Jose Mourinho | 2017/18 Assessments | Poll Added

[cyberman]

City were cowardly. It's the big reason the first killed them. If they went at them like they usually do they would've stood a much better chance - just like the first half at the Etihad.

Roma are just not as good as Liverpool.

I honestly don't think City were cowardly, their build up play from the back is the perfect foil for Klopps tactics and their "bravey" in attempting to play through the press kills them.
I don't understand how Roma can play better in the Camp Nou than at Anfield. Then he plays 3 at the back that allows Salah and Mane space to drift in!
Im sorry but thats ridiculous. Both managers couldn't have set up any worse than that.
They never gave their sides a chance. Mourinho seems to be one of the few top managers that realises how good Liverpool are at home.

 

[Adisa]

Would you still say that when say hypothetically, we win the FA cup and they don't win the CL??

Your scenario is a little biased. Both teams are hypothetically in two finals. Theirs is more prestigious. It's a little bit difficult to judge of id rather be in their situation because the odds are stacked against them due to the quality of the team they are facing. But it's still a great chance to win the CL.

 

[bleedred]

Your scenario is a little biased. Both teams are hypothetically in two finals. Theirs is more prestigious. It's a little bit difficult to judge of id rather be in their situation because the odds are stacked against them due to the quality of the team they are facing. But it's still a great chance to win the CL.

I agree a CL win would be much more better than a FA cup.

Ofcourse, anyone would NOW say, I would be in thier shoe than us. But will that be the same perspective in the scenario I said.

 

[Skills]

I honestly don't think City were cowardly, their build up play from the back is the perfect foil for Klopps tactics and their "bravey" in attempting to play through the press kills them.
I don't understand how Roma can play better in the Camp Nou than at Anfield. Then he plays 3 at the back that allows Salah and Mane space to drift in!
Im sorry but thats ridiculous. Both managers couldn't have set up any worse than that.
They never gave their sides a chance. Mourinho seems to be one of the few top managers that realises how good Liverpool are at home.

You expected them to lump the ball forward when they have Jesus upfront? That would be stupid - they play out from the back, because they don't have a brute up front like Lukaku or Ibrahimovic. The reason they were cowardly was, they abandoned what was working for them all season & overloaded their midfield by adding Gundogan to try and nullify Liverpool. It backfired, because he castrated the most potent attack in PL history for the sake of trying to 'control' Liverpool.

Liverpool realised they were toothless and in reality it did nothing to nullify them ( as Liverpool by-pass the midfield anyway) and just took advantage of them and blew them apart. They went back to it at the Etihad, and could've levelled the tie at half time.

 

[#07]

I agree that if Mourinho was Roma manager, his team would never be 5-2 down.
The down side is that if Mourinho was Liverpool manager, they would never be 5-0 up.
That's in a nutshell explains part of our problems.

Didn't see any problems last Saturday when we came back from 1-0 down against Spurs, or a fortnight before when we came back from 2-0 down against City.

We're a work in progress but we're getting there.

 

[cyberman]

You expected them to lump the ball forward when they have Jesus upfront? That would be stupid - they play out from the back, because they don't have a brute up front like Lukaku or Ibrahimovic. The reason they were cowardly was, they abandoned what was working for them all season & overloaded their midfield by adding Gundogan to try and nullify Liverpool. It backfired, because he castrated the most potent attack in PL history for the sake of trying to stop Liverpool.

Liverpool realised they were toothless and in reality it did nothing to nullify them ( as Liverpool by-pass the midfield anyway) and just took advantage of them and blew them apart.

You don't need a big man up front to avoid passing it out from the back.
Put Sterling up there to force Liverpool back a step, they didn't overly play it from the back against us a few weeks ago and killed us with their quick passes to Sane / Sterling.
We've seen City play that way, the second leg v LIverpool etc

 

[Adisa]

Didn't see any problems last Saturday when we came back from 1-0 down against Spurs, or a fortnight before when we came back from 2-0 down against City.

We're a work in progress but we're getting there.

In a way emphasizes the point. Those were situations where we had nothing to lose since we were already behind.
My initial point had nothing to do with that though. I'm saying when you hire a manager ,you take the good with the bad.
A Mourinho team will very rarely get Blown away in a big game. But a Mourinho team will very rarely blow anyone away in a big game.
It's just not in his make up. It has very little to do with progress.

 

[Bubz27]

You do know Liverpool were in dreadful form them? Salah wasn't banging them in like now, they had been destroyed by Man City and were struggling to buy a win. Then the weekend after Spurs thrashed them 4-1.

We were actually in great form, and deflated our own bubble by a cowardly performance.

I know they werent as free flowing as they are now, but dreadful form? You'll have to remind me of their form with some results.

The City game, yes they got drubbed, but were probably just on top til the red card. Completely changed the game. Spurs game, I'll give you.

But simply, United at Anfield, form doesn't come into it. Liverpool could be relegation fodder, but when United go to Anfield, they'd up their ante.

Even the greatest Fergie teams, Anfield was always a tough place to go where a point wasn't necessarily to be sniffed at.

 

[RedStarUnited]

Would you still say that when say hypothetically, we win the FA cup and they don't win the CL??

No I wouldnt, but at this exact moment? Id rather have one foot in the CL final than be in the FA Cup final.

Wouldnt you?

 

[#07]

You don't need a big man up front to avoid passing it out from the back.
Put Sterling up there to force Liverpool back a step, they didn't overly play it from the back against us a few weeks ago and killed us with their quick passes to Sane / Sterling.
We've seen City play that way, the second leg v LIverpool etc

Agreed. Also Pep played like that when his Bayern met Klopp's Dortmund. He just got it wrong against Liverpool. Simple as.

In a way emphasizes the point. Those were situations where we had nothing to lose since we were already behind.
My initial point had nothing to do with that though. I'm saying when you hire a manager ,you take the good with the bad.
A Mourinho team will very rarely get Blown away in a big game. But a Mourinho team will very rarely blow anyone away in a big game.
It's just not in his make up. It has very little to do with progress.

If we only play well when we have nothing to lose, how comes we keep it up once we've equalised? Against City and Spurs we didn't just stop when we got back on equal terms. We carried on playing. We could've blown Spurs away frankly: Lingard mistimes a jump and gets under a free header, Rashford takes the wrong option on the counter. Those were the kind of chances Jose's Real Madrid would finish for fun.

Jose's record is full of good wins against big teams so I'm surprised at you claiming otherwise. Even in his last season at Real Madrid, in which supposedly everything was falling apart, Madrid went to the Camp Nou and won 3-1 in the second leg of the Copa Del Rey final. There aren't many games bigger than a Cup final Classico. I would agree that he does best when he's got the tools to counter. However, when he has top class attackers that tends to lead to goals. That's particularly the case against smaller sides. Mourinho's Man Utd just isn't quite there yet in its development. It will be though soon. Of that I've every confidence.

 

[Skills]

I know they werent as free flowing as they are now, but dreadful form? You'll have to remind me of their form with some results.

The City game, yes they got drubbed, but were probably just on top til the red card. Completely changed the game. Spurs game, I'll give you.

But simply, United at Anfield, form doesn't come into it. Liverpool could be relegation fodder, but when United go to Anfield, they'd up their ante.

Even the greatest Fergie teams, Anfield was always a tough place to go where a point wasn't necessarily to be sniffed at.

Liverpools form at that time:

Man City 5 - 0 Liverpool PL
Liverpool 2 - 2 Seville CL
Liverpool 1 - 1 Burnley PL
Leicester 2 - 0 Liverpool LC
Leicester 2 - 3 Liverpool PL
Spartak 1 - 1 Liverpool CL
Newcastle 1 - 1 Liverpool PL
Liverpool 0 - 0 United PL
Spurs 4 - 1 Liverpool PL

So that's 1 win, 3 losses & 4 draws in the 9 games (apart from ours). We were the only team that failed to score past them. We gave away all the initiative in the title race then which is why people found it frustrating.

Liverpool were there for the taking - yes it's a fecking tough place, we've actually got a pretty good record there despite all of that. If we're not going to try and win when they're in free-fall form, are we ever going to try and get anything more than a point there during Mourinho's tenure?

 

[Di Maria's angel]

You do know Liverpool were in dreadful form them? Salah wasn't banging them in like now, they had been destroyed by Man City and were struggling to buy a win. Then the weekend after Spurs thrashed them 4-1.

We were actually in great form, and deflated our own bubble by a cowardly performance.

Liverpool's home form read: Won 3, drawn 2 - 12 goals scored. I don't know how that's dreadful. Salah had 6 goals in all comps at that stage. Liverpool at Anfield is a much different proposition to Liverpool away from home.

 

[bleedred]

No I wouldnt, but at this exact moment? Id rather have one foot in the CL final than be in the FA Cup final.

Wouldnt you?

I honestly would wait till the end of season.

Just few weeks ago, everyone were raving about city’s amazing season. Yes, they have had an amazing season, yet that seems to have Petered out a bit.

 

[Bubz27]

Liverpools form at that time:

Man City 5 - 0 Liverpool PL
Liverpool 2 - 2 Seville CL
Liverpool 1 - 1 Burnley PL
Leicester 2 - 0 Liverpool LC
Leicester 2 - 3 Liverpool PL
Spartak 1 - 1 Liverpool CL
Newcastle 1 - 1 Liverpool PL
Liverpool 0 - 0 United PL
Spurs 4 - 1 Liverpool PL

So that's 1 win, 3 losses & 4 draws in the 9 games (apart from ours). We were the only team that failed to score past them. We gave away all the initiative in the title race then which is why people found it frustrating.

Liverpool were there for the taking - yes it's a fecking tough place, we've actually got a pretty good record there despite all of that. If we're not going to try and win when they're in free-fall form, are we ever going to try and get anything more than a point there during Mourinho's tenure?

Yeah so pretty terrible form.

What I will say is Mourinho teams have been there to win before, and I'm sure we will again. Maybe he isn't /wasn't entirely confident in his defence to commit as many numbers forward?

Liverpool are a good team and a great attacking team, but over 2 games this year they've only managed an own goal against us. And they've only created probably less than a handful of decent chances over those 2 games. That is well played in my opinion. Not many teams have rome that this year.

Like with most things Mourinho related, I think it boils down to this. Most fans can accept performances/results like that while we're a work in progress. If we're still doing that next year and still as far away from the title as we are this year, then it becomes to become an issue.

 

[charlenefan]

Yes?

Don't be fecking stupid of course it wouldn't

 

[breakout67]

Feck me this forum has some utter melts. We've just gotten to a cup final and instead of enjoying an entertaining CL semi, it's used as a way to bash the manager once again.

Some are so eager and frothing at the mouth that they are comparing which final they'd rather have despite the fact that Liverpool aren't even in the bloody final! Not to mention that the final will still have to be played.

A reasonable and unbiased person would wait until the end of the season to assess and compare, but when you have an agenda you have to take the most opportune moment to push it.

If we lose the FA cup final and Liverpool win the CL, then Mourinho will deserve all the criticism he gets! If we win the FA cup and Liverpool don't win the CL then a lot of people will look like idiots.

 

[EyeInTheSky]

The Sevilla game was a fruit of our general approach, not an isolated incident. That same reactive approach worked against Liverpool but the reality is that foolproof approaches don't exist and while ours allow us to get decent results it doesn't allow use to reach the best level that teams like Sevilla, Roma or Liverpool can reach, and to be clear I'm not saying that these teams are better, they are less consistent but they have the ability to reach higher grounds.

This is garbage.

Fixed for you and I completely agree. Just like the wins against 2 wins over, spurs, chelsea, Win over pool, win over city are the “fruits of our approach”

Fecking pathetic Bollox

 

[JPRouve]

Fixed for you and I completely agree. Just like the wins against 2 wins over, spurs, chelsea, Win over pool, win over city are the “fruits of our approach”

Fecking pathetic Bollox

To answer your question, yes the wins against City, Liverpool and Tottenham are the fruit of our approach, City was a bit different, we got lucky in the first half but the second half was solid.

Now, I will politely ask you to act in a more civil way in the future.

 

[Shejkus]

De Bruyne, Salah and Mo Salah is having great season a couple of years after Mourinho let them go. I'm 110% sure Mourinho isn't the man to nurture our talents.

To the next thing how would you guys look at Mourinhos time here with us compared to Klop if Liverpool ends up winning the champions league ? Take into consideration that we ended in 5th place last season so the Europa league was a must and there is no prestige in it, no one cared about it when Sevilla won it three years in a row. To be honest Mourinho hasn't done well in regards to his spending in comparison to Pep and Klop (if they win the champions league).

 

[EyeInTheSky]

To answer your question, yes the wins against City, Liverpool and Tottenham are the fruit of our approach, City was a bit different, we got lucky in the first half but the second half was solid.

Now, I will politely ask you to act in a more civil way in the future.

So completely contradicting your premise. You post got what it deserved.

You can certainly ask.

 

[JPRouve]

So completely contradicting your premise. You post got what it deserved.

You can certainly ask.

There is no contradiction here, you can win or lose two different games for the exact same reasons.

 

[EyeInTheSky]

There is no contradiction here, you can win or lose two different games for the exact same reasons.

Which contradicts your assertion of “in General” now you are talking about specifics?

Sorry if I misunderstood

 

[cyberman]

Feck me this forum has some utter melts. We've just gotten to a cup final and instead of enjoying an entertaining CL semi, it's used as a way to bash the manager once again.

Some are so eager and frothing at the mouth that they are comparing which final they'd rather have despite the fact that Liverpool aren't even in the bloody final! Not to mention that the final will still have to be played.

A reasonable and unbiased person would wait until the end of the season to assess and compare, but when you have an agenda you have to take the most opportune moment to push it.
If we lose the FA cup final and Liverpool win the CL, then Mourinho will deserve all the criticism he gets! If we win the FA cup and Liverpool don't win the CL then a lot of people will look like idiots.

My favourite is telling us the league is the be all and end all so they can cut Lukakus goal rate in half then the league becomes incidental when Sevilla and Liverpool gets an airing

 

[breakout67]

There is no contradiction here, you can win or lose two different games for the exact same reasons.

But we played differently against Sevilla compared to all those other games. If anything the Sevilla game is the exception to the rule and goes against our general way of playing.

We played with one recognized midfielder, we did not play defensively and tried to fight for second balls off Fellaini. The tactics in that game were set up to make Fellaini man of the match for some reason.

 

[AR87]

But we played differently against Sevilla compared to all those other games. If anything the Sevilla game is the exception to the rule and goes against our general way of playing.

We played with one recognized midfielder, we did not play defensively and tried to fight for second balls off Fellaini. The tactics in that game were set up to make Fellaini man of the match for some reason.

It doesn't matter mate. We lost to Sevilla so the fact we've beaten Chelsea, Liverpool, City away and Tottenham "neutral" is irrelevant. Our approach sucks, we can't reach these amazing highs other sides can apparently and Mourinho is a coward.

That's the gist of what I get.

My real feelings are we could be better, but we're clearly progressing. Mourinho has done fine and has earned another year. Beyond that nothing is guaranteed and all pends on further progression.

 

[JPRouve]

But we played differently against Sevilla compared to all those other games. If anything the Sevilla game is the exception to the rule and goes against our general way of playing.

We played with one recognized midfielder, we did not play defensively and tried to fight for second balls off Fellaini. The tactics in that game were set up to make Fellaini man of the match for some reason.

But that's the thing, our general approach is to adapt to the opposition, that's what Mourinho does, he creates a game plan supposed to negate or expose something. When you are built that way, games like Sevilla will happen and you will have a hard time turning it around, now that's also why we beat Liverpool and Tottenham, by focusing on what they are good at and taking it away, against Liverpool it was very noticeable that we wanted them to play very narrow.

And it's not a criticism of Mourinho or his approach, you can win big and play well doing that.

 

[breakout67]

But that's the thing, our general approach is to adapt to the opposition, that's what Mourinho does, he creates a game plan supposed to negate or expose something. When you are built that way, games like Sevilla will happen and you will have a hard time turning it around, now that's also why we beat Liverpool and Tottenham, by focusing on what they are good at and taking it away, against Liverpool it was very noticeable that we wanted them to play very narrow.

And it's not a criticism of Mourinho or his approach, you can win big and play well doing that.

But, the last time we used long balls to Fellaini was in the EL final, where we played him as a no.10 with two midfielders behind him. Against Liverpool we used Lukaku to beat the press.

Add to this that Fellaini had just come off a long injury, and I don't buy this idea that the Sevilla loss was down to a general approach. There has also been a recurring theme in our general approach in the last few months. We play a packed midfield and narrow wide players to make a 4-2-2-2. The Sevilla game goes against this general approach where we played a 4-1-5 formation.

Mourinho adapts to the oppostion, but I think that the Sevilla loss was due to the opposite. Mourinho took Sevilla for mugs by treating them like Ajax, but even worse because we played a one man midfield. He thought he could walk over them and failed.

 

[maniwin]

You expected them to lump the ball forward when they have Jesus upfront? That would be stupid - they play out from the back, because they don't have a brute up front like Lukaku or Ibrahimovic. The reason they were cowardly was, they abandoned what was working for them all season & overloaded their midfield by adding Gundogan to try and nullify Liverpool. It backfired, because he castrated the most potent attack in PL history for the sake of trying to 'control' Liverpool.

Liverpool realised they were toothless and in reality it did nothing to nullify them ( as Liverpool by-pass the midfield anyway) and just took advantage of them and blew them apart. They went back to it at the Etihad, and could've levelled the tie at half time.

Both Klopp & Pep has no plan B in their football , Mourinho has and for that reason alone i am backing him to finish his contract. Liverpool were tearing big teams apart this season except us , Mou deserve more credit to made them look toothless.

 

[Mickfoley]

I believe majority of the negative comments directed towards Mourinho while he's doing an excellent job has more to do with his treatment of Martial, who is a caf darling.
He's not managing a title winning team so the expectations must be realistic. Yes, he has spent good amount of money but any manager would've done the same given the postion the club was in after Moyes and LVG.
He has attracted players like Pogba, Sanchez and Ibrahimovic to the club. Won the ECL in his first season. Finishing second this season behind a team that's on course for a record breaking season. We've beaten every top 6 team this season.
Is this not a sign we're on the right track?

 

[Mickfoley]

I gotta admit i'm moving towards JoseOut. Terrible performance from him tonight, don't even care that Salah is currently on fire.

DefinitelyATroll.

 

[amolbhatia50k]

Compare it to our last 5/6 years. Phenomenal in comparison

 

[amolbhatia50k]

Whenever Liverpool tear apart good teams (like tonight), does it justify Mourinho's approach at Anfield over the last 2 seasons?

Sure. But it tends to make me envy their football more than celebrate two largely irrelevant results in the grandscheme of things.

 

[beycont]

De Bruyne, Salah and Mo Salah is having great season a couple of years after Mourinho let them go. I'm 110% sure Mourinho isn't the man to nurture our talents.

To the next thing how would you guys look at Mourinhos time here with us compared to Klop if Liverpool ends up winning the champions league ? Take into consideration that we ended in 5th place last season so the Europa league was a must and there is no prestige in it, no one cared about it when Sevilla won it three years in a row. To be honest Mourinho hasn't done well in regards to his spending in comparison to Pep and Klop (if they win the champions league).

Salah and Mo Salah are two different people? And again with this tired argument.

 

[automaticflare]

De Bruyne, Salah and Mo Salah is having great season a couple of years after Mourinho let them go. I'm 110% sure Mourinho isn't the man to nurture our talents.

To the next thing how would you guys look at Mourinhos time here with us compared to Klop if Liverpool ends up winning the champions league ? Take into consideration that we ended in 5th place last season so the Europa league was a must and there is no prestige in it, no one cared about it when Sevilla won it three years in a row. To be honest Mourinho hasn't done well in regards to his spending in comparison to Pep and Klop (if they win the champions league).

This is crap

None of those players under Jose at Chelsea were good enough to take minutes from lampard drogba or hazard/willian they have all left and got 4/5 years experience without spotlight to improve themselves
They would have gotten that time or forgiveness being part of a Chelsea team looking to win the league

This is a lazy argument and complete shit

 

[tenpoless]

De Bruyne, Salah and Mo Salah is having great season a couple of years after Mourinho let them go. I'm 110% sure Mourinho isn't the man to nurture our talents.

To the next thing how would you guys look at Mourinhos time here with us compared to Klop if Liverpool ends up winning the champions league ? Take into consideration that we ended in 5th place last season so the Europa league was a must and there is no prestige in it, no one cared about it when Sevilla won it three years in a row. To be honest Mourinho hasn't done well in regards to his spending in comparison to Pep and Klop (if they win the champions league).

Mourinho is so fecking bad that He got rid of two Salah's - Mo Salah and No Salah (this is the one that never exists).

 

[vangagal]

De Bruyne, Salah and Mo Salah is having great season a couple of years after Mourinho let them go. I'm 110% sure Mourinho isn't the man to nurture our talents.

To the next thing how would you guys look at Mourinhos time here with us compared to Klop if Liverpool ends up winning the champions league ? Take into consideration that we ended in 5th place last season so the Europa league was a must and there is no prestige in it, no one cared about it when Sevilla won it three years in a row. To be honest Mourinho hasn't done well in regards to his spending in comparison to Pep and Klop (if they win the champions league).

Yeah, nurturing players is the greatest thing in the world of football apparently not winning trophies and glory as if United are some farming not football club.

I must admit i love how moderator deliberately approved this post knowing there's glaring mistake on his setences.

 

[maniwin]

To be honest , I don't care, what is his starting eleven , who is on the bench , who he will sell , who is their replacement , what tactic he use as long as we win the game and most importantly trophies.For example we have beat City , Liverpool , Spurs without Martial , 3 teams that deemed to be much better than us , play the best football in the universe and that's the only thing i care about

 

[United_We_Stand]

 

[United_We_Stand]

 

[United_We_Stand]