Confirmed and Official - Welcome to Old Trafford José Mourinho

It's shades of his last Chelsea term where he and Hazard was at ends and the physio incident added to it and they got rid of him.

 

Just checked PL stats--

Utd: Won - 17, Lost - 5, Draw - 5, Goals For -- 51, Goals Against - 19,
Chelsea: Won - 16, Lost - 6, Draw - 5, Goals For -- 49, Goals Against - 23

 

Wow. It has nothing to do with watching Chelsea.

 

So after Chelsea, he is going to start a fight with United medical staff?[emoji35]

 

Did you read the article? What is your issue with what Mourinho said?

This is really getting old.

 

The problem is, good managers protect their players and staff in front of the media...and deal with any issues in house if there are any. They say stuff like "WE thought he was fit" in an effort to say it was a mistake but we will take that together.

Our manager refuses to take any blame for anything that goes wrong. He is a complete hypocrite, and picks and chooses which players\staff he will defend and which he will throw under the bus or worse openly embarrass (see Pogba and Shaw).

 

Mourinho's strange power play with Pogba continues.

www.theguardian.com/football/blog/2018/feb/22/benching-paul-pogba-mind-game-own-goal-jose-mourinho

Just very bizarre indeed that Jose would want to go down this road, with only one likely outcome. Talk about lack of self preservation...

 

This board has become the official moan/bitch/whine thread, which really is getting old.

Mourinho way overstates his case that Herrera's injury is "proof that he was not 100 per cent fit." A hamstring pull can happen to any player at any time, even if he's "100 per cent fit". With a player has a muscle problem if the docs and the player himself says he's ready to go, how can manager know better than they?

The more relevant issue to be discussing today re Herrera isn't his hamstring pull, but this: https://www.thesun.co.uk/sport/foot...ixing-ander-herrera-la-liga-zaragoza-levante/





.

 

Reading this teaser of a post I expected to find new information, but none was to be found.

I object to Mourinho's handling of Pogba, which actually goes back to last season when he played him endlessly even to the point where Pogba, near the end of the season in clear exhaustion, just sat down on the pitch during play. Of all the mistakes by Mourinho this season, which (for me at least) began with his purchase of Lindelof instead of Laporte, the one that has stood out as most objectionable has been misuses of Pogba in a mid 2.

But it's not as though everything gone swimmingly and only Jose is responsible for the supposed disastrous mess that we're in (2nd in the league, through to the QF in the FA Cup and almost through to the QF in the CL).

• Pogba was, if anyone recalls, out for much of the season with injury and when he came back he was felled by an outrageous red card.
• Bailly has been out for most of the season.
• Carrick has been out for most of the season.
• Miki, after a promising start, failed to have a "monster season".

I'm already past my word limit so I'll wrap this up quickly now, but there's no question that Mourinho has misused Pogba and that that misuse is a proximate, though not exclusive, cause of our problems in attack. Our forwards have also been guilty of missing on far too many clearcut chances and the transition from the back line to the second phase has been too labored. We're most effective in getting the best out of Lukaku on counterattacks, not in possession play. That's frustrating for you reprobates here as what we'd all like to see from United is the kind of play we're seeing from City -- incisive play in the last third on the back of lots of possession. I'd like to see that too but the real problem is that Lukaku isn't the kind of 9 who can scores goal from tight positions. He feeds off space to run into but the only way to create that space is on counterattacks, which means we have to yield possession in order to gain that space back on counterattacks.

 

I think we'll seat Sevilla 1-0 at home and get knocked out in the quarters, we'll win the FA Cup and finished 3rd/4th in the Prem. Is that good enough for Jose? Probable. But is it good enough for Manchester United? For the Mourinho apologists on here that is a great season, the end result is improving.

I was will to accept the dour play last year with the winning of the Europa being a positive result to the end of the season(sorry I don't count the League cup/Charity Shield friendly as both are a waste of time). But we need to be beyond accepting the current 2nd place and CL QF results as being enough. We need to show that on the field. This is not Mourinho's first season. He has a squad of quality attacking players but his is not using them properly. This is not moaning, this is wanting us to achieve our potential or as in some of Fergie's teams, over achieve. Right now we are under achieving to our abilities and that is the crux of the problem.

 

Judging from the way we play on the field, I believe that Mourinho spends too much time in training working on shape. He needs to bring in a coach like Rene Meulensteen and allow said coach 30-45 minutes per training session with the first team to work on combining going forward, springing from defensive shape, and general creativity.

His polemic character in the media needs to be forgotten and overlooked by United fans. Any furor shown towards a manager that is willing to be controversial is hypocritical. We had Fergie for nearly three decades. Feather-ruffling is what we did.

 

I think what all the Mou apologists fail to understand is that all we want is hope. We want to see progress in the way we play, so that even if things don't work out this season, or next, there is clear sign that the team is playing well and getting better. That we are competing with the best teams even when not getting the points. Sure, you'd still be disappointed with not beating all comers, but having a good cohesive team that creates chances, gives you the belief that things can get better.

Instead, what we have is despair. Over a long period of time (with the odd exception) this team has shown a brand of football that I can only describe as lost in chaos. It's not defensively sound, has no attacking structure, is slow and regardless of any players put into this team, they look around the pitch like they have no idea what they are supposed to be doing. There are gaps all over the field when we don't have the ball, and when we do...we have no options because there is no structured clever movement. LVG was boring, slow and turgid....but at least you could see a shitty possession based structure. It was shit, but hey at least the manager showed his input..even for the worse. I have no idea what Jose brings to this team tactically or structurally....I know for sure what he brings off the pitch and thats bad vibes and bullshit. It's 18 months in, and like FatherTed said we do have some very good players....yet it's a mess, and looks to be getting worse. Nobody is asking for a guaranteed league trophy...we just want to see a team we can enjoy watching, with the hope it's getting better and will compete for the best trophies in the future.

 

I think the chances of Mou surviving the year correspond almost exactly with our chances of making the top-4, which are around 65-75% I'd say. If he makes top-4 I think he gets another year pretty much no matter what happens in the other competitions.

Even if we go out to Sevilla and don't win the FA cup I think a top-4 finish would see him keep his job assuming he still wants it (i.e. he doesn't force his way out by escalating the Pogba feud). The talent level of the squad he inherited wasn't near where it needed to be and the project of rebuilding that is still ongoing. We're still very thin in midfield in particular and lack top quality at the back. This summer will be about rectifying those weaknesses, and next season will be about Mou showing he can take the next step with a squad that should be (assuming we do more good business this summer) finally back close to where it needs to be.

If he fails the top 4 I don't think anything can save his job outside a miracle CL win (negligible odds at this point, we don't look good enough to fluke it even if we got the best possible draw). The one non-negotiable for him is to continue to deliver champion's league football. It's also hard to imagine a situation where our form continues to be bad enough for us to fall from the top-4 without us also flaming out in the other competitions (i.e. the combination of say losing the CL final while also not making top-4 seems very unlikely since we can't possibly make the CL final without our form improving to a point that should see us comfortably secure our top-4 place).

 

Careful she's one the fans that has her head shoved so far up Mourihno ass that she defends everything he does

 

What Mourinho said was, (paraphrased), Medical team passed him fit, but we gave him more protection. Herrara practiced and looked fully fit. Herrara played the first minutes at a rate that looked like he was fully fit. Then he got injured and apparently was not fully fit.

The headline implies that Mourinho is accusing the medical staff, when his statement is talking about the care that was taken with Herrara's injury.

Not really. I just think you all have gone so bonkers anti-Mourinho that you'll believe anything so long as it's negative.

It used to be that the fans were concerned about how well the medical staff was treating our players, now they doctors are all little darlings who might get their feelings hurt if Mourinho even mentions that they had a role to play into getting Herrara back onto the field. It used to be that Pogba had some responsibility for how well he played, now he's another little darling who can never be cosseted too much. It used to be that you all complained that Mourinho wouldn't play home grown players, well, McTominey starts against Sevilla and not a hint of approval.

We're in 2nd place in the PL, in the round of 16 in the CL, and still in the FA cup, but it doesn't matter a bit. Maybe all the other threads in this forum should be closed, because nothing else matters anymore apparently -- neither the players nor the games.

 

This Pogba business is the straw which broke the camel's back for me. I could forgive him for buying Sanchez and playing him in Martial's position, I could even see some logic in persisting with the double pivot until recently, but this Pogba situation is the end.

I'm firmly off the Jose bandwagon, and he needs to either buck up his ideas and get us back to playing some halfway decent football, or he needs to ******** off. It's not like we're asking for the earth here, he's assembled a squad with some pretty big players, and he needs to earn that pay packet he's getting. Wtf is he doing, seriously?? The worst thing is, I can't see how this doesn't end with us keeping both Pogba and Jose, and considering Jose went after him and got Woodie to spend the best part of £90m on him, and to then not even know how to play him, leaves me feeling that he seriously hasn't got a clue these days. Like, seriously, wtf?

 

Jose Mourinho: a master of the dark arts?

www.espn.com/soccer/club/manchester-united/360/blog/post/3365056/manchester-united-manager-jose-mourinho-is-the-master-of-the-dark-arts?src=com

 

Jezes Lynne. It's not all black and white.

There is plenty of discussion on here about how Pogba etc can do better, I certainly believe he should be.

As for McT, do you really think he should have started over Pogba, in an away CL knockout game? To me, he hasn't shown much after observing him for a few games. I still don't know what his strengths are beyond being an extra body in midfield.

 

McTs strength is that the listens to Mou and does exactly as told, always.

Even when making a mistake, it will be trying to execute Mou's game plan. So, that's ok for mou.

 

Pops, there's a lot to unpack here but underneath it all is the very understandable frustration that Mourinho has done less with the tools at his disposal than has Guardiola. Sure, we concede Pep has more cash at his disposal than does Jose has a warchest too and nda his players play with vastly more style and he has a double-digit lead on us in the league.

These are valid criticisms.

But I would like there to be some recognition here that there have been player failures as well. Lukaku went on a long cold streak, missing a number of glorious chances. Jones and Smalling have been disappointing overall (recall Jones at Wembley and the Smalling dive, to name but a few ignominious performances). Sanchez has been a massive disappointment so far in his favored left position.

Let's stipulate for the sake of argument that ending second in the league, crashing out in the QF of the CL and winning the FA Cup actually constitutes a disastrous season. Fine. Based on what we know now, how much of the responsibility for that disastrous season would fall on the manager and how much on the players?

I'd say 60% on the manager and 40% on the players.

Mourinho
Mourinho is responsible for bringing in Lindelof, which right now looks like a bad decision.
Mourinho is responsible for keeping Fellaini, who's just not MUQ.
Mourinho is responsible for misusing Pogba, although we should recall Pogba was out for a long spell with injury, which coincided with our decline after a fantastic start to the season.
Mourinho may have wrecked Miki as a footballer, although the jury is out on whether Miki may have been overrated in the first place.
Mourinho has misused Martial since the arrival of Sanchez, a player whose best days may already be behind him.

The Players
Our keepers have been outstanding, De Gea being easily the best keeper on the planet in recent years and again this year.
Our fullbacks have been very good, although lacking a bit offensively.
Our CBs have been average, borderline poor (Bailly out injured most of the season), saved by outstanding keeping.
Our central midfielders have been good, although hampered somewhat by injury (Pogba) and questionable management.
Our wide attacking players have been average.
Our strikers have been better than good, but not very good.

What I'd like BigSoccer posters to ask themselves, and answer as honestly as possible, is how great our players really are. How many of our players would make Citys or Chelsea's starting XI on a regular basis? De Gea for sure and Pogba in all likelihood. But once you get past that I seriously doubt Sanchez, Martial or Lukaku would be of interest to City or Chelsea as a starter. Certainly not Young, Lingard, Smalling, Jones or Valencia. Chelsea offloaded Matic.

In other words, our squad just isn't all that great. Good, yes. Perhaps very good, but if you're a Barcelona or Real supporter you look at United's squad and you're having a laugh. Jose isn't working with one of the great squads on the planet right now. Maybe that's his fault but that's the reality.