Jose Mourinho | 2017/18 Assessments | Poll Added

[Oneunited26]

CSKA scored first, United won.
Your argument here is null and void. Jose is defensive in the big games when he doesn’t have his one & only creative player in the midfield.

Pogba has only played 1 big game(vs Arsenal) this season and we all know what happened in that game. Even when it looked like Arsenal were going to equalise, United went forward & completely killed the game.

In case you & your cohorts haven’t got the memo, you need your big players for the big games. In their absence, you are bound to struggle. If KDB were to be absent in 4 of the 5 big games City have played so far, Man City would have struggled as well.

I would not put CSKA a huge team, I guarantee you we go behind in the elite teams, we are not winning. So missing one player all of a sudden the team is screwed, what does that say about the current side? Even if city lost KDB, they still would probably beat us more times than not. Even when Pogba is available, the team would still set up the same way because that is how Mourinho works. They have a better system, a better overall quality of squad and they attack teams home and away. We give so much respect to the big sides if we lose a goal, we don't have a plan B to get back into the game, that is the problem playing the park the bus football. Still Mourinho has not evolved our football, its still the same and will still be the same in 5 years time under him

 

[Son Of Sam]

Personally I think that Jose had a massive rebuilding job when he took over United. He had much more to fix than Pep at City. He inherited a much weaker squad. He has then gone through most of this season without his best 2 players (Zlatan and Pogba) out of an already weaker squad which he inherited from LVG.

Don't get me wrong, I don't especially like the defensive/counter attacking tactic in big games but he is pragmatic and can get results. He was beaten last weekend by a Pep team which has spent more money and already had a title challenging squad when Pep took over, as a pose to ours which had finished 7th, 4th and 5th. He also won two trophies last season and we are currently 2nd in the league. We need this context when talking about his performances imo.

The key question for those criticising Jose is - who in World Football do you think could do any better? Who could replace him and do a better job?

Excellent post!

I would not put CSKA a huge team

Now you have moved the goalpost....

I guarantee you we go behind in the elite teams, we are not winning. So missing one player all of a sudden the team is screwed, what does that say about the current side? Even if city lost KDB, they still would probably beat us more times than not. Even when Pogba is available, the team would still set up the same way because that is how Mourinho works

A journalist(JJ BULL) took his time to explain in details why Pogba is so essential to the way we play. Find time and read this....

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/football/2017/12/08/manchester-united-much-worse-without-paul-pogba/

 

[Kapardin]

Personally I think that Jose had a massive rebuilding job when he took over United. He had much more to fix than Pep at City. He inherited a much weaker squad. He has then gone through most of this season without his best 2 players (Zlatan and Pogba) out of an already weaker squad which he inherited from LVG.

Don't get me wrong, I don't especially like the defensive/counter attacking tactic in big games but he is pragmatic and can get results. He was beaten last weekend by a Pep team which has spent more money and already had a title challenging squad when Pep took over, as a pose to ours which had finished 7th, 4th and 5th. He also won two trophies last season and we are currently 2nd in the league. We need this context when talking about his performances imo.

The key question for those criticising Jose is - who in World Football do you think could do any better? Who could replace him and do a better job?

Brilliant post. Exactly my opinion on the subject.

 

[De Portago]

He still didn't leg it because Guardiola got the better of him did he? If anything Mourinho seems to enjoy the competition - hence hot footing it to Manchester while in full possession of the knowledge that it would be Guardiola setting up sticks across the city. For all his faults dodging professional challenges doesn't seem part of Mourinho's repertoire.

I don't think he resigned solely due to Mourinho though, i read a quote somewhere that he was persuaded against his better judgement to stay for 11/12 though he wanted to leave after the CL win in '11, and that he considers it a huge mistake in hindsight. During that fourth season he did seem slightly out of it, experimenting with crazy formations and whatnot. In short, i think he would have left Mourinho or no Mourinho.

 

[Oneunited26]

Excellent post!




Now you have moved the goalpost....



A journalist(JJ BULL) took his time to explain in details why Pogba is so essential to the way we play. Find time and read this....

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/football/2017/12/08/manchester-united-much-worse-without-paul-pogba/

You're moving the goal posts, let me rephrase it I said the big sides we will not win the game if we lose a goal first its that simple, when you play park the bus football against the big sides you can lose plan B. If we go to city and they score first, are you confident this current side can salvage something? or win the game? city I think could come to OT go a goal behind and still be capable of winning the game, because they play to win, we don't and that is the difference. It does not matter who they lose they play the same way, the fact you highlighting we have to have pogba is a worrying trend, top sides don't rely on one player because they have a variety of big game players, that is how liverpool 05 get through the season. We could not even beat city last season who had bravo between the sticks last season, and yes I know we beat them in the league cup lol

 

[SirAF]

He'd have been better of leaving himself considering how appalling that third season went in Madrid.



I don't find it that odd myself, it is obvious that he is extremely invested in his job and compulsively attentive to small details which can probably be draining in the long run. I'd guess he will have another 3-4 year stint after City and then call it quits.

Tbf, that goes for any top class manager.

 

[Son Of Sam]

You're moving the goal posts, let me rephrase it I said the big sides we will not win the game if we lose a goal first its that simple, when you play park the bus football against the big sides you can lose plan B. If we go to city and they score first, are you confident this current side can salvage something? or win the game? city I think could come to OT go a goal behind and still be capable of winning the game, because they play to win, we don't and that is the difference. It does not matter who they lose they play the same way, the fact you highlighting we have to have pogba is a worrying trend, top sides don't rely on one player because they have a variety of big game players.

If we have all our big players available, United can beat any team in the league whether they score first or we score first at any venue. I am that confident.

We always play to win. I don’t understand what you mean by we do not play to win. You mean Jose just instructs his players not to score a goal or deliberately miss glaring chances?

We had chances against City, sadly Lukaku didn’t capitalise on the best chance in the game. Being organised defensively does not mean you’re playing “not to win”.

Yes, you are correct. Top sides should never ever rely on one player to win games but unfortunately for Mou, that’s the curse he has been blessed with. He inherited a broken squad where Rooney was our most creative player when Jose arrived.

 

[Canagel]

Wouldn't go that far. De Bruyne, Jesus/Aguero, Mendy, Sane or sterling (on the right) would all easily start. Wouldn't take Silva over Pogba, Walker/Valencia is a toss up, but saying that, we still have a good side and have the players to replicate it.

I was comparing the players who played on Sunday only. I think Pogba is better than Silva as well. Completely forgot about Mendy. He walks into our team definitely. Sane and Sterling are good but they aren't better than Martial and Rashford. Infact I think all 4 are equal and you can pick any 2 or 3 depending on the system.

 

[MDFC Manager]

Personally I think that Jose had a massive rebuilding job when he took over United. He had much more to fix than Pep at City. He inherited a much weaker squad. He has then gone through most of this season without his best 2 players (Zlatan and Pogba) out of an already weaker squad which he inherited from LVG.

Don't get me wrong, I don't especially like the defensive/counter attacking tactic in big games but he is pragmatic and can get results. He was beaten last weekend by a Pep team which has spent more money and already had a title challenging squad when Pep took over, as a pose to ours which had finished 7th, 4th and 5th. He also won two trophies last season and we are currently 2nd in the league. We need this context when talking about his performances imo.

The key question for those criticising Jose is - who in World Football do you think could do any better? Who could replace him and do a better job?

There may or may not be anyone else better to do the job that's required here. But that shouldn't be reason enough to stop criticising Mourinho when it's been valid.

 

[bosnian_red]

I was comparing the players who played on Sunday only. I think Pogba is better than Silva as well. Completely forgot about Mendy. He walks into our team definitely. Sane and Sterling are good but they aren't better than Martial and Rashford. Infact I think all 4 are equal and you can pick any 2 or 3 depending on the system.

Rashford as a winger is way behind the other 3 IMO, Martial is the most talented out of them, Sane best as a winger, Sterling good in the system. But anyway, had Pep been here I'm pretty sure he'd be rotating between Rashford and Jesus up top with Jesus being the main guy, and then Martial on the left and Sane on the right. We don't have a right winger really so that's why I said one of those 2 walk into our side on the right with Martial left.

 

[bosnian_red]

If we have all our big players available, United can beat any team in the league whether they score first or we score first at any venue. I am that confident.

We always play to win. I don’t understand what you mean by we do not play to win. You mean Jose just instructs his players not to score a goal or deliberately miss glaring chances?

We had chances against City, sadly Lukaku didn’t capitalise on the best chance in the game. Being organised defensively does not mean you’re playing “not to win”.

Yes, you are correct. Top sides should never ever rely on one player to win games but unfortunately for Mou, that’s the curse he has been blessed with. He inherited a broken squad where Rooney was our most creative player when Jose arrived.

How can you seriously say with Mourinho that he plays to win? I've always liked him but come on. Big away games he blatantly goes for 0-0 results and if you sneak a goal, then great, but he tells them to park the bus pretty much.

And that's such a shit excuse. The squad isn't shit. Mourinho has spent almost 300m since he's come in and just gone for some of the wrong players. Put Pep in charge of us instead of City in 2016 and it's highly likely that we'd be playing excellent attacking football. Wouldn't have signed ibra, Mkhitaryan or lukaku, definitely would've signed Sane, Jesus, Mendy and Stones. Pogba is 50/50, City still wanted him with Pep so I'd feel confident about him coming here anyway.
Even with Mendy being injured, are you saying a side like this isn't talented enough or one that isn't able to play the type of football Pep plays?

De gea
Valencia Bailly Stones Blind
Herrera
Pogba Mata
Sane Jesus Martial
​

A big reason why Peps wingers always look so good is because of the system. He made Coman and Douglas Costa look brilliant under him, the second he leaves and they are average at best. Martial would be tearing it up in his system as would some of our other attackers. There are positions in our squad that are weak. But the main ones in my mind are positions that Mourinho chose not to improve or just bought the wrong players. Miki was bought to play on the right wing the same summer Sane went to City. He bought Lukaku up top when he's blatantly never going to be a talented player so we're left with a big lump up top who contributed nothing to overall play. Left back he chose to ignore for whatever reason (though young has done alright anyway). Mourinho has no excuses, he just isn't as good as Pep and chose to take us in a direction where we won't be as good as City under Pep, probably because he didn't think Pep could transform his style into being dominant in the prem.

 

[Son Of Sam]

How can you seriously say with Mourinho that he plays to win? I've always liked him but come on. Big away games he blatantly goes for 0-0 results and if you sneak a goal, then great, but he tells them to park the bus pretty much.

Mourinho plays to win all the time. I don’t understand your criticism of him on this issue. He asks his players to be organised defensively, commit fewer mistakes and score goals.

You can be defensive and still have the intention to win. So you mean to tell me Jose didn’t want to win the Europa cup final? He was defensive but he still planned to win.

 

[Oneunited26]

If we have all our big players available, United can beat any team in the league whether they score first or we score first at any venue. I am that confident.

We always play to win. I don’t understand what you mean by we do not play to win. You mean Jose just instructs his players not to score a goal or deliberately miss glaring chances?

We had chances against City, sadly Lukaku didn’t capitalise on the best chance in the game. Being organised defensively does not mean you’re playing “not to win”.

Yes, you are correct. Top sides should never ever rely on one player to win games but unfortunately for Mou, that’s the curse he has been blessed with. He inherited a broken squad where Rooney was our most creative player when Jose arrived.

Yeah we really were playing to win against liverpool this year, and so what if lukaku missed a chance, the big sides keep plugging away and getting those goals. We used to always put sides on the back foot at OT, and you can guarantee when we go to city he will play for a 0-0 because he is scared of the opposition. We don't play to win against the big sides away from home most of the time, if Mourinho feels a certain side is a threat we will go for it has much as bunkers in WW1. No matter if its madrid, barcelona, PSG, liverpool, city all away, I be stunned if we score a goal at those grounds. Madrid the past few years, city and PSG these days really make a mockery of Jose's away tactics against the big sides

How can you seriously say with Mourinho that he plays to win? I've always liked him but come on. Big away games he blatantly goes for 0-0 results and if you sneak a goal, then great, but he tells them to park the bus pretty much.

Can you remember the last time we looked like a threat against the big sides esp away from home? His record against the big sides at united is just not good enough

 

[De Portago]

Tbf, that goes for any top class manager.

Yeah, a large majority certainly. But for example, someone like Ancelotti just seems much less wired and intense, at least to me, and he's probably easier to be around than Guardiola. Obviously with the caveat that we hardly know what happens behind the scenes.

 

[bosnian_red]

Mourinho plays to win all the time. I don’t understand your criticism of him on this issue. He asks his players to be organised defensively, commit fewer mistakes and score goals.

You can be defensive and still have the intention to win. So you mean to tell me Jose didn’t want to win the Europa cup final? He was defensive but he still planned to win.

Edited that post to include a lot more too. But oh so you're selecting the Europa league final against a team of u21 players for Ajax but ignoring loads of other big games against top teams. Nice.

It's not playing to win. Then you can say non league teams play to win when they come to Old Trafford. Yeah they park the bus but they hope they can score on the 1 random attack they get in the game, so that's playing to win right? There's a big difference between playing not to lose like Mourinho has always done in big games (where of course its possible to win), and playing to win and being the team that takes the initiative and actively tries to create openings instead of keep the other team out.

 

[Son Of Sam]

Yeah we really were playing to win against liverpool this year, and so what if lukaku missed a chance, the big sides keep plugging away and getting those goals.

You’re right. Mou must have told Lukaku to miss deliberately when the goal was in sight. The big sides most often have several quality players in their squad so that even if they give goals away, the quality players can go to the other end and score as well. How many world class players started for Man Utd at Anfield?

Answers on a postcard, please!

We used to always put sides on the back foot at OT

United had won every league game at OT until the Derby. 7 games played, 7 games won.

and you can guarantee when we go to city he will play for a 0-0 because he is scared of the opposition. We don't play to win against the big sides away from home most of the time, if Mourinho feels a certain side is a threat we will go for it has much as bunkers in WW1. No matter if its madrid, barcelona, PSG, liverpool, city all away, I be stunned if we score a goal at those grounds. Madrid the past few years, city and PSG these days really make a mockery of Jose's away tactics against the big sides

Madrid have Ronaldo, Modric, Bale, Kroos, etc

PSG have Cavani, Mbappe, Neymar

United have ONLY Pogba(who has missed 80% of the big games played so far)

Your comparison game needs brushing up.

 

[Son Of Sam]

Edited that post to include a lot more too. But oh so you're selecting the Europa league final against a team of u21 players for Ajax but ignoring loads of other big games against top teams. Nice.

It's not playing to win. Then you can say non league teams play to win when they come to Old Trafford. Yeah they park the bus but they hope they can score on the 1 random attack they get in the game, so that's playing to win right?

There's a big difference between playing not to lose like Mourinho has always done in big games (where of course its possible to win), and playing to win and being the team that takes the initiative and actively tries to create openings instead of keep the other team out.

Are you listening to yourself? If you plan on scoring from 1 random attack while defending very well without conceding, is that not playing to win?

The key is to outscore your opponents.

 

[dichinero]

Edited that post to include a lot more too. But oh so you're selecting the Europa league final against a team of u21 players for Ajax but ignoring loads of other big games against top teams. Nice.

It's not playing to win. Then you can say non league teams play to win when they come to Old Trafford. Yeah they park the bus but they hope they can score on the 1 random attack they get in the game, so that's playing to win right? There's a big difference between playing not to lose like Mourinho has always done in big games (where of course its possible to win), and playing to win and being the team that takes the initiative and actively tries to create openings instead of keep the other team out.

This

There is a massive difference between playing to win and hoping to win or hoping for a draw or playing not to lose. Only one team came to win on Sunday.

Quite frankly I'm surprised that I've not heard that the better team lost, this time

 

[bosnian_red]

You’re right. Mou must have told Lukaku to miss deliberately when the goal was in sight. The big sides most often have several quality players in their squad so that even if they give goals away, the quality players can go to the other end and score as well. How many world class players started for Man Utd at Anfield?

Answers on a postcard, please!



United had won every league game at OT until the Derby. 7 games played, 7 games won.



Madrid have Ronaldo, Modric, Bale, Kroos, etc

PSG have Cavani, Mbappe, Neymar

United have ONLY Pogba(who has missed 80% of the big games played so far)

Your comparison game needs brushing up.

So in your head, our only top player is Pogba and it's reasonable to turn to shit performance wise when he's out? Wouldn't that be Mourinhos fault for not assembling a better squad of players in the close to 300m he's spent? What about 75m Lukaku (who IMO should be sold as soon as possible). Does he not count as a top player? What possible reason did he have for shitting himself against Liverpool with those tactics. Pogba was out? So what. Is pogba the only reason that we are a premier league quality team? Because a lot worse teams have gone to Anfield and put in much better and braver performances then the embarrassment we put in. Yeah we got the draw (largely thanks to De Gea as always when we get a result in big games. Keepers bailing you out isn't a tactic though, or at least not a good one.

For what it's worth, I think our squad of players is mostly good. It's mostly down to Mourinho not getting the best out of them in the big games. Or not even that, but setting them up in a way where it's close to impossible to succeed. Matic and Herrera are still good midfielders. Martial is still one of the best young players in the world, as is rashford. We still have good defenders and the best goalkeeper in the world. And we still had our 75m striker (again, who for me shouldn't be playing in any of the top 6 sides). Mourinho made his choices, and his choice was to buy some big name, physically large players mainly and just grind out results in big games then be consistent in the rest.

 

[bosnian_red]

Are you listening to yourself? If you plan on scoring from 1 random attack while defending very well without conceding, is that not playing to win?

The key is to outscore your opponents.

okay I'm done someone else reason with this guy. Okay so every single team in the world plays to win. If a team of 10 year olds player Barca of 2011, they would play to win because they would hope in their wildest dreams that the opponent misses every chance and they get a random counter attack that they score in.

 

[Oneunited26]

You’re right. Mou must have told Lukaku to miss deliberately when the goal was in sight. The big sides most often have several quality players in their squad so that even if they give goals away, the quality players can go to the other end and score as well. How many world class players started for Man Utd at Anfield?

Answers on a postcard, please!



United had won every league game at OT until the Derby. 7 games played, 7 games won.



Madrid have Ronaldo, Modric, Bale, Kroos, etc

PSG have Cavani, Mbappe, Neymar

United have ONLY Pogba(who has missed 80% of the big games played so far)

Your comparison game needs brushing up.

What are you talking about? Mou must have told lukaku to miss? where do you even get these sayings from? to fit your narrative, don't you even get the play to win saying, it starts at how teams are set up, that is how the managers tactics, if they not progressing to create chances but playing very deep and concede possession, then the manager does not want his fullbacks, attacking players to go for it.

Who's fault is that? why we don't have enough top players? the current club, how much wasted money has the club done the past few years? so when the club was in a position of strength under fergie 2009-12, we did not sign the players, so that is the image of united not signing the top players goes way back to the latter stages of the fergie era. Jose had full 2 summers, what have we got from the 2 summers? fullbacks not been improved, instead of upgrading mata and herrera, a better winger, you say we have one world class player, why didn't we do better than lukaku? one of our star signings, is not world class? hmmm, so over 300 million has been spent and we have one world class player. Fact remains Mourinho likes a more physical side and he gets found, its that simple. The fact you're using without pogba excuse is down to Mourinho and no one else, he likes to be defensive in big games and nothing will change, these tactics will not see us win a PL or CL, he may win a PL, but no way do I see him winning a CL with the road he's done down

 

[SirAF]

What are you talking about? Mou must have told lukaku to miss? where do you even get these sayings from? to fit your narrative, don't you even get the play to win saying, it starts at how teams are set up, that is how the managers tactics, if they not progressing to create chances but playing very deep and concede possession, then the manager does not want his fullbacks, attacking players to go for it.

Who's fault is that? why we don't have enough top players? the current club, how much wasted money has the club done the past few years? so when the club was in a position of strength under fergie 2009-12, we did not sign the players, so that is the image of united not signing the top players goes way back to the latter stages of the fergie era. Jose had full 2 summers, what have we got from the 2 summers? fullbacks not been improved, instead of upgrading mata and herrera, a better winger, you say we have one world class player, why didn't we do better than lukaku? one of our star signings, is not world class? hmmm, so over 300 million has been spent and we have one world class player. Fact remains Mourinho likes a more physical side and he gets found, its that simple. The fact you're using without pogba excuse is down to Mourinho and no one else, he likes to be defensive in big games and nothing will change, these tactics will not see us win a PL or CL, he may win a PL, but no way do I see him winning a CL with the road he's done down

He's done it twice!

 

[bosnian_red]

What are you talking about? Mou must have told lukaku to miss? where do you even get these sayings from? to fit your narrative, don't you even get the play to win saying, it starts at how teams are set up, that is how the managers tactics, if they not progressing to create chances but playing very deep and concede possession, then the manager does not want his fullbacks, attacking players to go for it.

Who's fault is that? why we don't have enough top players? the current club, how much wasted money has the club done the past few years? so when the club was in a position of strength under fergie 2009-12, we did not sign the players, so that is the image of united not signing the top players goes way back to the latter stages of the fergie era. Jose had full 2 summers, what have we got from the 2 summers? fullbacks not been improved, instead of upgrading mata and herrera, a better winger, you say we have one world class player, why didn't we do better than lukaku? one of our star signings, is not world class? hmmm, so over 300 million has been spent and we have one world class player. Fact remains Mourinho likes a more physical side and he gets found, its that simple

Yep, exactly this. Mourinho likes a physical side that can try to grind out results in big games and be consistent in games they should win. He chose to buy Lukaku and now we're stuck with him for the foreseeable future. He can't use an excuse of not being backed in the transfer market, can't use the excuse of not having the right players when he chose to ignore some positions and then went for the wrong players while City bought the right ones in the exact same positions. Bailly, Pogba and Matic are the only signings under Mourinho that have been worth it IMO. Ibra too as he was on a free, but then again, City bought Gabriel Jesus that summer to come in January, so we could've had that. We got Mkhitaryan, they got Sane. We ignored our left back position for 3 windows in a row with Mourinho despite it being an obvious issue.

I do think we have a lot of useful and quality players here currently, so it's not even much of an issue. Main issue with our squad is not having a quality striker, no right winger, and no left back. Mourinho has spent 100m on those positions and they're still problem positions. I don't think with the players we have that it's normal for our midfield to fall apart once Pogba is gone. Van Gaal with much worse players dominated City, Liverpool and Spurs with it in the past.
You look at our squad and with a manager like Guardiola - De Gea, Valencia, Bailly, Jones, Lindelof, Rojo, Blind, Young, Herrera, Matic, Pogba, Pereira, Mata, Rashford and Martial would all have big roles to play IMO, whether it's as important squad players or starting 11 players. He would definitely buy a starting left back, right winger and striker, but the rest I think he'd be okay with as is. Even Mkhitaryan could play in the 3 man midfield next to Pogba in front of Matic in the right system, though I think he'd prefer Mata there. The main problem is not having a set up that gets the best out of what we have, and not all of our signings being geared towards the same thing. If Mourinho wants to be this defensive beast, then build towards that. For that, you need a striker up front who works hard at closing down center backs but can also hold the ball up really well, bring others into play and create for others. Not a poacher who is surprisingly shit in the air.

 

[bosnian_red]

He's done it twice!

Football has changed a lot from 2004 when Porto won it and he has not been building towards the same type of side as that Inter Milan in 2010. That Inter side was brilliant defensively all around but also had very good all around players all over the pitch. And it was also a one off them winning the Champions League, not a side that could sustainably be one of the favourites for it every year.

 

[Ainu]

Are you listening to yourself? If you plan on scoring from 1 random attack while defending very well without conceding, is that not playing to win?

The key is to outscore your opponents.

No, that is playing not to lose and hoping to fluke a win. Which will happen once in a blue moon.

 

[Irish Jet]

I think Mourinho has on the whole done a fantastic job with what he's got.

That said - He's largely responsible for what we've got. He's gone for quality over quantity in the market which is why for all Pep's spending the two most expensive signings made by Manchester Clubs have both been ours - This strategy worked wonders for Jose in the past but when you go that route pretty much every signing has to be a slam dunk - Of the 6 transfers made Bailly, Matic and Pogba have been just that. I think the others have been well below par this season and it's been costly. To Lindelof's credit he is showing real signs of improvement and has the excuse of adapting to a new league. I'll exclude Ibra because we don't really know what level he's at right now.

He invested a lot in Miki and Lukaku to be the focal point of our attack - In fact heading into this season they were the only two fit attacking players Mourinho signed for a team that was already struggling for goals under LVG. The reality is when Pogba got injured those two looked completely lost and incapable of being the driving force we needed. Miki looks to be exiled (deservedly) and Lukaku looks like everything I feared he was - A technically limited poacher who can quickly become a liability when the goals dry up. There could be a really tough decision to make regarding Lukaku in the summer - He wont and shouldn't be sold but I think it will be time to question whether he can relied to spearhead an elite club's attack. He still has time to produce but I fear the worst. I hope he proves me wrong.

It's these two investments that I think have hurt and which I think could cost Mourinho. Over £100m that hypothetically could have been a Mane/Morata or a Pjanic/Salah type duo- Easy to criticise with hindsight obviously but that's the harsh nature of Jose's strategy - You can't hit at 50% in the market. He needed those players to be players to produce what their fees dictated they should and the reality is they haven't.

 

[Oneunited26]

Yep, exactly this. Mourinho likes a physical side that can try to grind out results in big games and be consistent in games they should win. He chose to buy Lukaku and now we're stuck with him for the foreseeable future. He can't use an excuse of not being backed in the transfer market, can't use the excuse of not having the right players when he chose to ignore some positions and then went for the wrong players while City bought the right ones in the exact same positions. Bailly, Pogba and Matic are the only signings under Mourinho that have been worth it IMO. Ibra too as he was on a free, but then again, City bought Gabriel Jesus that summer to come in January, so we could've had that. We got Mkhitaryan, they got Sane. We ignored our left back position for 3 windows in a row with Mourinho despite it being an obvious issue.

I do think we have a lot of useful and quality players here currently, so it's not even much of an issue. Main issue with our squad is not having a quality striker, no right winger, and no left back. Mourinho has spent 100m on those positions and they're still problem positions. I don't think with the players we have that it's normal for our midfield to fall apart once Pogba is gone. Van Gaal with much worse players dominated City, Liverpool and Spurs with it in the past.
You look at our squad and with a manager like Guardiola - De Gea, Valencia, Bailly, Jones, Lindelof, Rojo, Blind, Young, Herrera, Matic, Pogba, Pereira, Mata, Rashford and Martial would all have big roles to play IMO, whether it's as important squad players or starting 11 players. He would definitely buy a starting left back, right winger and striker, but the rest I think he'd be okay with as is. Even Mkhitaryan could play in the 3 man midfield next to Pogba in front of Matic in the right system, though I think he'd prefer Mata there. The main problem is not having a set up that gets the best out of what we have, and not all of our signings being geared towards the same thing. If Mourinho wants to be this defensive beast, then build towards that. For that, you need a striker up front who works hard at closing down center backs but can also hold the ball up really well, bring others into play and create for others. Not a poacher who is surprisingly shit in the air.

The problem is he's not bought enough, our transfer window this year and last year is just not enough, esp this year. The signings we made 3 not enough, we need 6 signings, the CM, CF and CB we added, we needed a new attacking player atleast, unfortunately we seeing lukaku is just not quiet good enough for the level we want to get to, much like valencia they be good players but nothing special. For me since summer 2009 we have gone from one drunken extreme to another, the fact our fullbacks are valencia and young says it all, pep scrapped his ageing fullbacks and got upgrades

 

[dichinero]

Football has changed a lot from 2004 when Porto won it and he has not been building towards the same type of side as that Inter Milan in 2010. That Inter side was brilliant defensively all around but also had very good all around players all over the pitch. And it was also a one off them winning the Champions League, not a side that could sustainably be one of the favourites for it every year.

On a different point.
Personally, I don't see the point of fans bringing decade-old event. City and United fans go back and forth talking about what each manager did in previous jobs, but what does a 10 year old event for another club have to do with us. Great achievements in other clubs, yes, but all it did for us is that it got them their current gig. The business at hand is a business of now. LvG's past achievement didn't do much for us, did it?

 

[Ainu]

I think Mourinho has on the whole done a fantastic job with what he's got.

That said - He's largely responsible for what we've got. He's gone for quality over quantity in the market which is why for all Pep's spending the two most expensive signings made by Manchester Clubs have both been ours - This strategy worked wonders for Jose in the past but when you go that route pretty much every signing has to be a slam dunk - Of the 6 transfers made Bailly, Matic and Pogba have been just that. I think the others have been well below par this season and it's been costly. To Lindelof's credit he is showing real signs of improvement and has the excuse of adapting to a new league. I'll exclude Ibra because we don't really know what level he's at right now.

He invested a lot in Miki and Lukaku to be the focal point of our attack - In fact heading into this season they were the only two fit attacking players Mourinho signed for a team that was already struggling for goals under LVG. The reality is when Pogba got injured those two looked completely lost and incapable of being the driving force we needed. Miki looks to be exiled (deservedly) and Lukaku looks like everything I feared he was - A technically limited poacher who can quickly become a liability when the goals dry up. There could be a really tough decision to make regarding Lukaku in the summer - He wont and shouldn't be sold but I think it will be time to question whether he can relied to spearhead an elite club's attack. He still has time to produce but I fear the worst. I hope he proves me wrong.

It's these two investments that I think have hurt and which I think could cost Mourinho. Over £100m that hypothetically could have been a Mane/Morata or a Pjanic/Salah type duo- Easy to criticise with hindsight obviously but that's the harsh nature of Jose's strategy - You can't hit at 50% in the market. He needed those players to be players to produce what their fees dictated they should and the reality is they haven't.

That's the narrative right now, but is it even correct? During his dry spell, he has often played well and had a positive contribution to our attacking play even though he's missed chances himself. He had a terrible game against City but the run of games before that does not fit your description at all, not even close.

 

[SirAF]

The problem is he's not bought enough, our transfer window this year and last year is just not enough, esp this year. The signings we made 3 not enough, we need 6 signings, the CM, CF and CB we added, we needed a new attacking player atleast, unfortunately we seeing lukaku is just not quiet good enough for the level we want to get to, much like valencia they be good players but nothing special. For me since summer 2009 we have gone from one drunken extreme to another, the fact our fullbacks are valencia and young says it all, pep scrapped his ageing fullbacks and got upgrades

I don't disagree with that at all, but I don't think it's viable to get that many signings in just one window - especially not top quality ones. They would need time to bed in as well.

 

[Son Of Sam]

So in your head, our only top player is Pogba and it's reasonable to turn to shit performance wise when he's out? Wouldn't that be Mourinhos fault for not assembling a better squad of players in the close to 300m he's spent? What about 75m Lukaku (who IMO should be sold as soon as possible). Does he not count as a top player?

Lukaku is a top player, not a world class player. Jose bought Lukaku so he could sync with Pogba. When Pogba is absent, the chances are far and few between and we know Lukaku needs 3 chances to score one goal.

What possible reason did he have for shitting himself against Liverpool with those tactics. Pogba was out? So what. Is pogba the only reason that we are a premier league quality team? Because a lot worse teams have gone to Anfield and put in much better and braver performances then the embarrassment we put in. Yeah we got the draw (largely thanks to De Gea as always when we get a result in big games. Keepers bailing you out isn't a tactic though, or at least not a good one.

You are a fantasist!
Chelsea went to Anfield with an ultra-attacking mindset. Can you remind us how many points they got from their exuberance?

Arsenal went to Anfield with a super extra ultra attacking mindset and got pasted 4-0. You guys really think Jose is stupid. As far as he’s concerned... RESULTS >>> Performance. The 3 points matter to him than flicks & sexy football and this is why he’s successful.

For what it's worth, I think our squad of players is mostly good. It's mostly down to Mourinho not getting the best out of them in the big games. Or not even that, but setting them up in a way where it's close to impossible to succeed. Matic and Herrera are still good midfielders. Martial is still one of the best young players in the world, as is rashford. We still have good defenders and the best goalkeeper in the world. And we still had our 75m striker (again, who for me shouldn't be playing in any of the top 6 sides). Mourinho made his choices, and his choice was to buy some big name, physically large players mainly and just grind out results in big games then be consistent in the rest.

Stop deluding yourself.
Our squad of players are not good when it comes to creativity. The evidence was laid bare on Sunday. We do not have a single player in our midfield that can go past a marker or run with the ball to break City’s lines. That’s how poor our transfer window has been before Jose’s arrival.

Only 2 of Jose’s purchases started on Sunday. It effectively meant we played mostly with the dross assembled by LVG/Moyes. I really don’t know why you guys are greatlysurprised by the outcome. We’d have had a fighting chance to win with Pogba in the team. Without him, nothing anyone could have done to stop City.

The poor investment of the years before Jose landed us the defeat. You can hardly blame Jose for the deadweights in the squad. Actually, he should be appreciated for keeping us in 2nd position. The only team better than us thus far have outspent us cos they have the better players pound for pound.

What are you talking about? Mou must have told lukaku to miss? where do you even get these sayings from? to fit your narrative, don't you even get the play to win saying, it starts at how teams are set up, that is how the managers tactics, if they not progressing to create chances but playing very deep and concede possession, then the manager does not want his fullbacks, attacking players to go for it.

I was only sarcastically reiterating your beliefs - that “Jose does not play to win the big games” narrative. If you don’t understand the sarcasm, it’s your fault, not mine.

Who's fault is that? why we don't have enough top players? the current club, how much wasted money has the club done the past few years? so when the club was in a position of strength under fergie 2009-12, we did not sign the players, so that is the image of united not signing the top players goes way back to the latter stages of the fergie era. Jose had full 2 summers, what have we got from the 2 summers? fullbacks not been improved, instead of upgrading mata and herrera, a better winger, you say we have one world class player, why didn't we do better than lukaku? one of our star signings, is not world class? hmmm, so over 300 million has been spent and we have one world class player.

We don’t have enough top players because of the shambolic managers the club proceeded to hire after SAF left.

Jose had 2 full summers and he’s bought only 7 players. The players he bought are mostly the best performers in the team and only 2 of them started on Sunday. How is that Jose’s fault?

Fact remains Mourinho likes a more physical side and he gets found, its that simple. The fact you're using without pogba excuse is down to Mourinho and no one else, he likes to be defensive in big games and nothing will change, these tactics will not see us win a PL or CL, he may win a PL, but no way do I see him winning a CL with the road he's done down

So it was Mourinho that instructed Pogba to cop a red card at the Emirates so he can set up negatively against City? Is that what you are implying? You must think Jose gets orgasms from negative football when it’s clear as daylight that he takes that option because of the lack of quality players in the squad.

As for winning the CL, he’s done it twice already using the same conservative approach. Bayern had all the possession but it was Inter that ran away as winners by scoring 2 unreplied goals. Jose’s tactics work but right now, he doesn’t have enough quality players yet to execute his tactics.

 

[dichinero]

The problem is he's not bought enough, our transfer window this year and last year is just not enough, esp this year. The signings we made 3 not enough, we need 6 signings, the CM, CF and CB we added, we needed a new attacking player atleast, unfortunately we seeing lukaku is just not quiet good enough for the level we want to get to, much like valencia they be good players but nothing special. For me since summer 2009 we have gone from one drunken extreme to another, the fact our fullbacks are valencia and young says it all, pep scrapped his ageing fullbacks and got upgrades

I was discussing with a friend, and a point came up that the FBs that Pep binned are collectively better or as good as our collective FBs in Darmian, Shaw, Valencia, Young and Blind, only 2 of which are natural FBs. The main point was what José looking at when City were binning and replacing while likes of Kolasinac and Aurier cost a combined total of £25m? I'm pretty sure that clubs were in for Darmian and the free spending Koeman said he wanted to bring Blind to Everton. I'm sure our lot are on higher wages too.

 

[Irish Jet]

That's the narrative right now, but is it even correct? During his dry spell, he has often played well and had a positive contribution to our attacking play even though he's missed chances himself. He had a terrible game against City but the run of games before that does not fit your description at all, not even close.

I really think standards have fallen if you think he played well - He was decent against Arsenal and had his moments, he was hardly a dominant force or an exceptional creator - His shocking miss nearly killed us against Watford and he couldn't get a kick in the second half bar one effort right after said miss. I'm not saying he's a bad footballer - Just that he will eventually cost us when he offers so little if you want to be a title contender. Which he unquestionably has.

The reality is there are games where we need him to a lot with little - Which is what great players can do - All this bullshit excuses for him about being isolated - A £75m striker should be able to deal with it and create his own openings. Look at how Morata/Hazard linked when they were literally the only two attackers on the pitch at Anfield - Compare that to Lukaku and Miki who were abysmal in the same fixture. He was abysmal against Chelsea as well.

If you really think he's doing enough for what we've paid then we're done.

 

[Son Of Sam]

Football has changed a lot from 2004 when Porto won it and he has not been building towards the same type of side as that Inter Milan in 2010.

The same approach won him Europa Cup about 7 months ago. It works but you need quick thinking players that can do smart transitioning of the ball from the midfield to the attack. Jose had Sneijder. We had no one like him on Sunday.

That Inter side was brilliant defensively all around but also had very good all around players all over the pitch. And it was also a one off them winning the Champions League, not a side that could sustainably be one of the favourites for it every year.

United are brilliant defensively too. Our main problem is going forward. We are so bad that we don’t even have a specialist free-kick taker. For a side with so many tall players too, our corners are the worst in the league as well.

 

[Ainu]

I really think standards have fallen if you think he played well - He was decent against Arsenal and had his moments, he was hardly a dominant force or an exceptional creator - His shocking miss nearly killed us against Watford and he couldn't get a kick in the second half bar one effort right after said miss. I'm not saying he's a bad footballer - Just that he will eventually cost us when he offers so little if you want to be a title contender. Which he unquestionably has.

The reality is there are games where we need him to a lot with little - Which is what great players can do - All this bullshit excuses for him about being isolated - A £75m striker should be able to deal with it and create his own openings. Look at how Morata/Hazard linked when they were literally the only two attackers on the pitch at Anfield - Compare that to Lukaku and Miki who were abysmal in the same fixture. He was abysmal against Chelsea as well.

If you really think he's doing enough for what we've paid then we're done.

You've gone from calling him a liability to putting words in my mouth like that last sentence. Yeah, I'd say we're done indeed.

 

[Irish Jet]

You've gone from calling him a liability to putting words in my mouth like that last sentence. Yeah, I'd say we're done indeed.

He is a liability. A good player can still be a liability. When you're the lone striker for a team playing on the break you need to be great and he's anything but. His inability to make an impact unless everything is going for him is killing us. It's why we're out of the title race. That is the definition of being a liability.

 

[Oneunited26]

Lukaku is a top player, not a world class player. Jose bought Lukaku so he could sync with Pogba. When Pogba is absent, the chances are far and few between and we know Lukaku needs 3 chances to score one goal.



You are a fantasist!
Chelsea went to Anfield with an ultra-attacking mindset. Can you remind us how many points they got from their exuberance?

Arsenal went to Anfield with a super extra ultra attacking mindset and got pasted 4-0. You guys really think Jose is stupid. As far as he’s concerned... RESULTS >>> Performance. The 3 points matter to him than flicks & sexy football and this is why he’s successful.



Stop deluding yourself.
Our squad of players are not good when it comes to creativity. The evidence was laid bare on Sunday. We do not have a single player in our midfield that can go past a marker or run with the ball to break City’s lines. That’s how poor our transfer window has been before Jose’s arrival.

Only 2 of Jose’s purchases started on Sunday. It effectively meant we played mostly with the dross assembled by LVG/Moyes. I really don’t know why you guys are greatlysurprised by the outcome. We’d have had a fighting chance to win with Pogba in the team. Without him, nothing anyone could have done to stop City.

The poor investment of the years before Jose landed us the defeat. You can hardly blame Jose for the deadweights in the squad. Actually, he should be appreciated for keeping us in 2nd position. The only team better than us thus far have outspent us cos they have the better players pound for pound.





I was only sarcastically reiterating your beliefs - that “Jose does not play to win the big games” narrative. If you don’t understand the sarcasm, it’s your fault, not mine.



We don’t have enough top players because of the shambolic managers the club proceeded to hire after SAF left.

Jose had 2 full summers and he’s bought only 7 players. The players he bought are mostly the best performers in the team and only 2 of them started on Sunday. How is that Jose’s fault?



So it was Mourinho that instructed Pogba to cop a red card at the Emirates so he can set up negatively against City? Is that what you are implying? You must think Jose gets orgasms from negative football when it’s clear as daylight that he takes that option because of the lack of quality players in the squad.

As for winning the CL, he’s done it twice already using the same conservative approach. Bayern had all the possession but it was Inter that ran away as winners by scoring 2 unreplied goals. Jose’s tactics work but right now, he doesn’t have enough quality players yet to execute his tactics.

Our problems started summer 2009 when ronaldo left, and the regression began from there

 

[bosnian_red]

I definitely think Mourinho is to blame in terms of the players he's gone after. Why didn't he go after Mane, Sane or Salah for the right wing? He bought Mkhitaryan instead. He's the one that made Lukaku the priority striker to sign instead of going for a more talented striker. So you can't suddenly use him needing 3 chances for one goal as an excuse for Mourinho as he knew what he was getting (even moreso as he managed him before which makes it that much worse). He spent around 300m since he's been here, yeah it's not his fault that Bailly got injured and Pogba got suspended, but there's still like 180m in Mourinho signings there and only Matic started and Lindelof got subbed on? You say dross that Moyes brought in, but Mata was actually good when he came on (and almost never plays in big games) while Fellaini is a key player for Mourinho because of the hoofing in those games. Dross LvG brought in? Martial is our most talented attacking player. Rashford wouldn't be getting a game if LvG didn't bring him up first. Lingard would probably be gone. The first 2 are among Mourinho's most important players, the 3rd is a solid squad player. LvG brought in Herrera, didn't get the best out of him then under Mourinho he was our player of the season playing as a defensive mid in a midfield 3. Ok, Matic is better as that, but Herrera is still a good player and can do better then what we've seen this year. Blind has proven incredibly reliable in every big game he's ever played for us (one of the best players vs Ajax in the Europa league final), started plenty of them under Mourinho last season but has barely played this season because he doesn't have the physicality required for a Mourinho defender, despite being a very smart player and good on the ball. Pep would love him just like LvG did.

Other key players for Mourinho this season - Jones/Smalling (when fit), Valencia, Young, De Gea. All brought in by Fergie during his time here. You say we can't blame Mourinho for the deadweight in the squad? Well Pep Guardiola has spent only slightly more then Mourinho has in the same amount of time, and shipped out loads of dead weight, and brought in loads of players that he needs. Mourinho chose to not sell players and spend a feck ton on a poacher in Lukaku. City have the better players pound for pound? They have a better squad but not as big of a gap as what we saw on Sunday. The main difference in that performance was the managers in charge and tactics they have built their teams to play. Do you think even now that given the choice of Lukaku for 75m or 2 of Sane/Jesus/Mane/Salah for pretty much that same amount, that Mourinho would go for the latter 2 instead of Lukaku? No chance. He likes his big physical strikers as that's the style he wants to play.

On the performance at anfield thing. Never have I said to go an be all out attacking there, obviously not. But there's a world of difference between the shit on a stick football we played there 2 seasons in a row where we had a combined like 3 shots (not sure if a single one on target?) and going all out attack so they kill you on the counter. Liverpool this season are a mess defensively (every season tbf). There's ways of hurting them without being suicidal defensively. Not to mention we have a better midfield then them.

Also yeah, at the end of the day the results are what counts. Let's see Mourinho's results away to the big 6 in the last 10 games...

• 0-0 vs Arsenal (Apr 2015)
• 0-3 vs Man City (Aug 2015)
• 0-0 vs Tottenham (Nov 2015)
• 0-0 vs Liverpool (Oct 2016)
• 0-4 vs Chelsea (Oct 2016)
• 0-2 vs Arsenal (May 2017)
• 1-2 vs Tottenham (May 2017)
• 0-0 vs Liverpool (Oct 2017)
• 0-1 vs Chelsea (Nov 2017)
• 3-1 vs Arsenal (Dec 2017)

4 goal for, 13 goals against, 1 win, 4 draws, 5 defeats. Or if you only look at results at United, then it's 1 win, 2 draws, 4 defeats with 4 goals for, 10 against. That's a woeful record. Mourinho has always been a results oriented manager, but that's 2 years of shit results in big games. When the results don't work out, you at least have to look at positives in the performance. When the performance is shit, then there's nothing left to fall back on and you have to criticize him. Simple as.

 

[Stacks]

I was all for Mourinho after Fergie, thinking he was the man to replace fergie. And for the most part, I've been pretty pleased with him. But an ever growing part of me is looking forward to when he leaves and is hopeful that we bring in a positive and proactive manager afterwards. Someone who can transform us into one of the best teams and have us play exciting football and look to dominate in every game.


Mourinho used to be a big game manager, but seeing him now, he doesn't have any attacking plan in the big games. Never will he look at a bit game and think that he should take the front foot from minute 1 and not needing to park the bus. His record in thethem over the past 2 years speaks volume tbh. Far from good enough. Before it used to be style doesn't matter in those games, only the result. But we don't even get results in them anymore. Literally just wait to lose then blame it on a lack of quality/spending/referees/whatever. Not the case. I'm convinced that even if he was in charge of Barca 2011, he'd play negatively in things like the champions league final and make them a counter attacking side. It doesn't matter who he buys, how players develop, how much money he can spend, he'll never be a manager who builds towards building a team that can dominate in a set style every game, and force others to adapt to him like Pep has with City.

Obviously everyone adapts a little. But we go from dominating small teams to looking like the small team against shite like arsenal or Liverpool, let alone City. And that's really frustrating especially when player for player we have better players. Put Guardiola in charge with the same group of players (minus lukaku) and you know he'd have us dominating away to those teams and not parking the bus. So it's not a case of personnel. It just leaves you feeling pessimistic about further improvement. We won the Europa league, great. Might even win the title one of these years, but over a 5 year span of Pep at City and Mou at United, I'd be hopeful for 1 title while they'd probably win 3. And as for champions league titles, well pep has transformed City into looking like one of the favourites despite not having one of the top 5 players in the world in his side. While we are huge underdogs and will rely on a lot of luck to get there. And that's something I don't think will ever change with Mourinho. He won't build a team that can be the best team, but rather buy big players who can counter act the rest. I mean ffs we have loads of talent in our squad yet fall to complete shit the second Pogba gets injured and just rely on long balls to lukaku or fellaini to open teams up. Or need Martial/rashford to dribble past like 3 players because they start so deep. And that's not what I want to see from a Manchester United side.

So yeah. Mourinho is a good manager of course and has turned us into a competitive team, but I really doubt there's much scope for improvement with him. He'll never build a team that is better then a Pep side over an extended period of time, or one that can even be on par and be equally feared. So that's why I'm looking forward to when he leaves and hopefully having a manager with a set attacking, dominant style to build towards.

Chelsea, Spurs and Arsenal at home last season looked like we started on the front foot. Liverpool too.

 

[bosnian_red]

The same approach won him Europa Cup about 7 months ago. It works but you need quick thinking players that can do smart transitioning of the ball from the midfield to the attack. Jose had Sneijder. We had no one like him on Sunday.



United are brilliant defensively too. Our main problem is going forward. We are so bad that we don’t even have a specialist free-kick taker. For a side with so many tall players too, our corners are the worst in the league as well.

I'd argue that in the right system we do have plenty of players that can be quick thinking creative players. Look at mkhtiaryan at Dortmund (though I'll add to that in saying that Mkhi is inconsistent as feck wherever and that he isn't the answer anyway). But in a midfield 3 with a Pep type system, I definitely think we could pretty much replicate it with Herrera for Fernandinho, Pogba for De Bruyne, and Mata for Silva. Herrera in the same role was class last season as a holding mid, and is definitely a quick thinking player that can play quick football. Shouldn't be the creative force though. Mata is quality on the ball, not on the level of David Silva, but in the right, possession oriented system can shine as he can be quick on the ball with his touch and passing and off the ball movement. Pogba we know is world class like De Bruyne is, might take too long on the ball at times but can be coached to play differently. Wouldn't really call it a drop off or improvement if both are at their best. Martial/Rashford, Sane/Sterling... Martial and Sane are both among the best u23 players in the world, both can be devastating. Rashford outperforms Sterling every time they put on the England shirts. Pep has Sterling looking quality, Rashford is inconsistent as he's young but also probably not being used correctly. Up top, Pep spent 30m(?) on Jesus. Mourinho spent 75m on Lukaku. Don't really want to go too in depth here other then I think Lukaku is pretty trash.

At the back, Valencia is pretty much equal to Walker and has been during Mourinho's time. Been very good but I guess will need replacing as he's old. Delph isn't a very good player but has worked in that system, just like Young has worked for Mourinho. Same shit there, but again both are stop gaps which need replacing (they have Mendy injured though). Center backs Bailly is the best of the bunch from both sides and can be good on the ball, the rest are all around the same but I definitely think Guardiola would like Blind at the back anyway, who is a smarter player then Stones is but arguably better on the ball, and Pep has got Stones into a good player actually this season. Then not even a hint of a comparison when it comes to goalkeepers. We have the best in the world, Ederson is good with potential but yeah.

Anyway what I'm getting at here is that we have the players to be playing a lot better. We don't have the attacking depth that they do, and lack a good enough right winger and striker IMO, but we had more then enough chances to buy these players. Mourinho just chose not to buy them. So we can't excuse Mourinho for not having the right players to play more expansive football when he chose not to build towards that. Or you can't say they aren't good enough for Mourinho's style when they'd most likely be good enough for the manager that made City top right now.

Also yeah it won the Europa League but that's hardly representative of a top team, especially considering our struggles against the likes of Celta Vigo and whoever else we played (can't remember, but the knockout stages weren't pretty).