What a load of nonsense blaming the squad but conveniently forgeting most players have been acquired by Jose himself.Manchester United have one of the greatest modern managers in Jose. Tactically one of the most astute managers, who has managed top teams all over the world. Very few managers in the current market can stand up to his achievements (the other one being Pep).There are very few managers who could do what he has for United in the past 2 years. Dragged them from going to an irrelevant joke club under Moyes/LVG, to a team which is well respected if not feared, wins trophies, expected at the least to be a regular top 4 side and compete with the big boys. Yes his style seems very boring, having pampered by the so called "United Way" under Sir Alex; but the guy is extremely pragmatic and above all a winner. Before slagging him off, people should get an objective non-emotional perspective of what is really happening at United that has brought all this negativity and whether it truly warrants Jose criticism.
I am completely perplexed by the amount of negativity here. Almost 90% of these posts are from frustrated fans sitting at home whining constantly because of the Brighton Loss, considering it some kind of predicted culmination based on what happened in pre-season (transfers, Footballing style, US tour, Martial/Pogba incidents). Most of these posts are "Daddy I want the pink Candy" posts, emotional cries from kids with very little regard to logic or reality.
Key points that get churned over and over in these forums and blamed on Jose are:
Dressing Room Loss: Jose "harsh" towards his own players, throwing them under bus - Shaw/Martial/Pogba etc.
Truth is, most of the players slated by Mourinho are players who are just not good enough for United. These are very average players in Martial, Shaw, Smalling, Jones and Pogba, over-hyped by media and fans to be some sort of superstars. It's stupid for fans to think Mourinho is wrong here. Talent alone won't make a player world class.
Take Liverpool for example, Klopp never plays players who are tactically lazy irrespective of how talented they are. A fit Sturridge will never get a nod over Firmino under Klopp because he doesn't work hard tactically. It's the same with City. Pep benched Aguero from day one for Jesus, because he was not working harder tactically. Their message was clear - I don't care how talented you are, if you work hard you are in. Players like Sakho, Yaya, Balotelli never lasted because they just don't work hard enough. Its the same with players like Pogba or Martial, if they are to be considered world class, they can't just rely on skills. They need to work hard on their tactical discipline. Being hailed as some kind of messiah by fans and media has got into their tiny heads and they keep acting like spoiled kids, Jose is right to throw them under the bus. He is publicly slating them to break their imaginary bubble of entitled stardom with which they come to every training session and match day and hardly bother to perform. Players like Shaw, Smalling and Jones can and should offer more. If they can't, they should leave united and play for some mid table club.
United had players like Rooney, Ronaldo, Keane, Scholes Neville, Ferdinand, Evra, Vidic, players who work their ass off to get the results. Your Martials and Pogbas hardly do that. The best players of United according to me are, Lingard, Rashford, Valencia, Young, Lukaku, Bailley, Felliani (yes felliani), Sanchez, Herrara, etc. simply because these players respect the manager and fight for their shirts. If the manager asks more, work hard and make it happen. As far as I can see, Mourinho would gladly replace them two (P and M) for other hardworking talents and If I was a united fan, I would say good riddance. Jose is used to the likes of Drogba, Lampard, Terry and would dote the likes of Keane, Rooney and Scholes, because these are warriors. The real winners who carry the club. Not these snowflakes. Pogba and Martial, with their current attitude and form will not make into the City/Liverpool or Spurs. Their managers would instantly drop them until they work harder. Jose is doing the right thing here.
Preseason Loss: United lost a bunch of pre-season games playing terrible football with little to no direction.
So much is made out United's preseason loss. United had least number of 1st team players due to world cup and big injury list. Their pre-season preparations were hardly ideal. You have to look at the context before moaning. Everybody knows Mourinho's tactics rely as much on physical attributes as on ball playing skills. Strong target man Players like Lukaku/Felliani/Drogba/Ibra etc.. are a vital must for Mourinho's sytem to flourish. The ball playing players pick up the pieces knocked down from the Target man to create chaos in final third. This is the tactical reality under Mourinho since ages. A reserve United team under Mourinho would never perform as well as his first team. They just don't have that right personnel to execute it. To draw conclusion from the reserve team performance and co-relate it with the main team performance is naivety at best. They are entirely two different teams (which is not the case for other tactical systems such as, Klopp/Pep's, which relies more on system and personal skills only enhance them) Pre-season loss has zero context to the actual season for Mourinho's team. Despite all that they only lost to a strong Liverpool and Bayern Munich Side. I can't understand the negativity and furor. The actual interview about team and players was a misquoted hyperbolic. Jose was angry after a loss to an important rival and ranted. Simple as that. To say that it damages young players morale is a joke. If Every time a manager yells at his players after a game will shatter a players confidence, we will have zero confident players in the world.
Poor Transfer Choices: Failed Transfers is Jose's fault due to Bailley and Lindelof being poor Jose signing, he cannot be trusted with money. Prioritising Defenders over wingers/full backs is wrong.
Attacking Talent: Rashford, Lingard, Sanchez, Martial, Lukaku
Midfield Talent: Fred, Matic, Perreira, Felliani, Herrera, Mata, improved Pogba (due to fred covering defensive duties),
Defensive Talent: Bailly (CB), Smalling (CB), Jones (CB), Lindelof (CB), Darmian, Young (Dalot), Valencia (Shaw).
Any blind person will say the United's weakest area is defensive talent. One injury to Bailly will prove disastrous as Jones/Smalling are not reliable both by quality and injury and Lindelof haSn't been great. Yes United does need, wing backs. But the need is more to improve attack than defense when it comes to Young and Valencia. If Shaw steps up and the Dalot punt works, again you have fresher legs from young and valencia.
The purchase of Fred, despite a defensive one is meant to free up Pogba (Kind of an attacking purchase).The only way, United buys a new effective winger is if they sell Martial. If you honestly asses the squad, you really need a CB, the bedrock of Mourinho tactics and may be a back up to Lukaku, the desperate Felliani signing makes sense. Other than Lewandowski, I don't see other CF in market replacing Lukaku from the first team. Sanchez is meant to play around Lukaku not to replace him. So yeah, woodward should have went and purchased a CB this market. IMO the most important need for United.
Pep brought Claudio, replaced him with Ederson agreeing he was bad. Brought Mendy, replaced him with Walker once he got injured. If you want to challenge city right away (like most arm chair glory hunting fake united fans want), you have to get Mourinho what he wants, though he made a mistake with Lindelof (Don't think Bailly was a mistake. He is a great defender, just had a bad day).
Soul Destroying Defensive Football: United don't have a set attacking plan (Hoof-ball style). Pales in comparison to City/Liverpool
The way united is playing so poorly is not Mourinho's fault. Yes he is a defense minded pragmatic coach, but the reason why united is playing so poorly right now has 80% to do with the quality of his squad than his tactics. His Chelsea(Old& new) /Inter/Real sides played defensively in big cup games or against stronger teams, but always destroyed the small teams. They were never this boring or bad in any of his previous teams. This united team just don't have the same quality. The players are not stringing 2 passes together.
Midfield: Essien,Makele, Lampard, Cambiasso, Sneijder, Zanetti, Ozil, Kaka, Hazard, Matic (prime),
Wingers: Robben, Ronaldo, Bale, Di Maria,
Strikers: Drogba, Ibra (prime), Eto, Milito, Costa
Defenders: Every One (long List)
Compare these with the Current United Squad.. Not Just in talent, the desire, passion, hard work.. The Current United squad is no where near this. Taking this United team to 2nd in itself is a great achievement. United fans wishing for Tuchel/Emery/Jardim/Pochettino etc., are the same fans who are giving a team progressing under Mourinho zero chances after 2 league games. Any manager other than Pep, will not be able to pacify these fickle online keyboard United fans.
I will make the bold prediction here, United will come 2nd (or 3rd depending on Liverpool). It will not be a big gap between the top 3 teams. They will do way better than what the "Sack Mourinho Glory Hunting Impatient Arm Chair" united fans believe. If they had got him a decent CB in the summer and backed him with his targets, he would give a bigger fight than Liverpool to the City side. (This coming from an ardent Liverpool Fan).
The Guy is a winner. Stop Moaning against the manager. Be Patient, United will do good.
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