Confirmed and Official - Welcome to Old Trafford José Mourinho

Granted City have spent and spent big, but at least a part of the reason they have far and away the strongest squad (something I do not think people would have said when Pep took to job) is because a number of the players he inherited have improved under him. They have a large number of guys who he has clearly helped to improve and progress. He deserves a lot of credit for that so to say that he has far and away the best squad is a bit unfair to him in my opinion.

I think if Mou had gotten similiar progression from some of our young players as Pep has gotten from De Bruyne, Sterling and Sane, and improved the levels of our vets the way Pep has managed with Otamendi, Fernandinho and Delph, the gaps between the squads would not look quite so large as it does.

 

If we play good attacking football next season. If I enjoy watching the games. If the players look happy. If Mourinho stops bringing everybody on a downer after every interview....and we finish a close second in the prem, and have a good run in the CL...I'd be disappointed...but the progression on the field would be enough to give him another year (if he wished).

Unfortunately, it's this universe...not a parallel universe.

If the football is just as dire and directionless..and we scrape the prem title next year, I'd say thanks for the trophies, it took you longer than it should for what we had to endure, all the best...now lets move forward with somebody else.

 

Ask yourself this...if Jose and Pep switched squads, would Pep still win a league title this past season? No chance.

I'm not saying players don't progress under Pep. I'm saying he's never, not a single time, won without the best squad in the league.

 

If Jose and Pep switched sides this past season, I hope you're not insinuating that it's a given that Jose would have won with that City team either. Do we know what he would have done with some of wonderful talent at his disposal (especially offensively)?
The truth is however, we really don't know how he would have done having this United team for the past 2 seasons. The argument that he never won the league he was in without having the best team, not sure what that means tbh. He's coached 3 teams in 10yrs and he's had the benefit because of what he did at Barca, to get his choice of jobs. And he went to clubs that were stacked and with great means. He hasn't been tested yet with a different type of club. Perhaps he will one day, but it's not like he has to confirm how good he is. Not yet at least.
What is certain is that if Pep was at United, the likes of Martial, Pogba, and Rashford alone would probably be performing at a much higher level than what we've seen. Herrera would be buzzing around the midfield as well and the team would just have a different look and approach about it.
Would it be enough to win the title? Maybe, maybe not. As I said, that crazy, almost OTT manners of his can be a bit much for me, but it's hard to argue with what he's done, having found success everywhere he's been so far. His CL failures, particularly at Bayern, are a blemish on his record. But I'm not really going to slate him for that because a certain element of luck is required to win that competition. He's gone to the semis repeatedly, so that has to count for something. We'll see what he will do withCity in Europe, but seeing how he rebounded from what was a disappointing season to just steamroll over the competition this season, can not be easily dismissed either.

 

Really? No chance? We finished second and I have to agree with Ashur that I could easily see Jose neutering that City team (De Bruyne might be back in Germany by now). If Pep had gotten similar progression out of Pogba, Martial and Rashford as he got from De Bruyne, Sane and Sterling our squad would look right up with theirs.

 

You're talking about a situation where Jose is still signing players for Man Utd despite being City coach, and vice versa for Pep.

 

Yes we finished second. A full 19 pts behind City. Thats a massive gap.

Compare our squad to theirs. Who from our team would make it in their starting 11? DDG is the only lock. Hell their 2nd string attack is arguably better than our starting front 3/4.

While I'm sure Jose would've nuetered their attack to some degree, he would also have improved them defensively, not that they needed it that much. But the talent on that team still would've shown through.

It's a hypothetical but the point stands, Pep can't win with a lesser team. That showed during his early time at City and it showed in the CL when he was with Bayern.

 

Despite winning three consecutive UCL titles I don't rate him that highly at all and that's based the bold statement. Mou has been fortunate with that throughout his career as well. My reason for him coming in is based on his style of play which is attack is the best defense and his ability to lure top quality players to the club.

 

Give Mou the citeh team of last season and he would've lost the title like he did with us. His player management is poor and that would've caused many problems plus his parking the bus approach would have ruined the players attacking ability

 

That's a fair position.

 

🗣 ”I want my players to win, but I also want my players to go on holiday. So this will be tough. Group E, Brazil wins. I need Matić to go on holiday, so Switzerland to finish second. I’m sorry Nemanja, but you need a holiday."

- José Mourinho. 👀😂 pic.twitter.com/e7gsjGrZFL

— Football Tweet ⚽ (@Football__Tweet) June 6, 2018

 

Nemanja does in fact need a long rest (as does Sanchez, who thankfully will get one). I don't have the stats at my side but I wouldn't be surprised if he played a full 90+ in 40-45 matches this season. And it should be recalled that midfielder, of whichever kind, is the most physically exhausting position on the pitch.

But I would like to see one United player lift the World Cup trophy. Maybe De Gea or Pogba...not sure who else on the squad would even have a prayer.

 

Mourinho desn't have much to worry about with Serbia. Barring some type of miracle, they will finish 2nd at best behind Brazil, then they'll probably meet Germany in the Round of 16 and will bow out then.
But here's a tip for Mourinho: how about making more use of the squad he has on hand and rotate players from the get go to keep them fresh throughout the season? It's no coincidence that the 2 players he rode all season long (Lukaku and Matic), playing them no matter what, experienced a sharp dip in form in the middle of the season.
There is Herrera, who can play in his stead against lower tiered oppo, and this coming season, he could even give Timmy a try at that spot from time to time. There's absolutely no reason for him to play anyone, except for Dave, every single in the Prem over the course of a season.

 

Carrick was out most of the season due to illness and injury. Fellaini never proved to be the -- and I quote you directly from 2013 -- "deep lying midfielder" you were sure he was going to be for us. TFM wasn't ready for the role, even if we did keep him at OT. Blind, whom you've pimped here, just doesn't have the engine for it either.

There is Herrera, who can do spot duty, but he's simply not in Matic's class as a holding mid.

Blame him for not foreseeing Carrick's inevitable decline and realizing too late that Fellaini was useless, but Mourinho really didn't have much choice when it came to running Matic into the ground.

 

He could have bought someone better than matic.

 

I just did a blog bit on whether De Gea or Mourinho deserved more credit for second place and with that in mind I was looking at the stats and dear lord we'll be screwed if we lose our goalkeeper.

Almost all our stats pegged us about 5th or 6th best in the league. By far our best stat was goals conceded and De Gea faced and saved more shots than any goalie in the top six.

Really disillusioned with Mou at this point.

@Ashur is right: we should have hired a DOF to direct the squad building and philosophy of this club, because ideally we should put ourself in a position to can Mourinho if we're not in solid contention by Christmas, without being stuck with a team built around his personal vision.

 

The DoF shout is not one I will solely take credit for: it's a point of view shared by most of United fans and pretty much universal here.
But it is required to finally setup a modern structure in how to run a top club in the game. But also as noted above to establish a baseline/blueprint ideology wise that can be relied upon when bringing in players and in the overall day to day running of the club, among other things.
Even freaking Arsenal, now that Wenger has stepped down, have gone in that direction per Ivan Gazidis. Woodward is a great executive and to his credit, he's improved big time when it comes to negotiating and closing deals for us. But we still need a football guy in an executive position right below him as well.
The ironic part is that Mourinho is all for this as well...

 

Maybe, but who? Serious question, as I can't recall who else was in the market last summer. We should have gone in for Kante the previous summer but I'm not sure Kante ever expressed any interest in going to United.

Last summer, who else was better than Matic and was in the market?

 

No question about that. I've never bothered to look up stats re De Gea but even a blind fool understands that De Gea has been crucial to whatever success we've had the last 6 years. The saves are astonishing and are the difference between 3 points and 1 point and between 1 point and 0 points. This is not debatable.

But I'm not sure how De Gea's brilliance logically proceeds to the conclusion that you should be disillusioned with Mou at this point. There are reasons to be disappointed with key decisions, such as starting Jones over Bailly in the effin FA Cup final, but he took a club which was swirling in the toilet bowl under Van Gaal (someone on the board still defends Van Gaal, but I can't remember who) and got us back into the CL and then second place in the PL. With the squad he inherited from Van Gaal, Mou was never going to win the PL in either his first or second season. It's only now, going into his third season, that we can reasonably expect a PL trophy.

And even then, City have to be the heavy favorite over us.

 

The facial expressions and mannerisms of Mourinho are nothing but boring: in that respect, he's very much football's version of Jon Gruden. More than that though, they do appear to share similarities in terms of how they approach their respective games (putting defensive solidity and pragmatism above all else), but also as far as their intense desire to win and their meticulous preparation in all aspects of their job as coaches.
A meeting between the 2 would be pretty fascinating, no doubt and just be pretty interesting...

 

Fabinho, I think

 

True, But didn't Monaco refuse to let Fabinho go last summer as they had already sold M'bappe? In any event, the case for Fabinho over Matic is more about Fabinho's future than where they are right now. Matic was prem proven last summer and Fabinho was obviously not.

 

Despite their contrast in style, Mourinho and Guardiola are very similar in terms of their obsession - Gudjohnsen

www.goal.com/en-gh/news/mourinho-and-guardiola-are-very-similar-contrasting-styles/16koqif5izlc71gqxn715ikr7d

 

Yes, we're going to fire him unless we win the league next year. And then we'll look like real idiots.... maybe everybody else in the league does the same?

 

#OnThisDay in 2016, José Mourinho was unveiled as Manchester United manager 🔴#UCL pic.twitter.com/njpu1L1Tdc

— UEFA Champions League (@ChampionsLeague) July 5, 2018