Manchester United and manager Jose Mourinho experienced a unique season in 2017-18, as results and tactics clashed in a negative manner. The Red Devils expect a certain type of attacking and exciting football to bring success, and that is not necessarily something that the Portuguese coach always delivers.
Mourinho has proven himself to be a great tactician, often able to devise the proper strategy that will bring victory. However, frustrations arrive when the silverware is not produced from that approach. In this sense, the upcoming campaign will likely bring a repeat of recent history for him and his employer.
Mourinho is a mercenary, an individual that a club turns to in order to bring trophies or stability. It began well enough in some respects, capturing a League Cup and Community Shield in his first term. Lifting the UEFA Europa League crown was supposed to set up a strong run this past season, but that was not the case.
Manchester City and Pep Guardiola ran away with the Premier League title race, and elimination in the Champions League at the hands of Sevilla only angered supporters. A defensive alignment and plan is fine when you are winning, although it becomes the opposite amidst consistent losses.
United eventually would finish second in the league table, and lost in the FA Cup final to Chelsea.
All that is part of the equation, as is what almost feels like a ticking clock on his time at Old Trafford. Since his tremendous success guiding FC Porto to European glory, Mourinho does not stay at a club for very long. This has been for a variety of reasons.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9OeHRWXinvQ
The 55-year-old has been known to clash with ownership and wants business handled his way. That aspect is not difficult to put up with, but only when triumphs are a common occurrence.
The third year has been a critical moment for Mourinho, as the breaking point is normally reached. This took place twice at Chelsea, and with Real Madrid in 2013. At Inter Milan, the exit was even sooner.
When examining the mood around United at the moment and looking at what is on the horizon, a perfect storm is beginning to form. City are a genuine juggernaut, and Guardiola will only be provided more reinforcements this summer. Reports have some key players like Paul Pogba growing agitated with the situation, and it may be tough for Mourinho to regain his focus.
Real Madrid won yet another Champions League trophy, and the idea of United making a deep run in that coming tournament seems unlikely.
If the 2018-19 campaign begins in a poor manner, there is no guarantee that Mourinho will even make it until the end. Never one to hold back his opinions, it is a scenario that would appear all too familiar to those that have followed his fascinating career.
Manchester United are going through an identity crisis, and it really started when Sir Alex Ferguson stepped away. Jose Mourinho is currently trying to find that identity, but it will be a search that ends in failure for the manager that has achieved so much throughout Europe.
What a typically ignorant shallow unintelligent delusional piece of wishful flatulence.
It is so lacking in substance that its not worth a proper response but I will persist. Suffice to say instead of reading the headlines in the dishonest mainstream British media comics or the frothing rabid ranting of the Twitter herd you might just consider that last season was in fact the best in performance terms by United (league position, points, wins, goals scored, goals conceded) overall since Fergie retired and surpassed the performance of something over one quarter of Fergie’s teams. Not only that but since Mourinho arrived United’s unofficial World ranking has risen to 10th from the 32nd it slumped too under Van Gaal.
Sure there have been individual games that have proven disappointing this season but all in all the progress is significant. So significant that Mourinho has the highest win ratio of any manager in United history and the best first two years performance of any United manager in their history. Not even Fergie started his United career as well as Jose has done.
After all this season the United team amassed more league points than the treble winning side did during that historic season. This season is by no means the failure a deranged British media are presenting it as. It is the very opposite of what they are portraying.
Having owners that live 3,000 miles away means that much of the irrelevant swivel-eyed gibberish spouted by our media is totally overlooked and what they will see is a share price that has risen by up to 50% over the last 2 years or so, record levels of revenue received, sponsors falling over themselves to sign up with the club, back to back CL qualification, 2 trophies and 3 finals and a satisfactory improvement in performance overall to 2nd in the EPL, albeit in the shadow of a Manchester City club that actually seriously invested in their squad 5 years before the Glazer’s did and have repeatedly outspent them since.
Not only that but the internal politics at United is far simpler and straightforward than at any of Chelsea, Real and Inter. There is nobody at Old Trafford to interfere with the direct management line of the Glazers via Woodward to Mourinho and as long as Mourinho keeps them happy, as he is, there is nobody at the club who can undermine him. Mourinho is probably as secure in his current role as he ever has been in any job since he left Porto and that’s even before the Glazer’s contemplate a world without Mourinho because there are few if any adequate replacements who could do any better.
Whatever some fans might think both Pogba and Martial have seriously damaged their own reputations by touting themselves around Europe like dockside tarts (without any serious takers I might add ~ else why are they staying?) whilst failing to perform adequately for the club and it is clear that next season Pogba, if the Fred purchase is anything to go by, has already lost his automatic first team place and potentially could find himself out on his ear next summer. Martial similarly has one more season to prove himself or else he could be given the option to leave as well.
The simple reality is that currently Mourinho has done everything his employers expect him to do and no amount of whining by upstart juvenile over pampered players, a malignant media, or deranged ignorant fans will successfully undermine a manager who is clearly backed by his board.
Given further investment in the squad (which is already happening) this summer and a further clearing out of the Van Gaal and Moyes dross in the squad, there is little reason to believe that this coming season will be anything but a further progression for Mourinho and United. Whether they will actually catch City is up in the air but chances are they will significant reduce the gap between them and should improve in Europe as well. We may also see all the chuntering rubbish written about Mourinho’s ‘style (players dictate style not managers) finally squashed too.
So next time you decide to write about the impending doom facing a club from over the pond can I suggest you do some real research and not base your article on the hysterical delerium of idle ignorant overpaid bigoted British propagandists because ‘the crisis’ they and seemingly you are attempting to fabricate at United is likely going to be stuffed down their throats by Mourinho next season…
Hey Meany,
I appreciate the thoughts. Not sure what that unofficial ranking you mentioned is, but “unofficial” may be the best way to describe it. Comparing him to Fergie is difficult in the sense of this is a new age, and managers will not just be given multiple years to build upon without silverware (not even Mourinho). As far as point totals, thats all well and good but when there is nothing to show for it frustrations reach a breaking point.
I don’t think Mourinho is doing a terrible job, and more time would not necessarily be a bad thing. But just like what Pochettino is going through at Tottenham, you have to win trophies. You spoke of the boardroom feelings – have you spoken to Woodward and the Glazers about it? If not, I don’t think assuming that “owners want success” is a wild assumption on my part. Playing a bland version of the game doesn’t help that either.
As you mentioned, they may not catch City. And that is really Mourinho’s biggest problem.