Quote:
Originally Posted by Tiberian
They won the title easily last year, but they were hardly close to his earlier Chelsea teams were they?
Squeezed the last out of Terry with an adequate partner in Cahill, the same with Drogba as a back up to Costa, Hazard had a great season, Willian and Oscar were more workhorses backing him up. I did not expect them to collapse as they have this season but they were not a team likely to dominate without significant improvements.
Mourinho got the most out of what he had, which LVG has failed to do, injuries and disruptions accepted.
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Mourinho played with pretty much the same side all season. He did not have to or chose to rest players hardly ever. Even Terry started all 38 league games. It left them vulnerable during the run-in, but they played under little pressure due to lack of competition.
That is an absolutely major distinction, not a side aspect of any comparison. The Chelsea players were run into the ground and by all accounts felt shattered in pre-season, which wouldn't have done his relationship with them any good at all. But that's the concern with Mourinho: he becomes fixated far more on adding a trophy to his haul than the long-term implications of his decisions.
Give Van Gaal his first choice line-up, week in week out almost all season and we'd be in the thick of the title race, nqat.