Jose Mourinho | 2017/18 Assessments | Poll Added

[AshRK]

I think people do accept this, some simply see this as poor preparation to not have someone who can do a similar job to Pogba (not the same quality but the job itself). People keep saying ‘well someone like Pogba won’t sit on the bench’. We don’t need a Pogba to link midfield to attack - it’s poor that we can’t do it without him (rather than us just throwing our hands up and declaring what a great player he is).

There’s bound to be a midfielder (young, learning) that can be his adequate backup.

So yes, it’s an excuse to an extent but it’s not the full picture.

If I am not wrong Jose did suggest Fellaini as a back up to Pogba but the problem is Fellaini has also been injured. Before the season started midfield was our most secured position considering we had 5 midfielders to choose (Carrick,Pogba,Fellaini,Matic and Herrera) but no one would have imagined us losing 3 midfielders at the same with injuries/suspension. And to make matter worse Herrera is having a very mediocre season and Mkhi just went Absent without official leave when we needed him the most.

Do you think City would have won 16 out of 17 games if both Silva/KDB got injured at the same time and Sterling/Sane started having a shocker performance? I dont think so.

 

[dichinero]

Isnt that what most fans are doing by saying we have made considerable progress which is a truth but the problem is the hatred for jose is too big for some that it is clouding your judgement. You act as if fans are here celebrating us being in second, no one is extremely happy with that. Tell me when was the last time we were constantly in second place for such a long period. Not anytime after sir alex retired. Again nothing to celebrate and we all are pissed we are not 1st but we cannot downplay our own progress. Did you seriously expect us to win the title season because I for one did not.

What city are doing is something extremely rare, which may never be replicated. 49 points out of 51 will not be repeated by any team including city. All we can look at is our own progress and hope to keep on improving. I don't know about you but if come may 2018 we finish with 85 odd points and finish 2nd scoring 75 plus goals, I would be happy with the progress, again nothing to celebrate but will be happy with what we have achieved especially after 70 points being the highest we achieved since sir alex retired.

I think you should just read up on my previous posts, if you want to Because I have not said that I expected us to win the title but had higher expectations of the team and manager. If I did not rate the manager or team, why would I expect more? Take that and spin it as you wish.

Hatred for Mourinho? This is getting tiresome. It's really not that deep.

 

[Dobbs]

Arsenal haven't spent money in 10 years. Crystal Palace signing players like Benteke for 30 million was also unprecedented. The fact is everyone has upped their spending relative to their level. Us signing Pogba for £90 million is not crazier than Everton signing Sigurdsson for 45 million.

Everton could only pay that because we bought Lukaku. Who did we sell to buy Pogba if you feel the two purchases are relative?

Are you seriously arguing ours and City's spend over the last few years is perfectly in line with inflation and relative to other clubs?

I'm not even criticising Mourinho here so no idea why you're in protect the manager mode. I'm only saying with this amount of money being spent by top managers we can expect new highs to be reached.

 

[rotherham_red]

Hazard was injured at the start of the season and we coped quite well without him. Ofcourse you will always miss a player of that class but Conte's system minimizes his loss pretty well. Jose teams struggle a lot more with the best attacker injured/off form because he put's heavy attacking burden on them, it's been a common theme through his career - Lampard, Sneijder, Ronaldo, Hazard and now Pogba (didn't see his Porto team enough but im guessing 'that' player for him then was Deco) he relies on the best player producing the goods and the others to be clever enough to play off him. Hazard not playing or being off form under Jose crippled us to the point we'd even struggle vs lower division sides, these days we do allright.

Now, don't mistake me here, im not saying that's a bad philosophy, it's clearly got a use as his trophy record demonstrates. Im just responding to your point that we would miss Hazard as much as you do Pogba.

Coped so well that you lost to Burnley and Palace?

 

[Di Maria's angel]

Liar liar pants on fire.

I never claimed it was the norm in comparison to past seasons, as you well know from our last exchange. Here you go:

​

As you can see and in fact already know I never characterised City's start as something we normally see. I clearly described it as the "new norm." Describing this start as something we'll have to get used to going forward.

Hey you're defending Mourinho(even though I'm not criticism him here) so I expect my posts to be twisted. That shouldn't stop you apologising for deliberately misinterpreting my posts though.

How can you conclude that?

Lets assume you want to extrapolate future PL points after 17 games, surely you'd do so by analysing previous seasons? You can't simply take one year (2017/18) and then conclude that "this is now the normal and we'll see this pattern going into future". That's not how it works. So, no, I'm not apologising as you don't seem to know what norm actually means.

If I eat dinner at 6pm everyday, then I can state "I normally eat dinner at 6pm in the evening".
If I then eat dinner at 6pm everyday bar Sunday, where I decide to eat at 8pm, how can I possible state "I normally eat dinner at 8pm"?

 

[haram]

Everton could only pay that because we bought Lukaku. Who did we sell to buy Pogba if you feel the two purchases are relative?

Are you seriously arguing ours and City's spend over the last few years is perfectly in line with inflation and relative to other clubs?

I'm not even criticising Mourinho here so no idea why you're in protect the manager mode. I'm only saying with this amount of money being spent by top managers we can expect new highs to be reached.

Im not in 'protect manager mode', we are discussing the price of players. Everton signed Bolasie for £30 million the year before. Championship sides can spend £10 million+ on players. Bournemouth spent £20 million on Ake. Brighton spent £40 million. Palace spent almost 30 million on Sakho. If these teams are spending £40- 50 million why is it crazy we are spending £150 million.

We have always spent more than other clubs. Are we going to act like we were not spending big amounts for Rooney, Ferdinand etc? Why is it different to us buying Pogba and Lukaku now? We are signing CB's for £30 million. So are Everton and Crystal Palace.

 

[Adarsh CU]

Everton could only pay that because we bought Lukaku. Who did we sell to buy Pogba if you feel the two purchases are relative?

Are you seriously arguing ours and City's spend over the last few years is perfectly in line with inflation and relative to other clubs?

I'm not even criticising Mourinho here so no idea why you're in protect the manager mode. I'm only saying with this amount of money being spent by top managers we can expect new highs to be reached.

The market is inflated. There is nothing to dispute here. What was the offer from Barcelona for Coutinho? How much did PSG pay for Neymar, Liverpool for Keita, Chelsea for Moratta? Heck, even Johnny Evans was quoted at 30 million pounds. AC Milan spent over 200 million euros. So, no our spending is not ludicrous. And we are 2nd in the league.

 

[Dobbs]

How can you conclude that?

Lets assume you want to extrapolate future PL points after 17 games, surely you'd do so by analysing previous seasons? You can't simply take one year (2017/18) and then conclude that "this is now the normal and we'll see this pattern going into future". That's not how it works. So, no, I'm not apologising as you don't seem to know what norm actually means.

If I eat dinner at 6pm everyday, then I can state "I normally eat dinner at 6pm in the evening".
If I then eat dinner at 6pm everyday bar Sunday, where I decide to eat at 8pm, how can I possible state "I normally eat dinner at 8pm"?

Fair enough if you disagree with my prediction but you've blatantly misrepresented it. Nowhere did I claim City's start is typical of any other season gone. In fact I said the opposite, that is was something "new" that we had to get used to. This was already explained to you once in the exchange I just posted.

So to repeat the same fallacy again in shitty. Posters deliberately telling fibs about another posters stance is something mods should crack down on...starting with yourself.

 

[Bojan11]

Please stop with this sitting back nonsense and doing nothing in attack. Got away with it against Watford and today.

 

[Bubz27]

Please stop with this sitting back nonsense and doing nothing in attack. Got away with it against Watford and today.

You reckon it's Jose tactics? Or players shitting it?

 

[LeftyBlaster]

Building on what I said in Match Day, I'm calling it now. We are never going to win the title under Jose. His approach yields so much initiative to the opposition. Whether it's sitting back after a lead, or parking the bus and hoofing like fecktards in the big games. Time wasting against WBA. Bloody embarrassing. We should've dismantled a team of that calibre.

 

[SwansonsTache]

When will we ditch the useless 4-2-3-1 and stop sitting back.

It is like Mourinho thinks this is his vintage Chelsea side who could ride out any lead. This team is incapable of sitting back.

Getting tired of this repeating time and time again.

 

[Amar__]

Looks like he was asleep as the team too, I have no idea why he waited for them to score change something.

 

[Bojan11]

You reckon it's Jose tactics? Or players shitting it?

Hard to say with Herrera in midfield. But this isn’t La Liga where you leading 2-0 and Eibar give up. Jose knows that.

Even at 3-0 the game isn’t over. We stopped playing football after 2-0. We just get too lax and it happens way too often.

 

[milemuncher777]

Building on what I said in Match Day, I'm calling it now. We are never going to win the title under Jose. His approach yields so much initiative to the opposition. Whether it's sitting back after a lead, or parking the bus and hoofing like fecktards in the big games. Time wasting against WBA. Bloody embarrassing. We should've dismantled a team of that calibre.

It's that word again

 

[Minimalist]

You reckon it's Jose tactics? Or players shitting it?

There has to be a reason for it strategically (e.g. conserving energy, sitting back/counter attack). It has happened too many times under Mourinho for it to be just down to the players as individuals. It might work to be fair if we were more effective in attack (something apparently Mourinho has no interest in coaching).

Still, a good win given the context.

 

[buckooo1978]

serious questions need to be asked about that second half performance

disappointed he feels Rojo is a better option than Shaw at left back

 

[Ban]

serious questions need to be asked about that second half performance

questions like what?

 

[Ban]

There has to be a reason for it strategically (e.g. conserving energy, sitting back/counter attack). It has happened too many times under Mourinho for it to be just down to the players as individuals. It might work to be fair if we were more effective in attack (something apparently Mourinho has no interest in coaching).

Still, a good win given the context.

Actually we are effective in attack. I agree we don't look good when we sit back but with Pogba we look a bit better even in that and next season we need 2 more CMs. Anyway it's maybe sit back a bit and hit them on the counter but our midfield lacks creativity sometimes for that.

 

[Home&Away]

questions like what?

When he plans to retire maybe or hopefully jog on to club that can spend whatever they want in 3 years & restart that cycle whenever it doesn't work. Think it suits him better

 

[Kapardin]

Don't know what the moaning is about. We are winning, Jose is a serial trophy winner and next season with the right players, it will be pretty as you please.

 

[AshRK]

You reckon it's Jose tactics? Or players shitting it?

Can't solely blame on Jose . Players also look lost but the sad part is Jose never addresses it. He has to address this crap.

 

[Bojan11]

Don't know what the moaning is about. We are winning, Jose is a serial trophy winner and next season with the right players, it will be pretty as you please.

I like Jose. But that second half, I have no idea what we were trying to achieve and it happens way too much.

 

[Rajma]

He really puts enormous pressure on himself by having us to play this style since only trophies can vindicate that from fans perspective.

 

[Ban]

When he plans to retire maybe or hopefully jog on to club that can spend whatever they want in 3 years & restart that cycle whenever it doesn't work. Think it suits him better

Ffs.

You're either kidding or you're writing some absolute bollocks.

 

[Van Piorsing]

5 matches, 4 wins so far in December, 4 more fixtures to the end of 2017. Not so tragic considering lack of Pogba and Bailly plus Matic playing with injury... not even gonna mention Mickey.

 

[cyberman]

When will we ditch the useless 4-2-3-1 and stop sitting back.

It is like Mourinho thinks this is his vintage Chelsea side who could ride out any lead. This team is incapable of sitting back.

Getting tired of this repeating time and time again.

I'll repeat my post from another thread.
We've won every single game that we've scored first in this year.
Every single one.
Maybe the question should be why does Jose have more confidence in a Utd side than you seem to lack

 

[Paxi]

When he plans to retire maybe or hopefully jog on to club that can spend whatever they want in 3 years & restart that cycle whenever it doesn't work. Think it suits him better

Right...

 

[van der star]

We need to dominate the smaller teams and try to score more goals, instead of getting complacent with a 1 or 2 goal lead. I've seen us slowing down our play when we have the lead far too often this year, despite the late flurry of goals in some games. We lack a certain killer instinct. I'm not sure if that's down to the players we have or due to the instructions issued to them.

 

[shield]

Please can he do something to help our players pass the ball better. Like, Bournemouth and Burnley players pass the ball better than us. We were hanging on against a very rubbish West Brom team. Pattern of play was like, ping pong here there .. lose the ball then scramble back and defend.

I don't want to be too negative but our standard of play is deteriorating. We play like a rugby team , make a line and charge, push, shove, tackle, win the ball. Then hoof it long and chase after it. Most of our matches look like this. Are we really so bad that we cannot string more than 3 passes together and have to hang on against West Brom?

 

[buckooo1978]

questions like what?

like why did the players drop intensity levels? why let an awful side like West Brom into the match? roles on corners?

 

[Bojan11]

BTW West Brom before the match had the lowest possession stats in the league. We were playing a side who struggle to keep the ball.

 

[Greck]

Can't pin it all on him. Just look at our build up. Young and Valencia are hesitant to drive the ball into open areas that might require they use their weaker foot. Smalling although a rock defensively makes every pass to the receiver's backfoot. Herrera very uncomposed under pressure. A lot of our defenders and midfielders either pass it back to DDG or hoof it under the slightest pressure. We'll begin phasing out some of these players over time.

Mourinho inherited this lot and has improved our situation by signing midfielders and CBs that can move the ball fluidly but they weren't available due to injuries or suspensions. The fullback positions are next for reinforcement. I think he could use Shaw more mind.

 

[Ban]

like why did the players drop intensity levels? why let an awful side like West Brom into the match? roles on corners?

I don't think it's all down to him. Maybe the players automatically switch off sometimes. Loosing control in midfield doesn't help either. I think we should have put in a 3rd midfield earlier.
But I wouldn't make too much about that 2nd half.

We do need a new CM though.

 

[#07]

I would like Mou to clean up our set piece defending. It’s been poor lately and it’s always been a strength of his sides. Had we just cleared our lines well we’d have strolled to a 2-0 today.

 

[Home&Away]

Ffs.

You're either kidding or you're writing some absolute bollocks.

Nah can't stand the guy personally - what's so hard to understand? WBA had more shots than us today - so far off the pace it's unbelievable. Better suited for a club like PSG who have to win things & win things quickly to justify their spending. I feel like even though some fans are happy with scrapping for 3 point wins - it just doesn't satisfy me.

Seriously was that that confusing?

 

[Ban]

Nah can't stand the guy personally - what's so hard to understand? WBA had more shots than us today - so far off the pace it's unbelievable. Better suited for a club like PSG who have to win things & win things quickly to justify their spending. I feel like even though some fans are happy with scrapping for 3 point wins - it just doesn't satisfy me.

Seriously was that that confusing?

It's not confusing. As I said you're writing some awful stuff. That's all.

So off the pace?
If we're so off the pace and still 2nd then there's something wrong. I guess it all happened by accident.

I'm not happy with scrapping for 3 point wins (as opposed to 1 point wins) but with a progress we made and we did make it.
As for winning titles that would be really awful too, if he won us one....

 

[Home&Away]

It's not confusing. As I said you're writing some awful stuff. That's all.

So off the pace?
If we're so off the pace and still 2nd then there's something wrong. I guess it all happened by accident.

I'm not happy with scrapping for 3 point wins (as opposed to 1 point wins) but with a progress we made and we did make it.
As for winning titles that would be really awful too, if he won us one....

We are 2nd because Jose is a winner & only an idiot would take that from him. To me though I can't stand us not being dominant in at least 40% of our games even if we lose.
Its always something he is willing to give up for the purpose of winning.

We are similar to Barcelona compared to Madrid - one has expectations of how to play as well as to win whilst the other just need to win & it doesn't matter how. I find it painful to watch us playing like we are the Club with the oil money trying are hardest to win. We have expectations on how we should play & that's something he never focuses on.

 

[SirAF]

Dear God.

How would this forum cope if United dropped points today?

I swear, some of you don't deserve to see United win a single football match again.

Edit:

I see that @Fracture90 is still absent considering United won again as well.

 

[Himannv]

We are 2nd because Jose is a winner & only an idiot would take that from him. To me though I can't stand us not being dominant in at least 40% of our games even if we lose.
Its always something he is willing to give up for the purpose of winning.

We are similar to Barcelona compared to Madrid - one has expectations of how to play as well as to win whilst the other just need to win & it doesn't matter how. I find it painful to watch us playing like we are the Club with the oil money trying are hardest to win. We have expectations on how we should play & that's something he never focuses on.

Well, anyone who watches football knows what sort of coach Mourinho is and what to expect from him. There's no point raising this point 1.5 years after he's been given the job. Now, we can either let him do the job the way he knows how to or sit and whine about it on forums.