It's always interesting to talk about the market, the prices being paid and all that stuff, but bringing the matter after dropping points against Burnley at home, 10-men Leicester and losing against Bristol is nothing but a poor excuse, and a poor attempt of deflecting responsibilities.
If 300 M is nothing in modern football like some people suggest, then the difference of spending with City must be marginal too, and makes no difference in the end according to the same logic. I remember the debate here last year when Mou and Pep were appointed, and there was some consensum about them starting from a similar point. It's true that City had some advantage, but some people are now moving the goalposts dramatically.
I think it's ridiculous to include Sterling, Otamendi and some others in the reasons of Pep having a better starting point. These guys are perfoming very well not just because they're talented, but also because they're progressing individually under the manager and also getting the benefits from the collective improvement and team dynamics. Put Martial in that context and he would be flying too. The key here is on coaching, motivation and football aspects, not on heritages or X more money spent.
And Pep is far from perfect in my opinion, but the guy has tons of energy and got his team ultramotivated. He has a very clear (and ambitious) idea of football that is trying to develop, and by adopting that approach he's sending a positive message to his players, which reflects in terms of morale too. He's telling his players to go out and dominate, attack, and show their balls. His approach is 'We're the best. I believe in you. We can do it'.
Then you look at Mourinho and is the exact opposite right now, pure apathy and victimism. The man goes negative more often than not, even against mediocre teams when we try to keep an advantage. He throws players under the bus at the first opportunity (even in the first games of his first season, last year). We have a manager who openly flirts with PSG, and now seems to suggest that his squad is not good enough. It's impossible to send more negative messages to a group of players in a short time.
Two months ago Herrera said after the game against Huddersfield that the team was not motivated, and Mourinho responded with resignation something like "it's concerning, because if it happened today, it can happen tomorrow again". For me this was the proof that this man doesn't have any control of the emotions of his group and he's resigned to it.
Mourinho was praised in the past for his leading skills and how he connected with different groups of players, including big egos, lazy players or primadonnas, and got all them ready to go to war for him. All true. But now this kind of influence is nowhere to be seen. You can see the workhorses and some of his protected players giving it all, better or worse, but I'd say the group in general is not impressed or connected with the man in any way.
And this is just a personal feeling, but numbers (the ones in deep) make me raise an eyebrow too. If Whoscored is right, we are the 6th team with more shots per game behind the rest of big clubs. We are closer to Stoke (11th) than Spurs (4th).
And then in defence we are the 7th team with less shots conceded per game. And again we seem to be closer to some mediocre mid table teams than closer to the big ones.
I keep reading how the players are letting the manager down, and how Mourinho and his system are allowing us to score a lot of goals and be a solid team at the back. If any, it's this group of unmotivated (and poorly coached) players the ones that are saving our ass with good accuracy and solid goalkeeping, without a proper system backing them.
With all that said I think we need to keep Mourinho for this season and maybe the next one, depending on how it goes, but the board needs to start planning for the future now, and be brave and professional. Despite the points on the table or being second, there's something wrong in the air and I can hear the ticking bomb in deep, that will explode at some point sooner than later. Mourinho's been always a short term patch and it's more clear everyday.
After his tenure I think it's time to be related with more possitive and energic values for once, and as fans I believe we should push in that direction, to be our next step. If you think about it, the football in the last years with SAF was a bit meh. Since then we had to suffer Moyes, Van Gaal and a flacid Mourinho. I believe the goal is to be competitive and the style comes in the second place, but this time I'd try to be competitive through more modern and positive coaching.
Revitalizing the mood at Old Trafford and inside the dressing room it's very important if we want to be succesful, I believe. And getting the best out of our young exciting players and the rest to come. Pressing, movement, attacking intent, exciting talents expresing themselves. We need to aim higher and avoid that negative, victimist approach, playing at the expense of every half decent team, and crying about the market, referees, calendars and oligarchs. Manchester United, man, crying by the corners about everything while breaking transfer records and playing absolute garbage. I mean, c'mon.