Henrikh Mkhitaryan image 22

Henrikh Mkhitaryan Armenia flag

2016-17 Performances

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6.2 Season Average Rating
Appearances
41
Goals
11
Assists
5
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If Mourinho truly did not want him, why was he getting minutes at the beginning of the season? Why was he seemingly more prepared for the Premier League up until the Man City game but then all of a sudden he can't get near the team?

Something at the City game must put Mourinho off him, it really is the only way to explain it because before that he was used as a sub a number of times.
 
VP89 said:
Its not the same at all.

Mourinho spoke quite clearly about adapting, and how Di Maria and Willian had their struggles. If Mourinho feels Mkhitaryan will require more time to adapt, its not necessarily to say the player is a "reject".
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It is exactly the same. A player who has not been injured and fully involved in training for more than a month, but still can't even make the bench in League Cup matches, or Premier League matches against the mighty Burnley (where we instead prefer three defensive minded midfielders and two left sided wide players), is being judged not good enough to make a contribution. There is no two ways about it, and everything else is just talk at this point.

There's also the fact that Mourinho's reasoning doesn't really make sense, as has been thoroughly discussed in this thread already. The very things he's saying that Mkhitaryan needs to work on are what he excelled at for Dortmund.
 
AXVnee7 said:
It's not even the same situation as say Cuadrado or Salah, Mkhi is already a top player and has proven himself already.
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Similar to Luis then?

In Mourinho's defence Ivanovic and Azpi played quite well iirc and when Luis came in he didn't impress.
 
His exclusions is starting to get worrying, maybe this is another Cuadrado type case.
 
Hes struggling to adapt so don't play him? Pogba is struggling to adapt and has been downright awful in some games yet he's never been kept out of the team. I seriously don't get the logic, he cannot be a downgrade on rashford and lingard
 
AXVnee7 said:
So he signed one of the Bundesliga's top players, for around £30m, to make an example out of him?
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Perhaps there's some truth about him just being a part of the large Raiola package deal after all. Mourinho never had a soft spot for sensitive players, and after his public shunning after the City game, this doesn't exactly come off as a surprise from an unbiased perspective.
It'll probably require some broken legs of those ahead of Mkhi in the pecking order for him to make the bench again.
 
MyOnlySolskjaer said:
Mourinho keeps saying it's a fitness issue, the obvious solution would be to give him game time but maybe he's just not working hard enough?
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Except he's known to be a hard-worker in training according to the Dortmund chaps in here.

Mourinho is just being an idiot. Not the first time he's bought good players and then barely used them (for whatever reason).
 
saivet said:
Similar to Luis then?

In Mourinho's defence Ivanovic and Azpi played quite well iirc and when Luis came in he didn't impress.
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Ivanovic was terrible in José final season at Chelsea yet Luis didn't play, went back to Atletico and proved he was arguably the best lb in the world. In this situation we have Jesse fecking Lingard starting over Mkhitaryan who will leave in Summer and be excellent for his next team no doubt.
 
Something's gone on, you don't pay £30m for a player to get 2 games then not play again. I'd understand if he wasn't starting but to not make the bench ahead of Memphis? yeah right.
 
Jed I. Knight said:
It is exactly the same. A player who has not been injured and fully involved in training for more than a month, but still can't even make the bench in League Cup matches, or Premier League matches against the mighty Burnley (where we instead prefer three defensive minded midfielders and two left sided wide players), is being judged not good enough to make a contribution. There is no two ways about it, and everything else is just talk at this point.

There's also the fact that Mourinho's reasoning doesn't really make sense, as has been thoroughly discussed in this thread already. The very things he's saying that Mkhitaryan needs to work on are what he excelled at for Dortmund.
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He hasn't been injury free for over a month, and he hasn't been involved in full training for over a month either, so lets not exaggerate the stats. The last Europa fixture vs Fenerbache was where Mourinho said he was returning towards full fitness and in the pre-match interview at that game Jose mentioned he'd rather Mkhitaryan completed full training days rather than match day training days. In other words, he wasn't at match fit level then.

Fast forward to now and he may well be fully fit, but Mourinho wants more to take more care with him for reasons he knows better than us on. He's likened him to Wilian and Di Maria and clearly thinks he'll be an important player for this Man Utd team, so its not the same. He's being cautious and 99% of the world think its too cautious but they aren't in training so I couldn't give a toss about them.
 
Castia said:
Something's gone on, you don't pay £30m for a player to get 2 games then not play again. I'd understand if he wasn't starting but to not make the bench ahead of Memphis? yeah right.
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Well I'd wager that he probably will play again, that's the thing.
 
Not sure why people are surprised, Mourinho is known for falling out with people or making a bold decision and then sticking to it no matter what. There were players he ostracized at Chelsea, Madrid and now even here. The guy is a scumbag regardless whether he is our manager or not. #FreeMkhi
 
Sort of had in the back of my mind that he wouldn't feature today after Mourinhos comments yesterday. Surely must start on Thursday though as he's used to the intensity of that competition. If not he's screwed here and won't be around for long. Not the end of he world but massively disappointing.
 
JoaquinJoaquin said:
Ivanovic was terrible in José final season at Chelsea yet Luis didn't play, went back to Atletico and proved he was arguably the best lb in the world. In this situation we have Jesse fecking Lingard starting over Mkhitaryan who will leave in Summer and be excellent for his next team no doubt.
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Actually Luis was already at Atletico in 15/16 when Ivanovic had that awful season. When Luis was at Chelsea in 14/15 they won the league and Ivanovic had a decent season.
 
Are we going to have to deal with this weekly bedwetting each time Mkhitaryan isn't selected ? Get over it.
 
P-Nut0712 said:
Sort of had in the back of my mind that he wouldn't feature today after Mourinhos comments yesterday. Surely must start on Thursday though as he's used to the intensity of that competition. If not he's screwed here and won't be around for long. Not the end of he world but massively disappointing.
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How many times have we said something like this?
 
JoaquinJoaquin said:
Ivanovic was terrible in José final season at Chelsea yet Luis didn't play, went back to Atletico and proved he was arguably the best lb in the world. In this situation we have Jesse fecking Lingard starting over Mkhitaryan who will leave in Summer and be excellent for his next team no doubt.
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Was Luis there for that long? Thought he only had the one season (when they won the title)
 
P-Nut0712 said:
Sort of had in the back of my mind that he wouldn't feature today after Mourinhos comments yesterday. Surely must start on Thursday though as he's used to the intensity of that competition. If not he's screwed here and won't be around for long. Not the end of he world but massively disappointing.
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If he can't make the bench today I can't see him starting on Thursday. Certainly wouldn't make much sense.
 
VorZakone said:
Actually Luis was already at Atletico in 15/16 when Ivanovic had that awful season. When Luis was at Chelsea in 14/15 they won the league and Ivanovic had a decent season.
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Ivanovic was pretty average in comparison to his previous standards I'd argue. Nowhere near as good as Luis was / is.
 
It is rather depressing to see such a good player within our ranks not getting a chance. I mean I hope it is because of genuine reasons (e.g. Fitness) but it doesn't seem like it anymore.

Him and Lingard were just as poor as each other in the City match and only one seems to be getting punished for it.
 
saivet said:
Was Luis there for that long? Thought he only had the one season (when they won the title)
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Got the year confused but Luis was still a better player then Ivanovic was (who wasn't too bad, but was showing signs of decline IMO) .
 
Raoul said:
Are we going to have to deal with this weekly bedwetting each time Mkhitaryan isn't selected ? Get over it.
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Get over it? We have a talented £30m player going to waste whilst our team is struggling. People have a right to feel annoyed by it.
 
If Mourinho doesn't feel he's up to pace with the rest of the squad then I understand not wanting to risk playing him. We're already falling behind in the table and if Mkhy still isn't up to it whether it be physically or mentally then it's best we be patient with him until he is. He has plenty of time on his hands, he doesn't have to rush him back into the squad as immediately as possible.
Let's not go at Mourinho when we don't know what's going on behind the scenes, especially when Mourinho said he doesn't feel he's fully 'fit'
 
2ndTouch said:
Perhaps there's some truth about him just being a part of the large Raiola package deal after all. Mourinho never had a soft spot for sensitive players, and after his public shunning after the City game, this doesn't exactly come off as a surprise from an unbiased perspective.
It'll probably require some broken legs of those ahead of Mkhi in the pecking order for him to make the bench again.
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To be honest being part of the Raoia package is actually quite a plausible idea, but even then it's not like he's signed a complete dud. Mkhi could easily prove to be our best winger that we have right now, so surely Jose would actually try everything he can for Mkhi. It just doesn't make sense to me, from a footballing point of view.
 
Raoul said:
Are we going to have to deal with this weekly bedwetting each time Mkhitaryan isn't selected ? Get over it.
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Yeah, just pack it up and forget we have such a talented player sitting in the stands who is behind Jesse Lingard, Ashley Young and Memphis Depay in the pecking order.
 
JoaquinJoaquin said:
Ivanovic was pretty average in comparison to his previous standards I'd argue. Nowhere near as good as Luis was / is.
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Well, I guess Mourinho felt it'd be unfair toward Ivanonic to drop him when they were doing well though.
 
JoaquinJoaquin said:
Got the year confused but Luis was still a better player then Ivanovic was (who wasn't too bad, but was showing signs of decline IMO) .
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I recall Ivanovic scoring a fair few goals and when Luis played for Chelsea he didn't look any better.
 
VP89 said:
He hasn't been injury free for over a month, and he hasn't been involved in full training for over a month either, so lets not exaggerate the stats. The last Europa fixture vs Fenerbache was where Mourinho said he was returning towards full fitness and in the pre-match interview at that game Jose mentioned he'd rather Mkhitaryan completed full training days rather than match day training days. In other words, he wasn't at match fit level then.

Fast forward to now and he may well be fully fit, but Mourinho wants more to take more care with him for reasons he knows better than us on. He's likened him to Wilian and Di Maria and clearly thinks he'll be an important player for this Man Utd team, so its not the same. He's being cautious and 99% of the world think its too cautious but they aren't in training so I couldn't give a toss about them.
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Your view of the situation is extremely naive, but fair play, you're free to hold on to it as long as you want. I'll bow out of the discussion by stating that it doesn't particularly matter if he's been training fully for three weeks or a month after a relatively short lay off. He's been with the squad since the start of pre-season, so it's not as if he hasn't had time to integrate. Nor do the Willian and Di Maria comparisons you're bringing up make much sense, as he's significantly older and more proven at the highest level than either of those were at that point.
 
Mourinho is still angry about that City game where Mkhitaryan failed to carry out his instructions. With the type of manager that he is, this could be the end of Mkhitaryan's career at United which would be incredibly harsh. But Mourinho has a history of making these kind of decisions and it wouldn't be a surprise if he did it again.
 
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