It was partially tongue in cheek, however there have been some people stating that his recent slump is the new norm and he won't ever be the same again, which strikes me as being a bit silly.
BBC: United hold talks with Mourinho
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Well you always hope you don't have injuries so does that mean you almost never play youth? Chelsea were walking the league last season. If even then he doesn't trust youth (which has been doing well btw at youth level) then when will he?
And youth isn't even developed when you only play them when the pressure is off. But it's at least a first step and Mourinho seems to be far away even from this first step.
Is it really too much to ask for to just give 2 or 3 most promising youth players some time over a season? This would mean around 30-60 minutes a youth player on average every 4 games or so in 50+ games per season.
Then this season he kept playing senior players despite their poor form. Would a couple of youth players have done worse? Actually impossible to do worse than his Chelsea did this season.
Now if it's just not in your plans to play youth players because your 1st team is awesome and you have high ambitions well cool, but then where is the bloody treble or double?
So either he trusts youth and we show some patience with results and trophies (admittedly not as much as with LvG's bad results) or he doesn't at all but then just a 3rd place and not competing on several fronts won't be enough for me.
Ideally a manager should get a right balance of both.
If we hire him then I can only hope that he regrets that youth is indeed one of the very few areas he hasn't succeeded so far and he sees it as a challenge to get the record straight here.
Tbf to him though I read an article about his time at Inter where he influenced Inter's youth system positively but I can't say anything about it, I hardly follow Serie A.
At the same time if it goes wrong with Mourinho (only top 4, no PL trophy or CL progress, dire football plus no youth) then I don't think many will argue that the signs weren't already there and we wanted to overlook them because we were desperate to hire him.
One or two definitely are, but they're easily ignored.
Don't play a lot, but at least some. And what if he gets knocked out? Haven't his teams of only Senior / world class / expensive players been knocked out of comps several times?
You need to take (calculated) risks at times AND be prepared of outcomes and find a way to deal with it and take some pressure off youth players who are bound to make mistakes.
LVG deliberately thinned out the squad because he wanted to use youngsters to an extent. It did however get a little out of control .... At one point you'd want to bring your football boots if you were attending the game in case you'd be called down from the stands to play right back. That's one thing he can be accused of. Even if he was planning to resort to youngsters, he didn't until he had to. It would probably have been better to rotate a bit earlier on and maybe avoid some of those injuries in the first place.
Ouch.
Sounds even worse than I imaginedThink those of you who are using the "Jose doesn't use youth" example a bit to far. I'd like to think Jose is an intelligent man when it comes to football and if he has already agreed a deal to take over from LVG you'd imagine he'd be watching a lot of us in recent weeks and would have seen the impact the likes of Rashford and Fosu-Mensah (the only real two who have stood out) have made and he'll keep them around the first team.
Other than that, I'm a firm believer of if they are good enough then he'll use them. I don't want him to just play the kids just because it's the "United thing to do" even if they aren't good enough.
Other than that, I'm a firm believer of if they are good enough then he'll use them. I don't want him to just play the kids just because it's the "United thing to do" even if they aren't good enough.
Well said.
What Mou did with De Bruyne is unforgettable and in clear contrast to the United ways and traditions. Its not as if we ever frustrated the most promising young midfielder in Europe to leave on free because we insisting in playing nearly 40 year olds, Cleverley and even full backs as CMs instead of playing him
Yeah well said. Wanting an 18 year old to stay but asking for more patience is awful. However no harm in letting an established 22 years old player go.
SAF became a bit risk averse in his last few years as Manager. No one is disputing that. Mourinho however has always been averse of that kind of risk and would be immense if this changes as he gets older
The posters trying to make out Ranieri built Joses formidable Chelsea team are talking out of their backsides, never have I read so much desperate guff in trying to prove a point.
The man is a serial winner and genius manager, for me is the only one who could walk in the great man's footsteps be it for a short successful period.
He should have got the job 3 years ago bit stupidly some of our board members made ludicrous decisions, dizzy on success and not thinking straight please don't let your ego rule a sensible decision by not appointing the man who will take us back to former glories.
Nice guys come last, let's get a winner in and be universality hated again, I hate a losing mentality is just so not United.
The man is a serial winner and genius manager, for me is the only one who could walk in the great man's footsteps be it for a short successful period.
He should have got the job 3 years ago bit stupidly some of our board members made ludicrous decisions, dizzy on success and not thinking straight please don't let your ego rule a sensible decision by not appointing the man who will take us back to former glories.
Nice guys come last, let's get a winner in and be universality hated again, I hate a losing mentality is just so not United.
Shit happens especially in this time and age where youth talent have agents who tend to be impatient to cash in.
The Great Eric Harrison who had a finger in the pie in all United's kids from Hughes to Wes Brown once told a kid to leave football for good because he was really not cut for football. This boy went to Crewe and then moved to Sampdoria, Juventus and Arsenal + became English captain. I agree with those that Mourinho's record is far from glorious in terms of kids hence why I fully believe in the need of us bringing in a top DOF. However lets not slaughter him on 1-2 mistakes
Maybe, it just so happens the kids at Chelsea were not good enough for the first team? Besides, the pressure on managers to achieve instant success at present is just too much for managers to gamble on youth.
Chelsea's policy, much like Madrid has been to achieve instant success with their financial power. I understand from a managers perspective not to take a risk by introducing youth and possibly get sacked when you're allowed to buy established internationals.
Chelsea's policy, much like Madrid has been to achieve instant success with their financial power. I understand from a managers perspective not to take a risk by introducing youth and possibly get sacked when you're allowed to buy established internationals.
It's like a merry go round this saga. I was in the camp that he wasn't coming...until I've read what LvG said in his post match interview about the future etc.
Well said!! Titles make stupid decisions easier to swallow!!
He did look really grim. Not the reaction of a manager who'd just gotten to the cup final, at least not the reaction you'd expect. He seemed very subdued.
There is also the fact that both Chelsea and Madrid have zero appetite to bring through young players. Abramovich values trophies and success above all and Madrid are an utter circus of a club to put it mildly. That said, he played Varane when most Madrid fans couldn't see it. He saw potential of Zouma. He put faith in Santon at Inter.
Utd are different. Yes we want success but the fans do give younger players slack because they love seeing one of their own come through. He would have no problem playing players he thinks are good enough. This idea that Utd will all of sudden not produce young players because of a manager is utter tripe.
Utd are different. Yes we want success but the fans do give younger players slack because they love seeing one of their own come through. He would have no problem playing players he thinks are good enough. This idea that Utd will all of sudden not produce young players because of a manager is utter tripe.
Quite.
Which Chelsea manager has actively promoted youngsters to their main squad ever since they've been taken over by Roman? The answer is none, must be a reason to this.
I'm not a fan of Mourinho but I'd have taken Simeone and Guardiola over him but both of them are seemingly non-gettable, so Mourinho is the best option available and I expect the club to sign him.
Completely agree. Ferguson also said that because of Chelsea/Mourinho's sprinting out of the starting blocks they had to change their approach to the new season.
Excellent! Haven't gotten around to watch post match yet.
The likes of Rashford and Fosu-Mensah wouldn't have had any chances if Mourinho was manager though. That's the point.
There will have been Chelsea youth players with enough ability to have started a few games over the past few seasons, but Mourinho was too scared to risk them failing to give them a decent chance.
I believe these latest rumours. Even Louis said he talked to the board recently and I think this had to do with it.
Here's the post-match press conference, if someone wants to watch:
Mourinho likes to prove people wrong. His ego won't have enjoyed the criticism he's been facing surrounding his inability to bring through young players.
If anything, this makes it all the more likely that players such as Rashford and Fosu-Mensah play a big part going forward. Those two in particular are physically ready to play in a typical Mourinho side.
If anything, this makes it all the more likely that players such as Rashford and Fosu-Mensah play a big part going forward. Those two in particular are physically ready to play in a typical Mourinho side.
Nor would they have gotten the chance if it weren't for LVG poor squad management skills during the summer and failing to replace those he sold plus the factor the vast amount of injuries we had around the time they got in to the team.
But I see little point in looking back now, they are in and around the team now and have put in some good performances, match winning performances in Marcus case. They've show cased their talents and showed they can step up when called upon, it'll be hard for Jose to not use them.
They won the league!! What the hell does he care about being scared of giving youth team players with ability a chance. There are players with ability all over the place, us fans and youth are like West Ham and playing entertaining football.
Plus such is life... They are here now and long may they continue. We wanted to sell Andy Cole when we brought Dwight Yorke.. things happen.
Exactly which Chelsea managers under Abramovich have trusted youth players? This is not exclusive to Mourinho, therefore, something at the club is inherently wrong when it comes to bleeding young players into the first team. The same "problem" exists at Madrid.
The only reason those two have come through this season is because LVG left us with a tiny squad and we were torn apart with injuries. Quite how he has the audacity to claim credit for them is beyond me.
Mourinho may give youth a chance he may not. Our priority at the minute though has to be halt this downward spiral we are on and get back to the top, before we lose more ground to those around us.
Yup, I can especially see him taking a liking to TFM because of his physique (That didn't sound quite right..).
They won the league and had their medium to long term future destroyed. Filipe Luís gone, De Bruyne gone, Lukaku gone, Mata gone. Not one youth prospect any closer to being a first team regular. No European football next year.
That's one hell of a price to pay for one league title. No top team around operates with the thinking that a destructive attitude like that is acceptable at the highest level. Which is why Mourinho never lasts at top clubs and won't last long at Man Utd.
So, based on this (and the fact that Ranieri will most likely win the league this season), lets hire the guy; give him 2-3 years to lay the foundations; then hire Mourinho
That's fair enough. If you don't think youth is a big priority then I wouldn't argue. It's the people who are naïve enough to think Mourinho will change or deluded enough to think he has a good record with youth that I have a problem with.
Many fans on this forum have stated that they want Jose to win us the title, in the first season.
I personally feel that the 2nd season will be title winning year.
LVG said he wanted us to have a small squad so the youth could get some game time than having the team padded out with a lot of squad players.
But yeah, the injury situation was worse this season than anyone could have imagined and if we had less injuries, youth wouldn't have got near as much game time. Big example probably being injury to Shaw and Rojo resulting in CBJ and Riley getting a few games. If both were fit we probably wouldn't have seen either.
Like how people are trying to convince themselves Mourinho will suddenly start bringing young players through.
As always with Mourinho there's a crowd of people waiting to make excuses for him.
Like Chelsea fans a couple of years ago thinking the same about youth and thinking he'd be there for the long term.
I don't think you'd have seen as much of Rashford either if Rooney wasn't out injured for so long. Rooney was getting into some really good form for United leading up to his injury so you'd assume he would have been in your starting side more often than not.
Agreed.
Definitely.
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