Jose Mourinho | 2017/18 Assessments | Poll Added

[acnumber9]

Matic, Lindelof, McTominay(promoted, counting him as he never played under LvG), Pogba, Lukaku, Sanchez. They played the majority of the game. That's 6/11. He's got this group of players, but how many of them seem motivated by him? Can't blame it on players as if we've replaced most of the ones that started under LVG and Moyes.

Well he didn’t sign McTominay and Pogba didn’t start the game. It was 5/14. Not 6/11.

 

[United never give up]

People need to open their eyes and realise that Mourinho is past it - the only reason we're so tolerant is because of how appalling Moyes/LVG were

The likes of Madrid, even Chelsea, wouldn't have stood for this

I know we like to spout all the nonsense about "sticking by our manager" but as those clubs have shown - sacking managers who aren't good enough is the right decision

In any walk of life, if you're the CEO/manager and you're not good enough - you need to go.

Jose Mourinho is past it

 

[L1nk]

This.
It may be ugly but what Mourinho is trying to create is a winning solid mentality along with having options. Even under SAF we had 100 ways to progress if anyone remembers our dirty Arsenal matches

This is how you create a solid winning mentality along with having options? By playing mostly the same shite all the time that inspires no confidence in anyone and i'm pretty sure, looking at the shite on the pitch, the players cannot stand to play. That's honestly some strategy.

People need to stop trying to shovel excuses and pardons down people's throats just because we had it slightly worse under Moyes and LVG and wake up and see we are not going forward under Mourinho, we are stalling, if not going backwards, oh and chucking another 200 million at him in the summer and hoping something sticks isn't the answer either, if the squads unbalanced he's had 18 months to try and alleviate some of it to no affect.

 

[Jonno]

These "Manager XYZ has won feck all" arguments are extremely lazy. Would you rather have Fabio Capello or Pochettino? Ranieri or Klopp? Roberto Di Mateo or Tuchel? Let's just retire this god-awful argument.

Simply put, I'd rather have Mourinho than Klopp, which was my argument. One of them wins things, one doesn't. One has an excellent cup final record, one has an extremely poor one.

 

[Jonno]

People need to open their eyes and realise that Mourinho is past it - the only reason we're so tolerant is because of how appalling Moyes/LVG were

The likes of Madrid, even Chelsea, wouldn't have stood for this

I know we like to spout all the nonsense about "sticking by our manager" but as those clubs have shown - sacking managers who aren't good enough is the right decision

In any walk of life, if you're the CEO/manager and you're not good enough - you need to go.

Jose Mourinho is past it

Well.... not entirely accurate is it. West Brom sacked their manager to avoid relegation and they're now rooted to the foot of the table. Man United have sacked 2 managers in 3 years and it's stunted our progress dramatically.

And secondly, what defines not good enough? Mourinho has dramatically improved our stature in World Football. We went from a sleeping giant with a completely broken squad of mis-fits, to a side 2nd in the Premier League, 2 major trophies in his first year, competing again in the CL, it's major progress despite inheriting such a god-awful squad.

People just seem to think he should wave a magic wand and dominate from day one, no manager in the world could do that. Look at Klopp, its taken him what, 2-3 years to basically match Brendon Rogers' record? This isn't Football Manager, you can't just turn up and win everything as if no other rivals exist.

Give the man time to continue what he is trying to build.

 

[Romez]

That's because of Smalling, who is a box defender. If you play a high line with Smalling then you are asking for trouble. We have played a high line against many teams with other CB combinations; but when Smalling plays we almost always play a low block.

Mourinho is not afraid of a high line; when he has ball players in defense he actually prefers it. But he also adapts his tactics to the team.

I’m sorry but this is nonsense.

We played a high line defence, focusing on possession under LVG and Smalling was legitimately one of the best CB’s in the league for most of the season.

 

[BluesJr]

Well.... not entirely accurate is it. West Brom sacked their manager to avoid relegation and they're now rooted to the foot of the table. Man United have sacked 2 managers in 3 years and it's stunted our progress dramatically.

You think we should have persisted with Moyes/LVG?

When things aren’t working and nothing seems to be indicating it will be different, you make a change. This happened with both those managers and both decisions were correct.

Are we there with Jose? If this continues until the end of the season, then I’d say possibly.

That said, there’s still time to turn it around but it could go either way at the moment.

 

[United never give up]

Well.... not entirely accurate is it. West Brom sacked their manager to avoid relegation and they're now rooted to the foot of the table. Man United have sacked 2 managers in 3 years and it's stunted our progress dramatically.

And secondly, what defines not good enough? Mourinho has dramatically improved our stature in World Football. We went from a sleeping giant with a completely broken squad of mis-fits, to a side 2nd in the Premier League, 2 major trophies in his first year, competing again in the CL, it's major progress despite inheriting such a god-awful squad.

People just seem to think he should wave a magic wand and dominate from day one, no manager in the world could do that. Look at Klopp, its taken him what, 2-3 years to basically match Brendon Rogers' record? This isn't Football Manager, you can't just turn up and win everything as if no other rivals exist.

Give the man time to continue what he is trying to build.

We've become a laughing stock as the season has progressed - not for the results but for our shambolic football

Speaking to fans of other elite clubs and looking at reactions online to the game tonight, the whole world is laughing at us

Look at how the other English teams played...

Our stature may have improved from the moyes/lvg days - but that isn't enough for a supposedly world class manager

The likes of Madrid/Barca/Bayern definitely don't look at us as a serious team anymore - Barcaforum for example genuinely feel sorry for us/think we're irrelevant

I bet if you asked the top players (messi/neymar etc) they probably wouldn't be able to name more than 3 players in our team - our performances this season haven't elevated us to the upper echelons of football, and the results haven't been good enough to compensate for that

We are still a "sleeping giant"

None of the other giants would give this man time to "build" whatever the hell he's building (matic/mctominay/herrera after he's had 18months in charge...)

 

[Jonno]

You think we should have persisted with Moyes/LVG?

When things aren’t working and nothing seems to be indicating it will be different, you make a change. This happened with both those managers and both decisions were correct.

Are we there with Jose? If this continues until the end of the season, then I’d say possibly.

That said, there’s still time to turn it around but it could go either way at the moment.

I think we should have never appointed Moyes and LVG. I think we should have appointed Mourinho, massive difference.

It could go either way, but unfortunately too many fans are basically calling for Mourinho's head whilst we're still in the mix for trophies and progress. I for one will be backing him.

 

[Tapori]

This is how you create a solid winning mentality along with having options? By playing mostly the same shite all the time that inspires no confidence in anyone and i'm pretty sure, looking at the shite on the pitch, the players cannot stand to play. That's honestly some strategy.

People need to stop trying to shovel excuses and pardons down people's throats just because we had it slightly worse under Moyes and LVG and wake up and see we are not going forward under Mourinho, we are stalling, if not going backwards, oh and chucking another 200 million at him in the summer and hoping something sticks isn't the answer either, if the squads unbalanced he's had 18 months to try and alleviate some of it to no affect.

So since he's been in charge we've qualified for the CL, won 2 cups, are still in the CL and FA Cup and are second in the League. He's brining through youth and has one of the best defensive records over the past 4 years post SAF and we drew 0-0 in a country we rarely do well in.

Yet somehow that is stalling?
What position did we finish in last season?

 

[BluesJr]

I think we should have never appointed Moyes and LVG. I think we should have appointed Mourinho, massive difference.

It could go either way, but unfortunately too many fans are basically calling for Mourinho's head whilst we're still in the mix for trophies and progress. I for one will be backing him.

Well that’s fair enough and I’d agree with that. I’m just not convinced we have the Mourinho that we saw at Chelsea and Inter, it just feels off and it doesn’t really feel everyone is pulling in the same direction, which is basically a trademark of his best teams.

 

[Jonno]

We've become a laughing stock as the season has progressed - not for the results but for our shambolic football

Speaking to fans of other elite clubs and looking at reactions online to the game tonight, the whole world is laughing at us

Look at how the other English teams played...

Our stature may have improved from the moyes/lvg days - but that isn't enough for a supposedly world class manager

The likes of Madrid/Barca/Bayern definitely don't look at us as a serious team anymore - Barcaforum for example genuinely feel sorry for us/think we're irrelevant

I bet if you asked the top players (messi/neymar etc) they probably wouldn't be able to name more than 3 players in our team - our performances this season haven't elevated us to the upper echelons of football, and the results haven't been good enough to compensate for that

We are still a "sleeping giant"

None of the other giants would give this man time to "build" whatever the hell he's building (magic/mctominay/herrera after he's had 18months in charge...)

The world is laughing at us? Really? I think you're a bit overly-paranoid don't you think? Grow a pair and don't give a feck what the world is doing. If you think the world is laughing at us, then fecking hell, they must be howling at City this week. I find losing to Wigan a little more embarrasing than drawing away at Sevilla.

The world is laughing at us when we won a European cup last season? Laughing at us for sitting 2nd in the league, higher than Chelsea, Spurs, Liverpool? Give your head a wobble, seriously.

If you think a sleeping giant is a club 2nd in the Premier league, in the CL knock out rounds, Champions of the Europa League, spending hundreds of millions of pounds on players every summer, then you're even more naive than I thought.

I personally love how Manchester United is different to most other clubs and we do give time to our managers if we believe they are the correct appointment. I firmly believe Mourinho is the right man, so does Woody, so do the owners, so do the majority of the fans.

I don't care what Barca forum think, they probably thought that when they d!cked us in 2 CL finals, so that point is irrelevant.

 

[breakout67]

I’m sorry but this is nonsense.

We played a high line defence, focusing on possession under LVG and Smalling was legitimately one of the best CB’s in the league for most of the season.

Defending under LVG had a very set position, because the team itself was very strict in it's position so we could control possession. Defenders under Mourinho have a different defensive line based on the state of the game, they have to be able to adapt to the way the game is going.

Playing a high line requires a different skill set under Mourinho.

 

[SecondFig]

Well that’s fair enough and I’d agree with that. I’m just not convinced we have the Mourinho that we saw at Chelsea and Inter, it just feels off and it doesn’t really feel everyone is pulling in the same direction, which is basically a trademark of his best teams.

I completely agree. The hallmark of those classic Mourinho teams was an incredible sense of team unity, and a really solid defence. I'm not saying they were necessarily negative or boring, but they built upon a very clear formation and set of tactics that all the players bought into.

We don't have any of that

 

[Giggs86]

let's re-visit this thread after the 2nd leg. So many people quick to judge, so many to predict we're heading out of the Champions League, yet will not open their eyes to the possibility that we play much better at OT and could win 2-0, 3-0 and progress to the Quarter Finals.

That's not the whole point though is it? We are not in a place to "get as far as possible in the CL and have fun", we're not Spurs. The expectations are much higher after all the investments we made in the past couple of years. If we go through, would you really feel confident in us playing away to Madrid/Barca/Bayern in the same way we played today?

I wouldn't hold against him an away 0-0 with heroics from De Gea after being absolutely battered by the likes of Real/Barca, but getting battered like that by Sevilla? This is unacceptable. Don't let the result fool you, just look at the stats and the amount of chances they created, and imagine it was Ronaldo/Messi on the finishing job instead of the Sevilla stiffs. Gets scary just to think about it.

 

[Sky1981]

These "Manager XYZ has won feck all" arguments are extremely lazy. Would you rather have Fabio Capello or Pochettino? Ranieri or Klopp? Roberto Di Mateo or Tuchel? Let's just retire this god-awful argument.

Would you swap our last season with liverpool? Attacking football, porous at the back and winning nothing?

 

[IAmAWinner]

Sick and Tired of his football. Do we even practise attacking moves and attacking drills in training?
I can't see us beating Chelsea and if Sevilla gets the away goal we might be going out of the UCL too...

I'm still supporting Mourinho, but feck me he is making it tough. I hope we at least get top 4.

 

[bosnian_red]

5 fixtures in the next month, could really change our fortunes for the better or pretty much lose all hope with United under Mourinho. Basically for me the 5 games that make or break his tenure here and if I'm Mou in or Mou out.

4 home games, 1 away game. Home to Chelsea, away to palace, home to Liverpool, home to Seville, home to Brighton in the FA cup. Its time he shows he can get us to actually play well in big games and show some direction for us instead of the shit we've seen. Theres no excuse for how poorly we've been playing and it's time for that to change if Mourinho wants a future here.

We're pretty much at the point where these next games will define the season. Losing to any of those teams would probably be disastrous for our season and the collective confidence. If we get through them winning most or all (We should aim to win all 5 considering we've dropped enough points in big games), then it'll set up the last 2 months nicely.

 

[Jonno]

That's not the whole point though is it? We are not in a place to "get as far as possible in the CL and have fun", we're not Spurs. The expectations are much higher after all the investments we made in the past couple of years. If we go through, would you really feel confident in us playing away to Madrid/Barca/Bayern in the same way we played today?

I wouldn't hold against him an away 0-0 with heroics from De Gea after being absolutely battered by the likes of Real/Barca, but getting battered like that by Sevilla? This is unacceptable. Don't let the result fool you, just look at the stats and the amount of chances they created, and imagine it was Ronaldo/Messi on the finishing job instead of the Sevilla stiffs. Gets scary just to think about it.

See, you're just falling in the trap thinking that we have a divine right to win everything because we're Manchester United and we're spending money.

Can't you see the surgery Mourinho has done on this squad in just 18 months? I invite you to go have a look at LVG's squad just before he left United and compare it to that of now. There's dramatic improvements all over the park. So therefore your ignorance to how far we've come as a team and club since Mourinho has taken over in the form of moaning because we're not yet as big as Madrid/Barca/Bayern is quite laughable.

Please stop presuming that he can just wave a magic wand and make us world class again, it's a building process and we have too many impatient fans here shouting for Mourinho's head because he hasn't won a Premier League title in 18 months. Fergie at times took 4 years to rebuild his squad to compete in an easier league. We now have 6 super teams in the PL, whereas Fergie only ever had to deal with 1-2 at a time. So give the man some time for christs sake.

 

[BluesJr]

5 fixtures in the next month, could really change our fortunes for the better or pretty much lose all hope with United under Mourinho.

4 home games, 1 away game. Home to Chelsea, away to palace, home to Liverpool, home to Seville, home to Brighton in the FA cup. Its time he shows he can get us to actually play well in big games and show some direction for us instead of the shit we've seen. Theres no excuse for how poorly we've been playing and it's time for that to change if Mourinho wants a future here.

We're pretty much at the point where these next games will define the season. Losing to any of those teams would probably be disastrous for our season and the collective confidence. If we get through them winning most or all (We should aim to win all 5 considering we've dropped enough points in big games), then it'll set up the last 2 months nicely.

We really need to win all those home games, anything else would be a failure in my opinion and could severely dent our hopes of finishing in the top four.

Beyond the results we need to see a much higher standard of performance and start getting all our best players firing.

It’s crunch time.

 

[KGBhoy]

Sick and Tired of his football. Do we even practise attacking moves and attacking drills in training?
I can't see us beating Chelsea and if Sevilla gets the away goal we might be going out of the UCL too...

I'm still supporting Mourinho, but feck me he is making it tough. I hope we at least get top 4.

Exactly what I'm thinking. I am not sure Jose knows how to fix this. He still doesn't know his first 11, and his tactics just haven't worked in the past 3-4 months. Yet, he is not changing anything. On paper we should be a great threat in attack, but in reality we can't even hold the ball.

 

[Giggs86]

See, you're just falling in the trap thinking that we have a divine right to win everything because we're Manchester United and we're spending money.

Can't you see the surgery Mourinho has done on this squad in just 18 months? I invite you to go have a look at LVG's squad just before he left United and compare it to that of now. There's dramatic improvements all over the park. So therefore your ignorance to how far we've come as a team and club since Mourinho has taken over in the form of moaning because we're not yet as big as Madrid/Barca/Bayern is quite laughable.

Please stop presuming that he can just wave a magic wand and make us world class again, it's a building process and we have too many impatient fans here shouting for Mourinho's head because he hasn't won a Premier League title in 18 months. Fergie at times took 4 years to rebuild his squad to compete in an easier league. We now have 6 super teams in the PL, whereas Fergie only ever had to deal with 1-2 at a time. So give the man some time for christs sake.

I'm not calling for his head, I've been supporting Mourinho ever since he got appointed and he was always my first pick to replace SAF. However, he's not helping himself with performances like today. He has all the backing from the board and he got almost every player he asked for, that's exactly the reason myself and others are disappointed - as you said, we have a much better team now than LVG had, no reason to get outplayed by an inferior opponent like that. There was no reason whatsoever to not kill the tie right there like 'Pool and City have done in their away matches. A cowardly performance like today is what disappoints me.

 

[Keenst]

He mentioned the other night that football is too beautiful to be ruined by video refereeing. Ironic considering his current brand of football is the most negative and unappealing to watch out of perhaps all of the big sides in Europe and probably even more.

 

[Jonno]

I'm not calling for his head, I've been supporting Mourinho ever since he got appointed and he was always my first pick to replace SAF. However, he's not helping himself with performances like today. He has all the backing from the board and he got almost every player he asked for, that's exactly the reason myself and others are disappointed - as you said, we have a much better team now than LVG had, no reason to get outplayed by an inferior opponent like that. There was no reason whatsoever to not kill the tie right there like 'Pool and City have done in their away matches. A cowardly performance like today is what disappoints me.

Fair points. I just think this is a bigger rebuilding job than most fans think.

 

[Theonas]

He mentioned the other night that football is too beautiful to be ruined by video refereeing. Ironic considering his current brand of football is the most negative and unappealing to watch out of perhaps all of the big sides in Europe and probably even more.

To be fair he is consistent with his views. After Ajax last year at the Europa League, he expressed again how those stupid football Einsteins thought Ajax played nice football so his response was telling his players that to him, beautiful football is not allowing your opponent to do what they want. It's simply his comfort zone, his background is in analyzing opponents and he has made a brilliant career out of being arguably the best tactical reader of a game in the world. Nobody dissect the strength of an opponent like him and I believe this is true even today. Unfortunately, it also means that's his default mindset at all times. He seems to take genuine pleasure out of seeing the opponents blocked and unable to play their game. Anybody that was expecting him to ever establish a consistent pro active approach given time or money is a very positive soul indeed.

 

[Keenst]

To be fair he is consistent with his views. After Ajax last year at the Europa League, he expressed again how those stupid football Einsteins thought Ajax played nice football so his response was telling his players that to him, beautiful football is not allowing your opponent to do what they want. It's simply his comfort zone, his background is in analyzing opponents and he has made a brilliant career out of being arguably the best tactical reader of a game in the world. Nobody dissect the strength of an opponent like him and I believe this is true even today. Unfortunately, it also means that's his default mindset at all times. He seems to take genuine pleasure out of seeing the opponents blocked and unable to play their game. Anybody that was expecting him to ever establish a consistent pro active approach given time or money is a very positive soul indeed.

He's consistent alright. Consistently dull.

 

[Theonas]

He's consistent alright. Consistently dull.

I don't disagree. What I was saying is I am not sure where the expectations come from. That's who he is, that's how he always worked. Playing pro active football at this level is really difficult, it requires commitment to coaching it and working on it from day one. Unless of course you hold a gigantic individual advantage over your opponent which is usually the case against mid table PL teams. Other than that, you need to use every training session, every game, every transfer window with the idea of getting better and better at your passing and initiative taking. Mourinho has never been prepared to commit to that. He was always ready to compromise when the game was tough or the circumstances were less than ideal so his teams just never develop the same level of fluidity as those who commit to working on it more. The only difference now is that the latter group is made of so many teams whereas 10 years ago it was not so common and most teams were happy playing reactive football. This means his teams's inherent inferiority in that particular aspect gets exposed more often today. If he was going to commit to putting in the amount of work needed to develop effective pro active football, we would have seen its original imprints 12 months ago. We wouldn't have been good enough and might have missed out on the EL as making these things work does require time indeed, but showing where your priorities lie playing profile wise should not require more than a couple of months. Mourinho was never going to work towards that so now it's just about looking at the positives and hopefully when he leaves, he leaves a strong caliber of individual quality in terms of playing personnel for the next manager to work with.

 

[Beachryan]

Winning the Europa League is an achievement.
Carling Cup is meh, we'd mock any big club championing that as something impressive.
If we end the season 2nd, then that will be an achievement.
If we win the FA Cup that will be an achievement.

For me, Jose's only success with us is the EL run. And that will earn him enough in the bank to easily last til the end of this season.

But he needs to achieve more to last much longer than that. And I'm 100% sure he knows it. Only question becomes: is he tired of this sh*t, and happy to take another payout and failure, or is he able to rekindle some of the magic that got him here.

 

[NK86]

See, you're just falling in the trap thinking that we have a divine right to win everything because we're Manchester United and we're spending money.

Can't you see the surgery Mourinho has done on this squad in just 18 months? I invite you to go have a look at LVG's squad just before he left United and compare it to that of now. There's dramatic improvements all over the park. So therefore your ignorance to how far we've come as a team and club since Mourinho has taken over in the form of moaning because we're not yet as big as Madrid/Barca/Bayern is quite laughable.

Please stop presuming that he can just wave a magic wand and make us world class again, it's a building process and we have too many impatient fans here shouting for Mourinho's head because he hasn't won a Premier League title in 18 months. Fergie at times took 4 years to rebuild his squad to compete in an easier league. We now have 6 super teams in the PL, whereas Fergie only ever had to deal with 1-2 at a time. So give the man some time for christs sake.

What's the whole point in having subtle digs at perhaps our greatest ever manager to justify Mourinho and his God-awful football? Are you his son or some relative that you need to resort to this?

As for the rest of your post, it's not people expecting to win everything. It's the expectation that we could go head on against the likes of Sevilla, let alone Barca/Madrid/Bayern. Did you even the match last night? From the first moment we were only there to defend - something we were awful at yesterday ironically. There was no fluidity to our play and Sevilla was running rings around us. Looked like a bunch of amateurs squaring up against League champions.

Mourinho has no particular brand of attacking football. You can clearly see that in the way we pass. Almost always to the feet. Very little movement and all hopes are pinned on the likes of Sanchez, Martial and Pogba along with the remaining supporting cast in attack to pull one out of the bag based on their own ability rather than creating a team goal.

What we saw yesterday was not an exception to the way we play against the big sides. It's how we have always played under Mourinho without any exception. He made Ajax look like prime Barca with the way we set in the EL final. Glad we won it but it was pretty torrid to watch us defend like Wigan were defending a lead against City the other night.

I fully expect Sevilla to be more clinical at OT and get at least one goal as we will try to score ourselves. With the way we play it will be tough to contain them and score two goals ourselves. One of the easier ties and we have actually just let it blow in our faces in the first leg without any effort. All of this squarely lies on Mourinho. If he cannot set up the team to play well against the likes of Sevilla, then he should pack his bags and sod off. Tired of all the constant excuses we hear for him. People like you would have us believe that he is trying to do a Jimmy Murphy in ressurecting the club after the tragic Munich disaster. He got a team which finished 5th, level on points with City and he has added a lot of quality to it. The score board will tell you we are second but the play has been abysmal against any half decent side and our position is under great threat. I can see Chelsea turning us over this weekend and we will hear more excuses for him then as well.

 

[Giggs86]

What's the whole point in having subtle digs at perhaps our greatest ever manager to justify Mourinho and his God-awful football? Are you his son or some relative that you need to resort to this?

As for the rest of your post, it's not people expecting to win everything. It's the expectation that we could go head on against the likes of Sevilla, let alone Barca/Madrid/Bayern. Did you even the match last night? From the first moment we were only there to defend - something we were awful at yesterday ironically. There was no fluidity to our play and Sevilla was running rings around us. Looked like a bunch of amateurs squaring up against League champions.

Mourinho has no particular brand of attacking football. You can clearly see that in the way we pass. Almost always to the feet. Very little movement and all hopes are pinned on the likes of Sanchez, Martial and Pogba along with the remaining supporting cast in attack to pull one out of the bag based on their own ability rather than creating a team goal.

What we saw yesterday was not an exception to the way we play against the big sides. It's how we have always played under Mourinho without any exception. He made Ajax look like prime Barca with the way we set in the EL final. Glad we won it but it was pretty torrid to watch us defend like Wigan were defending a lead against City the other night.

I fully expect Sevilla to be more clinical at OT and get at least one goal as we will try to score ourselves. With the way we play it will be tough to contain them and score two goals ourselves. One of the easier ties and we have actually just let it blow in our faces in the first leg without any effort. All of this squarely lies on Mourinho. If he cannot set up the team to play well against the likes of Sevilla, then he should pack his bags and sod off. Tired of all the constant excuses we hear for him. People like you would have us believe that he is trying to do a Jimmy Murphy in ressurecting the club after the tragic Munich disaster. He got a team which finished 5th, level on points with City and he has added a lot of quality to it. The score board will tell you we are second but the play has been abysmal against any half decent side and our position is under great threat. I can see Chelsea turning us over this weekend and we will hear more excuses for him then as well.

Good post.

Let's not forget that Fergie never liked to bring a 0-0 home in a CL tie, and always tried to go for the away goal (especially from 06/07 onward when not surprisingly we had the best CL runs in our history).

If Sevilla nick an away goal I can't say that I trust these players to score two goals under pressure.

 

[NK86]

Good post.

Let's not forget that Fergie never liked to bring a 0-0 home in a CL tie, and always tried to go for the away goal (especially from 06/07 onward when not surprisingly we had the best CL runs in our history).

If Sevilla nick an away goal I can't say that I trust these players to score two goals under pressure.

If we score first, we will be back to defending a one goal lead. I fully expect then to have heart stopping moments where they either score or come mighty close to scoring.

Mourinho is a reactive manager. He was a great manager but now he looks like a has-been struggling to come to terms with how football has moved on, especially in the CL. PSG - with 10 men - made his Chelsea look like mugs at the Bridge. Expect to see similar against Sevilla at OT.

 

[Hawks2008]

I wonder what the excuse will be when we aren't 2nd place anymore? Too scared to play anything resembling football against the likes of Seville and too past it to set up a team that looks even partially cohesive. We're a rich man's Stoke right now, and the upcoming games against Chelsea, Liverpool and the return leg in the CL are gonna make or break our season. Not sure I trust the manager to get the results we need over the next 5 or so games.

 

[Jonno]

What's the whole point in having subtle digs at perhaps our greatest ever manager to justify Mourinho and his God-awful football? Are you his son or some relative that you need to resort to this?

No digs, I love Fergie more than most. But what I said was correct. There was not a 'big 6' who are all capable of winning the league, there was United, Chelsea and Arsenal, and when Arsenal dropped out it was City.

As for the rest of your post, it's not people expecting to win everything. It's the expectation that we could go head on against the likes of Sevilla, let alone Barca/Madrid/Bayern. Did you even the match last night? From the first moment we were only there to defend - something we were awful at yesterday ironically. There was no fluidity to our play and Sevilla was running rings around us. Looked like a bunch of amateurs squaring up against League champions.

Ran rings around us yet didn't score and couldn't win. Now the advantage is with us. It will be a different kind of game at OT. Plus, you're dismissing Sevilla as some average team, do you have any knowledge of the European leagues? They are formidable at home and have only lost something like 1 in 35.

Mourinho has no particular brand of attacking football. You can clearly see that in the way we pass. Almost always to the feet. Very little movement and all hopes are pinned on the likes of Sanchez, Martial and Pogba along with the remaining supporting cast in attack to pull one out of the bag based on their own ability rather than creating a team goal.

It's not currently clicking at this moment in time but in the first phase of the season we were blowing teams away and matching City for scoring. Ignore that if you like. He's also had very good attacking sides in the past, especially in the PL.

What we saw yesterday was not an exception to the way we play against the big sides. It's how we have always played under Mourinho without any exception. He made Ajax look like prime Barca with the way we set in the EL final. Glad we won it but it was pretty torrid to watch us defend like Wigan were defending a lead against City the other night.

I'm a little dissapointed with how he approaches the games against other big sides, but it's not a sackable offence and overall I think he's been a good manager for us. You say he made Ajax look like prime Barca, but we couldn't beat prime Barca in two major finals. So you're wrong there, we beat Ajax and won the Europa League, yet still you criticise Mourinhos approach to the Europa League, fascinating.

I fully expect Sevilla to be more clinical at OT and get at least one goal as we will try to score ourselves. With the way we play it will be tough to contain them and score two goals ourselves. One of the easier ties and we have actually just let it blow in our faces in the first leg without any effort. All of this squarely lies on Mourinho. If he cannot set up the team to play well against the likes of Sevilla, then he should pack his bags and sod off. Tired of all the constant excuses we hear for him. People like you would have us believe that he is trying to do a Jimmy Murphy in ressurecting the club after the tragic Munich disaster. He got a team which finished 5th, level on points with City and he has added a lot of quality to it. The score board will tell you we are second but the play has been abysmal against any half decent side and our position is under great threat. I can see Chelsea turning us over this weekend and we will hear more excuses for him then as well.

I fully expect United to be a different prospect at home, I also expect Sevilla to follow their form, again, do you follow European football?? They are poor away from home and never seem to qualify beyond this stage in the CL, so I'm confident. If thats the worst we have played in the CL and still we enter the second leg with an advantage, then I'm content. Let's see if Chelsea do turn us over then, yeah? I'm happy to re-visit this post if they do.

Did you really bring up the Munich Air disaster to try and criticise Jose Mourinho? - very strange.

 

[NK86]

No digs, I love Fergie more than most. But what I said was correct. There was not a 'big 6' who are all capable of winning the league, there was United, Chelsea and Arsenal, and when Arsenal dropped out it was City.


Ran rings around us yet didn't score and couldn't win. Now the advantage is with us. It will be a different kind of game at OT. Plus, you're dismissing Sevilla as some average team, do you have any knowledge of the European leagues? They are formidable at home and have only lost something like 1 in 35.


It's not currently clicking at this moment in time but in the first phase of the season we were blowing teams away and matching City for scoring. Ignore that if you like. He's also had very good attacking sides in the past, especially in the PL.


I'm a little dissapointed with how he approaches the games against other big sides, but it's not a sackable offence and overall I think he's been a good manager for us. You say he made Ajax look like prime Barca, but we couldn't beat prime Barca in two major finals. So you're wrong there, we beat Ajax and won the Europa League, yet still you criticise Mourinhos approach to the Europa League, fascinating.


I fully expect United to be a different prospect at home, I also expect Sevilla to follow their form, again, do you follow European football?? They are poor away from home and never seem to qualify beyond this stage in the CL, so I'm confident. If thats the worst we have played in the CL and still we enter the second leg with an advantage, then I'm content. Let's see if Chelsea do turn us over then, yeah? I'm happy to re-visit this post if they do.

Did you really bring up the Munich Air disaster to try and criticise Jose Mourinho? - very strange.

I brought up the disaster as you kept telling how "big" the rebuilding job was. It is not as big as you hype it to be. As for watching European football, I have seen more than enough and have seen Sevilla a few times this season. Do you follow the CL apart from us playing? Did you see Liverpool against Sevilla?

Also you seem to be quite proud that Sevilla ran rings around us but couldn't score. That's not a great achievement for a big club. Maybe for relegation fodder but never Manchester United. I don't expect us to go thrash them away from home but I fully expect us to match them and take the game to them as any top European side would do. Heck even Spurs would do that. Are you even watching how they played against Juve? Do you ever expect Jose to let us give a good account of ourselves away from home in the CL?

As for our approach in the return leg, wait and watch that we won't be much different. Maybe score a goal but will be defending deep and hoofing it even then. All this talk that we will be a different animal at home will be blown away. Mourinho is not a brave pro-active manager. He will be defending and hoping for a goal again.

 

[Jonno]

I brought up the disaster as you kept telling how "big" the rebuilding job was. It is not as big as you hype it to be. As for watching European football, I have seen more than enough and have seen Sevilla a few times this season. Do you follow the CL apart from us playing? Did you see Liverpool against Sevilla?

As for our approach in the return leg, wait and watch that we won't be much different. Maybe score a goal but will be defending deep and hoofing it even then. All this talk that we will be a different animal at home will be blown away. Mourinho is not a brave pro-active manager. He will be defending and hoping for a goal again.

I saw Liverpool fail to beat Sevilla, twice. Klopp got no more out of Liverpool in terms of results than we did last night. Yet, you seem to be using that as some kind of argument against me?

I don't think we will be "a different animal" and I'm not sure where you've read me writing that. I simply think we will be professional and win by a couple of goals and progress.

 

[NK86]

I saw Liverpool fail to beat Sevilla, twice. Klopp got no more out of Liverpool in terms of results than we did last night. Yet, you seem to be using that as some kind of argument against me?

I don't think we will be "a different animal" and I'm not sure where you've read me writing that. I simply think we will be professional and win by a couple of goals and progress.

I had edited my post. Liverpool didn't win but were not played off the park like we were. There's a huge difference between not winning and being embarassed and shown up to be technically inferior.

 

[Jonno]

I had edited my post. Liverpool didn't win but were not played off the park like we were. There's a huge difference between not winning and being embarassed and shown up to be technically inferior.

"Being embarrassed" is subjective, I don't think we were embarrassed at all. We didn't play well, and they did. And they still couldn't beat us, that's quite disappointing for Sevilla to be honest. Because we all know, that if we play well, and Sevilla play poorly at OT, it's game over.

 

[NK86]

"Being embarrassed" is subjective, I don't think we were embarrassed at all. We didn't play well, and they did. And they still couldn't beat us, that's quite disappointing for Sevilla to be honest. Because we all know, that if we play well, and Sevilla play poorly at OT, it's game over.

Why do you assume Sevilla will play poorly? They are technically excellent and I can easily see them outplaying us again at OT. We will struggle to keep hold of the ball and they will run rings around us again.

 

[mav_9me]

To be fair he is consistent with his views. After Ajax last year at the Europa League, he expressed again how those stupid football Einsteins thought Ajax played nice football so his response was telling his players that to him, beautiful football is not allowing your opponent to do what they want. It's simply his comfort zone, his background is in analyzing opponents and he has made a brilliant career out of being arguably the best tactical reader of a game in the world. Nobody dissect the strength of an opponent like him and I believe this is true even today. Unfortunately, it also means that's his default mindset at all times. He seems to take genuine pleasure out of seeing the opponents blocked and unable to play their game. Anybody that was expecting him to ever establish a consistent pro active approach given time or money is a very positive soul indeed.

2 problems with that.

1. Its fine against Liverpool/City/Barcelona etc away. Not against Sevilla away.

2. That's not what has been happening anyway. It most definitely was not a case of making life difficult for Sevilla/Huddersfield/Newcastle. You are right that that for him is the best way to win maybe but even that has been pretty difficult. Lucky to escape with a draw today. Outplayed for the most part by Huddersfield.

So not only is his boring defensive way not what we want, we cant even do the boring defensive bit properly.

 

[yo@Kirk]

If not for Superman David de Gea in goal, Turgidman Jose Mourinho would be toast. I don't think Leonardo Jardim would be so dependent on the best of his generation goalkeeper to win things. Jardim would take what players were available and coach the heck out of them so they performed as a functional unit in attack and defense.