Let me put it this way amigo, perhaps "attack" is not the correct term to use to describe what I'm trying to say....let me rather put it as "dominating the proceedings of a match"...dominating possession of the ball and creating most of the play. The same way the Spanish seleccion plays, and indeed the way our own seleccao used to play (and is lately showing signs of returning to)...very much a traditional Iberico style of play (if I can generalise it like that!), that is positive in approach and always attempts to keep the game "free-flowing" and fluid! None of Mourinho's formers teams really played this way (certainly not Chelsea or Inter), and it has been different at Madrid for reasons I have highlighted already....positive, attacking play is in the nature of that great club.

But I must reiterate, as strong as Real Madrid are looking this year, I still believe Barca are the strongest team in Europe and still the team to beat...and the result at the Bernabeu proved that without any doubt for me. They are the only team in Europe who will dominate the play in virtually every match they play, the only team who never change the way they play, home or away! Let me add too that I don't favour either of the 2 teams over the other, and they are both great clubs, and I would like to see Madrid challenge Barca more this year, as I don't like to see one team dominating too much in any league or competition...but looking at it objectively, I still think Barca are quite a few yards ahead...and Madrid will have to improve even more than they have done to catch up with them.

Since he's been at Madrid, Mourinho has played more attack minded than he has done in the past, but much of this is due to the attack minded players in the squad and the attacking philosophy that's been part of the club since the days of Di Stefano & Co. Mourinho is naturally a more defensive coach though, disciplined and counter-attacking approach, it was the same with Inter and Chesea...and even with Porto. Much of Porto's success in 04 was due to a solid defensive unit, and quick counter-attacking. Real has dominated against lesser talented teams in the Mourinho era, but in all the Classicos against Barca, the true attacking team dominated the attack in all of them. By "negative" I just meant.. more defensive, a more disciplined no risk-taking approach. It wasn't meant as a criticism. It's just another way of winning I suppouse, and has been very succesful for him and his teams.

Andre, you mentioned that Mourinho plays a negative style of football, and I totally disagree with that statement. Mourinho plays the type of football that is best suited for the players he has and the opposition he is facing. Take Real Madrid for example, they have one of the most exciting teams if not the most exciting team in the world. The team averages about 4 goals a game. They get the ball and they quickly transition into attacking football. It's one of the reasons they have less difficulty than Barcelona when facing teams with less points in La Liga. The style that Barcelona plays invites the opposition to congest their goal area due to Barcelona's methodical build up when they face lesser opposition.

I believe that the reason many people still hold the notion that Mourinho plays negative football, comes from Inter's performance against Barcelona in the Champions League in that second leg. However, people forget that in the first leg Inter handily won 3 to 1 playing attacking football and that in the second leg, due to Mr. Busquet's histrionics, Thiago Motta was wrongly sent off forcing Inter to play with ten men for most of the game and thus adopting a defensive style which was a work of art in itself. What Mourinho did with Inter was miraculous just look at the depths Inter has sunk to at present.

I predicted he'd flop and here we are LOL

AVB has done well to turn around the dreadful little period they were going through recently, and is a very talented manager who sticks to his principles of attacking football whatever the consequences. His absence at Porto has clearly been felt, and I think he is another great candidate to coach the seleccao in the future...we have quite a few now don't we?...perhaps it won't be as easy as Mourinho seems to think - that he will just decide whenever he wants to coach the seleccao...personally I much prefer the more positive style of football that both AVB and JJ play than the more negative style Mourinho plays!!!

However I seriously doubt Chelsea will be winning either the Premier League or the Champions League this season. And AVB will probably have to wait until next season for big success. He has inherited a slightly ageing squad (Terry, Lampard, Drogba), while others like Torres, Cole and Cech just don't seem like the players they were a few years ago. Also (as a Benfica fan) the more I see David Luiz play for Chelsea, the more I think we got a good deal for him in the end. He plays with a lot of heart, but takes big risks way too often. I think by next season when AVB has had more personal influence on the team, they will look more likely to win the big trophies...

Torres is 27 now, he will be 28, March next year.

I don't think Manchester City is going to win the league this year despite their fine start. The next game for Man City is against Arsenal and I can see them losing points once more. The Epl is the most competitive league in football; any number of teams can win it this year;Arsenal, Manchester United and City, Chelsea, even Tottenham.

The Chelsea defence is still a major issue, and they weren't pressured as much in this game against Man City because they played against 10 men for most of the second half.

Bosingwa had a decent game. Although, he got away with a penalty in the first half against Silva and he gave the ball away which almost led to a goal. In the second half he and the other defenders weren't pressured because they were playing with an extra man.

I've been critical of Bosingwa but he is not the only one at fault for the past poor performances . Ashely Cole is a shadow of the player he used to be and Terry isn't getting any younger.

Obviously, the team needs some overhauling, new blood has to be brought in, hopefully it won't be the likes of players such as Quaresma who had his chance at Chelsea. Torres is still a young player he turns 27 this coming March. I think he will overcome his psychological problems and greatly help Chelsea this year. Just Imagine if Ronaldo had been playing badly for the length of time that Torres has been playing, they would likely lynch him and the Portuguese fans would sadly take the lead in that endeavour.

@ Paul/Romania, if you bring in Lisandro and Quaresma to this current Chelsea team which already includes Meireles, you basically have the core of the old 07/08/09 Porto team, all you need to add are Lucho Gonzalez, Bruno Alves and Helton!