are that it looks very bad with another bad manager and if we don't have a world class appointment in line.

 

It's simpler than that, if he doesn't get money in Jan to bring in the 2/3 players we clearly need then it can only mean MA wants rid in the summer. MA didn't make his money by being half hearted and he doesn't have a track record for fucking around...Once he's sure SA will be out in 24hrs. As I've said before we'll know a lot more during the Jan window.

 

You're contradicting yourself a bit there Parks.

[Mick]

are your serious ?

 

it s not long since the lanky t*** was getting booed onto the pitch by engerland fans.

 

and since when has engerland had owt to do with the toon ? apart from Engerlands Michael Owen getting injured whilst playing in a white shirt.....

 

it is f****** criminal for any self respecting NUFC fan to put engerlands misfortune as a higher priority than getting behind 11 lads in black n white shirts.

 

can you imagine engerland getting beat and then owen getting a standing ovation as he took to the pitch at Old Trafford / Stamford Bridge / Emirates. Can you f***.

 

Joke.

 

We get stuffed off Liverpool and the fans chanting for or against certain players is your biggest gripe.  

[Guest BooBoo]

Not to pick a scapegoat or owt but how bad was Martins today? We were laughing at his efforts in the second half! Thats how bad it got!  mackems.gif

[Parky]

So what do you think is the reason that no matter what we (nufc) seem to do, it always turns out bad?

 

Big Sam is a decent manager and personally I was expecting a bit of an up and down season this year so long as progress appeared to be being made, but at the moment things look pretty bleak, I have to say.

 

We do have some decent players, although no real stand-out individuals, which is a problem, but they just don't seem to perform, at least not consistently anyway. Why not?

 

There seems to be something fundamentally wrong with the club that prevents anything from working, although I can't put my finger on exactly what it is, but the evidence of the last few years seems to suggest that there are no quick fixes for whatever it is. Therefore, I'm going to try and grit my teeth and bear it 'til the end of the season and see what happens.

 

Like I said, Sam is a decent manager, he's proved that at Bolton, and one day we're going to have to give someone a real chance to sort the club out from top to bottom. That's going to take time and will involve quite a bit of pain I reckon. So if this is the pain and the club's going to end up better for it in the long-run, then I'll take it. Therefore I'm still of the opinion that Sam should be given time, the only reason he shouldn't is if we were able to bring in a truly world-class manager, Mourinho for example, the kind of person you absolutely couldn't see failing to sort things out and even then they'd need to be given time to do it. Unfortunately, I can't see someone like that coming here, can you?

 

I've resigned myself to giving him the rest of the season. Unless we're in relegation trouble we've got to, havent we?

 

in my opinion we should give him at least 2 years, if we want to properly back him. if we don't the only reasons we should not sack him now are that it looks very bad with another bad manager and if we don't have a world class appointment in line.

 

It's simpler than that, if he doesn't get money in Jan to bring in the 2/3 players we clearly need then it can only mean MA wants rid in the summer. MA didn't make his money by being half hearted and he doesn't have a track record for fucking around...Once he's sure SA will be out in 24hrs. As I've said before we'll know a lot more during the Jan window.

 

You're contradicting yourself a bit there Parks.

 

So I am...

 

What I meant was he'll either get money in Jan or be sacked in Jan/Summer. Can I get away with that?

[bobbydazzla]

I go to the game to get behind the team.

 

I don't go to the game to give a rousing welcome to some tosser from the opposing team who was part of an engerland side that got spanked in midweek.

 

So much for St James Park becoming a hostile fortress.

 

Maybe we should just roll out the red carpet for Arsenal in a couple of weeks. After all, their football is undeniably stylish and it would be rude not to show them how much we respect that.

 

 

 

 

[Benwell Lad]

are your serious ?

 

it s not long since the lanky t*** was getting booed onto the pitch by engerland fans.

 

and since when has engerland had owt to do with the toon ? apart from Engerlands Michael Owen getting injured whilst playing in a white shirt.....

 

it is f****** criminal for any self respecting NUFC fan to put engerlands misfortune as a higher priority than getting behind 11 lads in black n white shirts.

 

can you imagine engerland getting beat and then owen getting a standing ovation as he took to the pitch at Old Trafford / Stamford Bridge / Emirates. Can you f***.

 

Joke.

 

You're right - today was a disaster, but the fans were on the team's back in the first ten minutes and it just got worse as it went on.

Said it before and I'll say it now Newcastle have crap fans. Big in numbers but fickle in support for the team.

 

To applaud those plastic scousers taking the p*ss out of our manager was just embarrassing.

[Mick]

Not to pick a scapegoat or owt but how bad was Martins today? We were laughing at his efforts in the second half! Thats how bad it got!  mackems.gif

 

I'm not that fussed about Martins but to be fair to him, he was fed on shit for most of the 90 minutes.

[indi]

So what do you think is the reason that no matter what we (nufc) seem to do, it always turns out bad?

 

Big Sam is a decent manager and personally I was expecting a bit of an up and down season this year so long as progress appeared to be being made, but at the moment things look pretty bleak, I have to say.

 

We do have some decent players, although no real stand-out individuals, which is a problem, but they just don't seem to perform, at least not consistently anyway. Why not?

 

There seems to be something fundamentally wrong with the club that prevents anything from working, although I can't put my finger on exactly what it is, but the evidence of the last few years seems to suggest that there are no quick fixes for whatever it is. Therefore, I'm going to try and grit my teeth and bear it 'til the end of the season and see what happens.

 

Like I said, Sam is a decent manager, he's proved that at Bolton, and one day we're going to have to give someone a real chance to sort the club out from top to bottom. That's going to take time and will involve quite a bit of pain I reckon. So if this is the pain and the club's going to end up better for it in the long-run, then I'll take it. Therefore I'm still of the opinion that Sam should be given time, the only reason he shouldn't is if we were able to bring in a truly world-class manager, Mourinho for example, the kind of person you absolutely couldn't see failing to sort things out and even then they'd need to be given time to do it. Unfortunately, I can't see someone like that coming here, can you?

 

I've resigned myself to giving him the rest of the season. Unless we're in relegation trouble we've got to, havent we?

 

in my opinion we should give him at least 2 years, if we want to properly back him. if we don't the only reasons we should not sack him now are that it looks very bad with another bad manager and if we don't have a world class appointment in line.

 

It's simpler than that, if he doesn't get money in Jan to bring in the 2/3 players we clearly need then it can only mean MA wants rid in the summer. MA didn't make his money by being half hearted and he doesn't have a track record for fucking around...Once he's sure SA will be out in 24hrs. As I've said before we'll know a lot more during the Jan window.

 

You're contradicting yourself a bit there Parks.

 

So I am...

 

What I meant was he'll either get money in Jan or be sacked in Jan/Summer. Can I get away with that?

 

I'll let you have the summer, but what would be the point of sacking him after the window, whether or not he'd been given money to spend?

[Guest Li3nZ]

are your serious ?

 

it s not long since the lanky t*** was getting booed onto the pitch by engerland fans.

 

and since when has engerland had owt to do with the toon ? apart from Engerlands Michael Owen getting injured whilst playing in a white shirt.....

 

it is f****** criminal for any self respecting NUFC fan to put engerlands misfortune as a higher priority than getting behind 11 lads in black n white shirts.

 

can you imagine engerland getting beat and then owen getting a standing ovation as he took to the pitch at Old Trafford / Stamford Bridge / Emirates. Can you f***.

 

Joke.

 

Give it a rest, man. Thousands around you obviously think differently.

[robbo_11]

 

I am all for giving a man a chance but these last few performances have been coming & the truth is we are simply awful at the present time. Those that say "give it time; you never have any patience; this is a long road" either do not watch the same things that most of us see or do not understand or have played football. Don't bother with platitudes in reply, they will not wash - we are s**** & the manager is at fault. He either needs to sort it out by Christmas or he can f*** off. What we are serving up in unacceptable. Am I over reacting? No. Those that have been to the games so far this season come & post your thoughts; let the others know what the reality is.

 

 

Well, I have went to a few games, not today because of work, but am in the "give him time" camp.

 

Liverpool and Portsmouth are good, established sides in recent seasons. Newcastle have only recently have a massive overhaul in the Summer.

 

The reality is that the situation has become desperate. In recent seasons we have lost 2-1 to Fulham at home under Roeder, lost 4-1 against Fulham under Souness and add in a few more poor encounters with mid/lower table sides. I think under Robson and Keegan we were spoiled for football - flair, creativity and excitement a regular occurence at St. James' Park (4-3 Man Utd in 01/02) one of the best games I remember.

 

My other theory is that with the continual influx of foreign coaches into the Premier League and "negative" football (possession play) that it has become difficult to play like we did in the Keegan and Robson years with gung ho style. Allardyce knows this and is trying to mould a team together in his own productive style. Maybe it was one of the reasons Bolton generally did well against the big teams like Chelsea under Mourinho? Just a thought.