You missed the clause part in my post?
The Mourinho Thread: Should he stay or go? | Sacked
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You missed the clause part in my post?
Well, he doesn't have to. I am sure he will get the Inter job or even Madrid and simply say it was all the players.
Right you are.
Luckily we put a top 4 clause in.
Unluckily we're guaranteeing ruining this season by waiting for it!!
The money it will cost to get rid of him is comparable to what we’ve paid Alexis Sanchez
This is an old clip, from the CL defeat I think, not yesterday’s shit show
This is an old clip, from the CL defeat I think, not yesterday’s shit show
150m and we can start talking about Pogba. We have so much Junk to sell. If only the board realizes that.
Rojo - £20m
Jones- £10m
Lingard - £35-40m
A. Valencia - £10m
Darmian - £20m
Thats ~£100m right there
He just signed a 6 year deal with Spurs. It's Levy we're talking about. If we get him for < 30m it'd be a steal.
No manager ever refuses to quit a club once he knows it's over .
When Ed finally comes to his senses Jose will take the best offer he can get and go .
He won't sit blindly for another season or we pay the full contract .
When Ed finally comes to his senses Jose will take the best offer he can get and go .
He won't sit blindly for another season or we pay the full contract .
We have been trying to sell those players bar Lingard noone is going to pay their wages
As far as I know, it doesnt matter. If Poch wants to leave he can - Levy cannot hold us to ransom.
No one will pay 35-40m for Lingard. You can get that type of player (hardworking, ineffective final third player) for a lot less from some East European club.
That first summer was a great window.
Unfortunately ibra getting injured put a massive hole in the plan and so much had to be wellied ou
You're dreaming pal. £50-60 absolute max
Unfortunately ibra getting injured put a massive hole in the plan and so much had to be wellied ou
You're dreaming pal. £50-60 absolute max
If anyone in here wouldn’t swap what Klopp is doing at Liverpool for the utter shambles we see today then you need to book yourself into Dignitas.
This starting 11 should be good enough to beat most teams
1. De Gea
2. Valencia
3. Bailly
4. Lindelof
5. Shaw
6. Pogba
7. Mata
8. Herrera
9. Lukaku
10. Martial
11. Rashford
4-3-3 and attack, Klopp would have this lot flying. I’d stick with this fir the next 10 games and send Jose back to wherever he spawned from
This starting 11 should be good enough to beat most teams
1. De Gea
2. Valencia
3. Bailly
4. Lindelof
5. Shaw
6. Pogba
7. Mata
8. Herrera
9. Lukaku
10. Martial
11. Rashford
4-3-3 and attack, Klopp would have this lot flying. I’d stick with this fir the next 10 games and send Jose back to wherever he spawned from
Being a Liverpool doesn't mean he's wrong about Mourinho or the club's priorities.
Poch didn't want to go to Madrid which is possibly understandable after 3 euro cups in a row. But he's hardly going to risk walking into a mess here surely
How could this shit happen to our beautiful club? The club has no respect for the fans. Our board probably need to go as well as Mourinho. Shambles.
Just put Lukaku and Matic on the January transfer list and use some of that money to pay off Jose. Can add a few more to that as well.
Who are we signing next?
Isn't Phil Jones out of contract Summer 19?
Why would anyone pay £10m if he can go for free? The only way that'll happen is if Moyes gets a job in the next two weeks.
Mourinho is the manager Man Utd deserve
Nine months have passed since Sevilla knocked Manchester United out of the Champions League, when the Spanish club’s Danish defender Simon Kjaer gave the most perceptive and withering assessment of what José Mourinho’s team were all about: “We knew that with Fellaini and Lukaku they will always have chances from . . . how do you say that in English . . . coincidences.”
Coincidence football – kick and rush, hit and hope, close your eyes and pray. There was a period at Anfield last night when it looked as though the football of coincidences might get United through. It doesn’t always matter if the other team is dominating the match – there’s always a chance their keeper might drop one on your striker’s foot.
But it usually matters. As one of those old American sportswriters used to say, the race is not always to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, but that’s the way to bet. When one team has 36 attempts on goal and the other only six, there’s more chance of the first team benefiting from a couple of lucky deflections.
When Mourinho was asked afterwards on Sky if his players were still playing for him, he tried to turn it into a word game. “What is that? Play for me? Are you calling the players dishonest?”
According to this latest Mourinho rhetoric, the honest player gives 100 per cent every time they take the field while only the dishonest player gives less, regardless of who happens to be standing in the dugout. If that is true you have to wonder how managers like Mourinho can get clubs to pay them £15 million a year. You can tell he must be pretty desperate if he’s had to resort to such a manager-minimising line of argument.
But of course, his talk about honest and dishonest players should not be taken as a sincere pronouncement about how football works. It’s a tactical device meant to create confusion and divert attention away from himself. It’s not that Manchester United’s players didn’t try: in a game like that every player is trying. It’s that, as usual under Mourinho, they went out with no real idea of how they were going to win the game.
Terror of losing
The key to understanding Mourinho is that there is no other top manager who has such a terror of losing. The terror conditions his approach to every big match, and means that this approach will always be risk-averse and safety-first. If his team wins on a coincidence then so much the better, but if the coincidences don’t go their way that’s okay as long as they do not lose.
The terror might seem like an unusual psychological quirk, until you realise that it is the logical culmination of an ultra-cynical approach to the game that focuses only on the result at the expense of everything else. The terror is where you end up when you regard the performance – that is, the actual football – as something that could interest only the “Einsteins”, the “poets”, and other such dreamers and frauds.
In Mourinho’s view, it does not really matter whether his players play “well” or “badly”, whether they create 36 chances or six. What matters is what is written on the scoreboard at the end of the game. If the scoreboard says that Mourinho has won, then he gets to shush the camera, trash some water-bottles, troll the critics. If the scoreboard says that Mourinho has won even though certain statistics suggest the other team perhaps had the better of the game, then so much the better, as he gets to troll the statisticians as well. As long as the scoreboard says Mourinho has won, all is well in his world – until he wakes up on the next matchday and has to worry about losing again.
But while Mourinho is only thinking about the scoreboard, the players also have to think about how to get through the 90 minutes of the match, and here they get very little help from Mourinho.
He has been at Manchester United for two-and-a-half years and there is still no sign of a football identity – of the kind that rivals such as Jurgen Klopp, Pep Guardiola, Mauricio Pochettino and Maurizio Sarri had managed to imprint on their teams within at most a few months of their arrival. These managers do tactics, Mourinho specialises in drama.
At Chelsea they argue over whether Hazard should play up front or out wide, at Liverpool they squabble over which combination offers the best balance in midfield. At United the argument always seems to be about which player just got thrown under the bus, and whether they deserved it or not. The fact that a significant section of the Manchester United crowd seems to have turned on their best player, Paul Pogba, is a sad testament to how effective Mourinho’s dramatic distractions can be.
Results-only approach
The worst thing about this mess from Manchester United’s point of view is that, right now, Mourinho is exactly the manager they deserve. His results-only approach is mirrored in the boardroom, where the leading director, Ed Woodward, is also judged on outcomes and not processes. Woodward’s employers don’t ask: “Is the club doing better this year than last year?” They ask: “Did we make more money this year than we did last year?” As long as the answer to this second question is yes, then Woodward has nothing to worry about.
The big threat to the bottom line at United is failure to qualify for the Champions League – not just because they lose out on participation money, but also because their big sponsorship contracts pay less if they don’t qualify. Right now it looks like the only feasible way back into next year’s Champions League is to win it this year, and that does not look likely.
The heat is therefore on Woodward, but at the moment Mourinho has one thing still going for him. The main reason why Louis van Gaal – a process-focused manager – lost his job immediately after winning the FA Cup was that Mourinho the superstar was available to replace him.
Currently there is no obvious candidate to replace Mourinho – and remember, the candidate has to be very obvious for outcomes-focused directors like Woodward to notice them. This is not a board that is about to take a risk on a lesser-known coach simply because their team plays great football: United’s directors are blind to things like that.
They could perhaps give Michael Carrick the job on a caretaker basis, in the vague hope of unearthing a home-grown Guardiola – but they lack the football insight to form a credible judgment of Carrick’s potential. Hiring him would be a shot in the dark. What they want more than anything is a big box-office name, preferably one big enough for a couple of directors to hide behind.
But right now all the managerial superstars are spoken for, so the loveless embrace with Mourinho could go on for a while yet.
Coincidence football – kick and rush, hit and hope, close your eyes and pray. There was a period at Anfield last night when it looked as though the football of coincidences might get United through. It doesn’t always matter if the other team is dominating the match – there’s always a chance their keeper might drop one on your striker’s foot.
But it usually matters. As one of those old American sportswriters used to say, the race is not always to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, but that’s the way to bet. When one team has 36 attempts on goal and the other only six, there’s more chance of the first team benefiting from a couple of lucky deflections.
When Mourinho was asked afterwards on Sky if his players were still playing for him, he tried to turn it into a word game. “What is that? Play for me? Are you calling the players dishonest?”
According to this latest Mourinho rhetoric, the honest player gives 100 per cent every time they take the field while only the dishonest player gives less, regardless of who happens to be standing in the dugout. If that is true you have to wonder how managers like Mourinho can get clubs to pay them £15 million a year. You can tell he must be pretty desperate if he’s had to resort to such a manager-minimising line of argument.
But of course, his talk about honest and dishonest players should not be taken as a sincere pronouncement about how football works. It’s a tactical device meant to create confusion and divert attention away from himself. It’s not that Manchester United’s players didn’t try: in a game like that every player is trying. It’s that, as usual under Mourinho, they went out with no real idea of how they were going to win the game.
Terror of losing
The key to understanding Mourinho is that there is no other top manager who has such a terror of losing. The terror conditions his approach to every big match, and means that this approach will always be risk-averse and safety-first. If his team wins on a coincidence then so much the better, but if the coincidences don’t go their way that’s okay as long as they do not lose.
The terror might seem like an unusual psychological quirk, until you realise that it is the logical culmination of an ultra-cynical approach to the game that focuses only on the result at the expense of everything else. The terror is where you end up when you regard the performance – that is, the actual football – as something that could interest only the “Einsteins”, the “poets”, and other such dreamers and frauds.
In Mourinho’s view, it does not really matter whether his players play “well” or “badly”, whether they create 36 chances or six. What matters is what is written on the scoreboard at the end of the game. If the scoreboard says that Mourinho has won, then he gets to shush the camera, trash some water-bottles, troll the critics. If the scoreboard says that Mourinho has won even though certain statistics suggest the other team perhaps had the better of the game, then so much the better, as he gets to troll the statisticians as well. As long as the scoreboard says Mourinho has won, all is well in his world – until he wakes up on the next matchday and has to worry about losing again.
But while Mourinho is only thinking about the scoreboard, the players also have to think about how to get through the 90 minutes of the match, and here they get very little help from Mourinho.
He has been at Manchester United for two-and-a-half years and there is still no sign of a football identity – of the kind that rivals such as Jurgen Klopp, Pep Guardiola, Mauricio Pochettino and Maurizio Sarri had managed to imprint on their teams within at most a few months of their arrival. These managers do tactics, Mourinho specialises in drama.
At Chelsea they argue over whether Hazard should play up front or out wide, at Liverpool they squabble over which combination offers the best balance in midfield. At United the argument always seems to be about which player just got thrown under the bus, and whether they deserved it or not. The fact that a significant section of the Manchester United crowd seems to have turned on their best player, Paul Pogba, is a sad testament to how effective Mourinho’s dramatic distractions can be.
Results-only approach
The worst thing about this mess from Manchester United’s point of view is that, right now, Mourinho is exactly the manager they deserve. His results-only approach is mirrored in the boardroom, where the leading director, Ed Woodward, is also judged on outcomes and not processes. Woodward’s employers don’t ask: “Is the club doing better this year than last year?” They ask: “Did we make more money this year than we did last year?” As long as the answer to this second question is yes, then Woodward has nothing to worry about.
The big threat to the bottom line at United is failure to qualify for the Champions League – not just because they lose out on participation money, but also because their big sponsorship contracts pay less if they don’t qualify. Right now it looks like the only feasible way back into next year’s Champions League is to win it this year, and that does not look likely.
The heat is therefore on Woodward, but at the moment Mourinho has one thing still going for him. The main reason why Louis van Gaal – a process-focused manager – lost his job immediately after winning the FA Cup was that Mourinho the superstar was available to replace him.
Currently there is no obvious candidate to replace Mourinho – and remember, the candidate has to be very obvious for outcomes-focused directors like Woodward to notice them. This is not a board that is about to take a risk on a lesser-known coach simply because their team plays great football: United’s directors are blind to things like that.
They could perhaps give Michael Carrick the job on a caretaker basis, in the vague hope of unearthing a home-grown Guardiola – but they lack the football insight to form a credible judgment of Carrick’s potential. Hiring him would be a shot in the dark. What they want more than anything is a big box-office name, preferably one big enough for a couple of directors to hide behind.
But right now all the managerial superstars are spoken for, so the loveless embrace with Mourinho could go on for a while yet.
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Great Post.!
Eric the King, disagreed with mourinhos appointment.
I disagreed, it was obvious he was a bad choice.
No longevity.
Negative anti football.
Disgraceful record as a person, the way he treated the lady doctor, poking a coach in the eye from behind, etc etc.
Wayne Rooney, said he thought things were going in the right direction under LVG and we would of improved, in the third season.
Apparently LVG had changed everything at the club from top to bottom. His possession style may have been boring but his philosophy was identical to Pepe Guardiolas. At least we were developing a playing style, instead of being Stoke City lookalikes.
I can't believe we're not getting rid for the difference of £6M. Doesn't make sense to me. Ed trying not to look a fool for giving him the contract extension will end up looking a bigger fool for keeping him. Absolute state of it.
Jose the bloody con man. Hope he chokes on his millions.
Jose the bloody con man. Hope he chokes on his millions.
Without a plan, identity or soul, Manchester United are a mess
By the time José Mourinho had finished talking about the things his Manchester United team cannot do — compete with the intensity of his Porto side, defend with the resilience of his Inter Milan, counterattack with the incisiveness of his Real Madrid — a simple question came to mind: what exactly can they do?
They cannot, as he acknowledged, perform with anything like the intensity of Jürgen Klopp’s Liverpool. The mesmeric, free-flowing football of Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City is also totally beyond them. Defence has been the bedrock of all Mourinho’s successful teams but this lot have already conceded more Premier League goals than they did in the whole of last season — or, to put it another way, more than Huddersfield Town.
They are a team without an identity, a team without a plan, a team without a soul. As we approach the halfway point of Mourinho’s third season in charge, with him having spent £400 million in the transfer market, they are, as one senior figure at the club conceded last night, a “mess”.
Their performance at Anfield yesterday was not the worst of Mourinho’s tenure but Roy Keane had it right when he said that anyone taking an objective look at this performance — “if you came down from the moon today and you didn’t know anything about Manchester United” — would assume they were an “average Premier League team”. They had six shots to Liverpool’s 36, found a team-mate with only 65 per cent of their passes (compared with Liverpool’s 81 per cent) and their £75 million centre forward, Romelu Lukaku, touched the ball only seven times in the opposition’s half. If you had not known any different, you might have assumed that this was Burnley or Cardiff City, clinging on as best they could before succumbing to the inevitable.
Mourinho described his players as “honest people” giving him “absolutely everything”. That is all they are right now. What little time he has ever had for flair and creative enterprise, it has given way to a preference for the more obdurate qualities which, when it has suited him, he has accused them of lacking in any case. Victor Lindelof, Ashley Young, Ander Herrera and Marouane Fellaini are not players about whom he is likely to be misty-eyed when the time comes to reflect on his managerial career, but these are the players who have what remains of his trust. Paul Pogba? He did not get a minute, not even at 3-1 down, which makes you wonder why, other than perhaps to humiliate him, Mourinho bothered to include him among his substitutes.
It was interesting to hear Mourinho taking the unusual, almost Moyesian step of singing Liverpool’s praises. He enthused about Andrew Robertson, Sadio Mané, Mohamed Salah, Georginio Wijnaldum, Naby Keïta and Fabinho, saying that they were “physical players, but on top of that, they are good technically”. Of those six, all bar Mané have moved to Anfield in the two-and-a-half years that Mourinho has been at Old Trafford.
United had the budget to sign any of them. What they did not have — what they have not had in the five and a half years since Sir Alex Ferguson retired — is any kind of vision.
We know what kind of vision United have. That is abundantly clear every time Ed Woodward, their executive vice-chairman, opens his mouth. In his conference calls to the club’s investors on the New York Stock Exchange, which is the only time anyone ever hears any member of the Old Trafford hierarchy speak, Woodward lauded the deal for Alexis Sánchez — as he had those for Ángel Di María, Radamel Falcao, Pogba and the rest — in terms of their positive impact on the United brand. That is all that matters to the Glazer family, whose interest is purely commercial.
There are few more perceptive observers of United affairs than Gary Neville but he seemed to miss the point yesterday when he described the club’s board as “naive”. Naive? The Glazers bought the club with its own money, putting it hundreds of millions of pounds into debt, and have seen its value soar without ever putting a penny in. Even as the team goes from one abject disappointment to another, the brand continues to thrive. Of course the club is suffering from a lack of football knowledge at boardroom level, but that reflects deep cynicism on the Glazers’ part, not naivety.
Every conversation about the modern United’s failings should keep coming back to the hierarchy, who would never tolerate such sustained underperformance in their beloved commercial department, but that does not spare Mourinho or indeed his players from criticism. These are not terrible players.
During the build-up to this match, various media outlets published hypothetical composite line-ups from the two squads. Liverpool players dominated. Yet how many of us would have gone for Robertson, James Milner, Wijnaldum, Salah and Roberto Firmino over Luke Shaw, Nemanja Matic, Pogba, Sánchez and Lukaku a year or two ago?
It is not only about individual ability. It is about the collective. It is about creating an environment that brings the best out of players.
It was telling that, when Liverpool’s players lost momentum and inspiration yesterday, Klopp was able to turn to another creative player in Shaqiri, who, despite being on the fringes of this team, oozes confidence and endeavour and has the complete trust of his manager. How many of United’s players have Mourinho’s total trust? Of that handful, how many feel his trust?
Pogba certainly doesn’t. He was still on the bench when Fellaini almost hit the corner flag with a pitiful attempt in the closing stages. That was the modern Manchester United in microcosm. It is, as Neville said on Sky Sports last night, a club in need of a “reset”.
Whether anyone at Old Trafford has the appetite for that, or the slightest idea how to go about it, is another matter entirely.
They cannot, as he acknowledged, perform with anything like the intensity of Jürgen Klopp’s Liverpool. The mesmeric, free-flowing football of Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City is also totally beyond them. Defence has been the bedrock of all Mourinho’s successful teams but this lot have already conceded more Premier League goals than they did in the whole of last season — or, to put it another way, more than Huddersfield Town.
They are a team without an identity, a team without a plan, a team without a soul. As we approach the halfway point of Mourinho’s third season in charge, with him having spent £400 million in the transfer market, they are, as one senior figure at the club conceded last night, a “mess”.
Their performance at Anfield yesterday was not the worst of Mourinho’s tenure but Roy Keane had it right when he said that anyone taking an objective look at this performance — “if you came down from the moon today and you didn’t know anything about Manchester United” — would assume they were an “average Premier League team”. They had six shots to Liverpool’s 36, found a team-mate with only 65 per cent of their passes (compared with Liverpool’s 81 per cent) and their £75 million centre forward, Romelu Lukaku, touched the ball only seven times in the opposition’s half. If you had not known any different, you might have assumed that this was Burnley or Cardiff City, clinging on as best they could before succumbing to the inevitable.
Mourinho described his players as “honest people” giving him “absolutely everything”. That is all they are right now. What little time he has ever had for flair and creative enterprise, it has given way to a preference for the more obdurate qualities which, when it has suited him, he has accused them of lacking in any case. Victor Lindelof, Ashley Young, Ander Herrera and Marouane Fellaini are not players about whom he is likely to be misty-eyed when the time comes to reflect on his managerial career, but these are the players who have what remains of his trust. Paul Pogba? He did not get a minute, not even at 3-1 down, which makes you wonder why, other than perhaps to humiliate him, Mourinho bothered to include him among his substitutes.
It was interesting to hear Mourinho taking the unusual, almost Moyesian step of singing Liverpool’s praises. He enthused about Andrew Robertson, Sadio Mané, Mohamed Salah, Georginio Wijnaldum, Naby Keïta and Fabinho, saying that they were “physical players, but on top of that, they are good technically”. Of those six, all bar Mané have moved to Anfield in the two-and-a-half years that Mourinho has been at Old Trafford.
United had the budget to sign any of them. What they did not have — what they have not had in the five and a half years since Sir Alex Ferguson retired — is any kind of vision.
We know what kind of vision United have. That is abundantly clear every time Ed Woodward, their executive vice-chairman, opens his mouth. In his conference calls to the club’s investors on the New York Stock Exchange, which is the only time anyone ever hears any member of the Old Trafford hierarchy speak, Woodward lauded the deal for Alexis Sánchez — as he had those for Ángel Di María, Radamel Falcao, Pogba and the rest — in terms of their positive impact on the United brand. That is all that matters to the Glazer family, whose interest is purely commercial.
There are few more perceptive observers of United affairs than Gary Neville but he seemed to miss the point yesterday when he described the club’s board as “naive”. Naive? The Glazers bought the club with its own money, putting it hundreds of millions of pounds into debt, and have seen its value soar without ever putting a penny in. Even as the team goes from one abject disappointment to another, the brand continues to thrive. Of course the club is suffering from a lack of football knowledge at boardroom level, but that reflects deep cynicism on the Glazers’ part, not naivety.
Every conversation about the modern United’s failings should keep coming back to the hierarchy, who would never tolerate such sustained underperformance in their beloved commercial department, but that does not spare Mourinho or indeed his players from criticism. These are not terrible players.
During the build-up to this match, various media outlets published hypothetical composite line-ups from the two squads. Liverpool players dominated. Yet how many of us would have gone for Robertson, James Milner, Wijnaldum, Salah and Roberto Firmino over Luke Shaw, Nemanja Matic, Pogba, Sánchez and Lukaku a year or two ago?
It is not only about individual ability. It is about the collective. It is about creating an environment that brings the best out of players.
It was telling that, when Liverpool’s players lost momentum and inspiration yesterday, Klopp was able to turn to another creative player in Shaqiri, who, despite being on the fringes of this team, oozes confidence and endeavour and has the complete trust of his manager. How many of United’s players have Mourinho’s total trust? Of that handful, how many feel his trust?
Pogba certainly doesn’t. He was still on the bench when Fellaini almost hit the corner flag with a pitiful attempt in the closing stages. That was the modern Manchester United in microcosm. It is, as Neville said on Sky Sports last night, a club in need of a “reset”.
Whether anyone at Old Trafford has the appetite for that, or the slightest idea how to go about it, is another matter entirely.
I didn't read the whole link, but Poch has not made his players play loads better than last season. I agree on that with Jose. Poch's greatest signings this summer were keeping the ones he had. Because they were of good quality and were in great form.
Would need some other stick to beat Jose with.
Jose has failed on his own merits, without even needing to be compared with anyone else.
Fine. I mean the rest of the list is doable right? It's not even big numbers.
Lingard £35-40m? Not on planet Earth
Neymar
No. Knock £5m-£10m off each. Partly because of ability, partly because of the ridiculous wages we pay.
Well that's a whole new topic though .
Jose Mourinho is waiting to be sacked now
Manchester United manager José Mourinho says he was right to snub Paul Pogba
Jürgen Klopp the master as gap becomes a gulf
few weeks ago I said that, on and off the pitch, Manchester United reminded me of Liverpool and their struggles in the 1990s. I was wrong. United are in a far worse position than Liverpool were then. There are no positives for United now. The manager is waiting to be sacked — there is no way back for José Mourinho, the players look lost, the star names are sitting on the bench, the style of football is lifeless and awful to watch, and the club are dishing out new contracts to players who are not good enough.
Nothing about the club is even close to the Manchester United that Sir Alex Ferguson created. Mourinho has talked about needing to build a house at United, referencing the poor structure at the club, which is all a little funny for someone who has spent two and a half years living in a hotel. There is no love at the club, it is all negative. Statistics are not everything but in all the big games United are behind their opponents for possession and shots.
Also a quick word on Mourinho’s excuse about Liverpool’s deflected goals. As a professional you are told that they are not a fluke and they often happen for a reason — that you are sitting too deep, leaving space outside the penalty area, and then you are not reacting quickly enough to close down the ball. So the opponent has space to shoot and it deflects off all those players in the box. There can be no more excuses: Mourinho has to go and the club needs a complete makeover.
Nothing about the club is even close to the Manchester United that Sir Alex Ferguson created. Mourinho has talked about needing to build a house at United, referencing the poor structure at the club, which is all a little funny for someone who has spent two and a half years living in a hotel. There is no love at the club, it is all negative. Statistics are not everything but in all the big games United are behind their opponents for possession and shots.
Also a quick word on Mourinho’s excuse about Liverpool’s deflected goals. As a professional you are told that they are not a fluke and they often happen for a reason — that you are sitting too deep, leaving space outside the penalty area, and then you are not reacting quickly enough to close down the ball. So the opponent has space to shoot and it deflects off all those players in the box. There can be no more excuses: Mourinho has to go and the club needs a complete makeover.
Manchester United manager José Mourinho says he was right to snub Paul Pogba
Paul Pogba was left kicking his heels throughout Manchester United’s demoralising defeat by Liverpool, after which José Mourinho insisted that his side can still finish in the top four. The France World Cup winner struck a downcast figure as he remained on the substitutes’ bench, a decision that left the £90 million midfielder’s relationship with his manager under more strain.
Despite the continued struggles of Nemanja Matic, Mourinho said that he had not considered Pogba and was content with how his midfielders had performed.
Asked if he had thought about selecting Pogba, the United manager said, “No”, before elaborating, “Because I am happy with Matic, [Jesse] Lingard and [Ander] Herrera.”
Mourinho had been conciliatory towards his players, suggesting that they had given “everything”, but his handling of Pogba continues to be a simmering subplot in a reign that is threatening to implode.
For all the Portuguese’s pre-match jibes at Jürgen Klopp that “trophies matter”, United are staring at the prospect of failing to qualify for the Champions League next season. A fifth defeat of the campaign leaves them trailing fourth-placed Chelsea by 11 points and that is a gap they will struggle to bridge unless they muster overdue momentum.
United have conceded 29 goals this season, one more than in the entire 2017-18 campaign and the most that they have leaked at this stage of a top-flight season since 1962-63.
“We can still finish fourth,” Mourinho said. “I think it’s not easy. For sure we are going to finish in the top six like all the other historically top teams.
“But the best we can get is the fourth position. Now we have to look to the fifth and probably later we can look to the fourth. What gives me that belief? We have played away to Liverpool, Chelsea and Man City, probably the three best teams apart from Tottenham. We have the possibility to get more points in the second part of the season compared to the first part.”
Mourinho said that Liverpool deserved to win but felt that his side had weathered the storm before Xherdan Shaqiri’s two goals, both of which took deflections, helped the scoreline more accurately reflect proceedings. “The players gave everything, and when the players give everything I am never frustrated towards them: I have a good feeling towards them,” he said. “It’s hard to lose in the moment where the game was dying, and when [Virgil] Van Dijk, Fabinho, [Dejan] Lovren, they were coming with the ball and couldn’t find space, they had to shoot from 30 metres.
“Shots, easy for David [De Gea], shots in the stands, and it is in exactly that moment, when we were completely in control, that we lose the game.
“Two shots that David saves, easy shots, but because of the bounce, they were goals. So I would say that Liverpool deserved the victory, but it’s hard for my players to work hard like they did and to lose in exactly the moment when we didn’t believe we would lose.
“If we concede two goals in the first 20 minutes, I would say, ‘OK, the best team killed us in the first 20 minutes.’ To lose the way we did, I feel sorry for the boys.”
Despite the continued struggles of Nemanja Matic, Mourinho said that he had not considered Pogba and was content with how his midfielders had performed.
Asked if he had thought about selecting Pogba, the United manager said, “No”, before elaborating, “Because I am happy with Matic, [Jesse] Lingard and [Ander] Herrera.”
Mourinho had been conciliatory towards his players, suggesting that they had given “everything”, but his handling of Pogba continues to be a simmering subplot in a reign that is threatening to implode.
For all the Portuguese’s pre-match jibes at Jürgen Klopp that “trophies matter”, United are staring at the prospect of failing to qualify for the Champions League next season. A fifth defeat of the campaign leaves them trailing fourth-placed Chelsea by 11 points and that is a gap they will struggle to bridge unless they muster overdue momentum.
United have conceded 29 goals this season, one more than in the entire 2017-18 campaign and the most that they have leaked at this stage of a top-flight season since 1962-63.
“We can still finish fourth,” Mourinho said. “I think it’s not easy. For sure we are going to finish in the top six like all the other historically top teams.
“But the best we can get is the fourth position. Now we have to look to the fifth and probably later we can look to the fourth. What gives me that belief? We have played away to Liverpool, Chelsea and Man City, probably the three best teams apart from Tottenham. We have the possibility to get more points in the second part of the season compared to the first part.”
Mourinho said that Liverpool deserved to win but felt that his side had weathered the storm before Xherdan Shaqiri’s two goals, both of which took deflections, helped the scoreline more accurately reflect proceedings. “The players gave everything, and when the players give everything I am never frustrated towards them: I have a good feeling towards them,” he said. “It’s hard to lose in the moment where the game was dying, and when [Virgil] Van Dijk, Fabinho, [Dejan] Lovren, they were coming with the ball and couldn’t find space, they had to shoot from 30 metres.
“Shots, easy for David [De Gea], shots in the stands, and it is in exactly that moment, when we were completely in control, that we lose the game.
“Two shots that David saves, easy shots, but because of the bounce, they were goals. So I would say that Liverpool deserved the victory, but it’s hard for my players to work hard like they did and to lose in exactly the moment when we didn’t believe we would lose.
“If we concede two goals in the first 20 minutes, I would say, ‘OK, the best team killed us in the first 20 minutes.’ To lose the way we did, I feel sorry for the boys.”
Jürgen Klopp the master as gap becomes a gulf
This was humiliation pure and simple, painful and bitter for Manchester United. The powerbrokers of this great footballing institution, Ed Woodward and the Glazers, have to heed the message of yesterday’s embarrassment loud and clear. United are falling further and further behind on the field, whatever their galloping financial gains off it. What makes it even more frightening for United is the contrast with Liverpool. A gap becomes a gulf.
This was a lesson in modern management for José Mourinho from Jürgen Klopp. Liverpool were full of brighter ideas, greater intensity, ambition, mobility and sharpness. United seemed to be playing for a mistake from Liverpool, playing for snookers and praying for a miracle. Liverpool are going places under Klopp. United are all over the place under Mourinho.
The diverging paths between these ancient rivals is shown by the table, with United 19 points behind Liverpool, the leaders, and it’s not even half-time in the season yet. Liverpool could declare in March and still finish ahead of yesterday’s vanquished. The numbers added up to more ignominy for United: Liverpool managed 36 attempts on goal to the away side’s six, 13 corners to two, and 64 per cent possession. One of the best players on the park, the enterprising Fabinho, made 28 forward passes and only two back, testament to Liverpool’s intentions, their momentum, their DNA.
Contrasts abound all over the pitch, from the flying Scotsman down the left, Andrew Robertson, who saw off Diogo Dalot within 45 minutes, gave Matteo Darmian a chastening chasing and played a part in two goals. The three other members of Liverpool’s back line, Virgil van Dijk, Dejan Lovren and Nathaniel Clyne, all had strikes from range. Defenders are attackers at Liverpool. Attackers are defenders at United, with Marcus Rashford doing much of his most vital work yesterday helping out at left back. There is a cultural chasm between United and Liverpool now, a difference in philosophies, parked bus versus high-performance sportscar.
Mourinho’s clearly culpable for starting with a defeatist system, a lopsided 3-4-3 that left Dalot exposed. Even when he switched to 4-3-3, his players were overwhelmed. By the end, Liverpool fans were chanting, “Don’t sack Mourinho” and then cheering loudly when Klopp ran on at the final whistle, embracing his players and saluting the supporters. He hugged Robertson and then Xherdan Shaqiri with almost paternal pride. Liverpool are a family, United are divided.
Meanwhile, the travelling support in the Anfield Road End stood and suffered but sang defiantly. They were unbelievably loyal, keeping their views on the team, and the abject performance, to themselves, but cannot be appreciating the negative football and must be hating the results, too. And yet, commendably, there was not a peep of protest when they could have decried Mourinho’s tactics, the players’ passivity and the board’s failure to show leadership.
Paul Pogba sat hunched on the bench as the rain fell and replacements were summoned, first Marouane Fellaini when United needed a creator not a destroyer, then Anthony Martial, finally Juan Mata. Mourinho’s relationship with Pogba will come under more scrutiny. United’s problems run deeper than the moody manager formerly known as the Special One. Players are not taking responsibility, not making the right decisions. Really only David De Gea, Victor Lindelof, Rashford and Jesse Lingard deserved to wear that famous shirt.
Up in the Sky studio, old Reds were hurting and talking. Roy Keane made legitimate points about some of the players not being good enough to wear the shirt. Gary Neville joined him from the commentary box and argued, cogently, with passion in his voice, that the football department required restructuring. “The boardroom is so naive,” Neville said. They need an experienced, well-connected director of football overseeing proper, targeted recruitment, not continuing the big-name “pick-and-mix” approach of Woodward, United’s executive vice-chairman.
Liverpool’s well-coordinated player purchasing looks smarter, not simply the commanding presence of the £75 million Van Dijk, just the type of authority figure United crave, but the £13 million Shaqiri, who came on after 70 minutes, scored within three minutes, again seven minutes later, made 17 passes and created another chance.
After Shaqiri’s second went in, the cameras caught Woodward conversing with the club legend Sir Bobby Charlton, with his hand in front of his mouth, keeping his words from any lip-readers. Charlton deserved so much better than to sit and watch this surrender. It began almost from the opening whistle, with Liverpool rampant, pouring forward, and having nine attempts on De Gea’s goal before breaking through after 24 minutes.
Robertson started the move with a throw-in to the excellent Roberto Firmino. The pair exchanged passes before the Brazilian turned and, as Ander Herrera ran towards him, calmly stroked the ball across to Fabinho. Again United were too slow to react, to press, to attack the ball. Nemanja Matic stood off as Fabinho dinked the ball over Lindelof towards Sadio Mané. As Ashley Young hesitated, the leaping Mané effortlessly controlled the ball on his chest and then, almost floating in the air, athletically placed a left-footed volley under De Gea.
United bordered more on a rabble than a team at this point. But Lingard rallied them, urging them to push up. When Lingard, home-grown and hungry, helped to regain possession, Herrera forged forward, before returning the ball to Lingard. The England international released Romelu Lukaku down the inside-left channel and the Belgian’s cross should have been a simple gather for Alisson. But he fumbled, and there was Lingard, feeding on scraps, quickest to pounce, driving the ball past Liverpool’s keeper.
Liverpool were always dominant but it needed Shaqiri’s introduction to bring some sanity to the scoreboard. Robertson was again to the fore, passing to Mané, who tricked his way past Herrera, before driving the ball across. It clipped Matic and De Gea did well to divert it away from goal, but Shaqiri was lurking, and immediately sent it back past De Gea, taking a slight deflection off Young.
Mourinho sent on Martial, but there was only one substitute who really counted. Shaqiri made it 3-1 with ten minutes remaining, having started the move in the centre circle. Georginio Wijnaldum and Mané became involved, before Shaqiri passed to Firmino. The ball was moved at mesmerising speed and United were dazzled. They tried to clear but Shaqiri was too fast, and powered in another shot, this one catching Eric Bailly as it arrowed past De Gea. Liverpool returned to the top, United returned to another inquest.
This was a lesson in modern management for José Mourinho from Jürgen Klopp. Liverpool were full of brighter ideas, greater intensity, ambition, mobility and sharpness. United seemed to be playing for a mistake from Liverpool, playing for snookers and praying for a miracle. Liverpool are going places under Klopp. United are all over the place under Mourinho.
The diverging paths between these ancient rivals is shown by the table, with United 19 points behind Liverpool, the leaders, and it’s not even half-time in the season yet. Liverpool could declare in March and still finish ahead of yesterday’s vanquished. The numbers added up to more ignominy for United: Liverpool managed 36 attempts on goal to the away side’s six, 13 corners to two, and 64 per cent possession. One of the best players on the park, the enterprising Fabinho, made 28 forward passes and only two back, testament to Liverpool’s intentions, their momentum, their DNA.
Contrasts abound all over the pitch, from the flying Scotsman down the left, Andrew Robertson, who saw off Diogo Dalot within 45 minutes, gave Matteo Darmian a chastening chasing and played a part in two goals. The three other members of Liverpool’s back line, Virgil van Dijk, Dejan Lovren and Nathaniel Clyne, all had strikes from range. Defenders are attackers at Liverpool. Attackers are defenders at United, with Marcus Rashford doing much of his most vital work yesterday helping out at left back. There is a cultural chasm between United and Liverpool now, a difference in philosophies, parked bus versus high-performance sportscar.
Mourinho’s clearly culpable for starting with a defeatist system, a lopsided 3-4-3 that left Dalot exposed. Even when he switched to 4-3-3, his players were overwhelmed. By the end, Liverpool fans were chanting, “Don’t sack Mourinho” and then cheering loudly when Klopp ran on at the final whistle, embracing his players and saluting the supporters. He hugged Robertson and then Xherdan Shaqiri with almost paternal pride. Liverpool are a family, United are divided.
Meanwhile, the travelling support in the Anfield Road End stood and suffered but sang defiantly. They were unbelievably loyal, keeping their views on the team, and the abject performance, to themselves, but cannot be appreciating the negative football and must be hating the results, too. And yet, commendably, there was not a peep of protest when they could have decried Mourinho’s tactics, the players’ passivity and the board’s failure to show leadership.
Paul Pogba sat hunched on the bench as the rain fell and replacements were summoned, first Marouane Fellaini when United needed a creator not a destroyer, then Anthony Martial, finally Juan Mata. Mourinho’s relationship with Pogba will come under more scrutiny. United’s problems run deeper than the moody manager formerly known as the Special One. Players are not taking responsibility, not making the right decisions. Really only David De Gea, Victor Lindelof, Rashford and Jesse Lingard deserved to wear that famous shirt.
Up in the Sky studio, old Reds were hurting and talking. Roy Keane made legitimate points about some of the players not being good enough to wear the shirt. Gary Neville joined him from the commentary box and argued, cogently, with passion in his voice, that the football department required restructuring. “The boardroom is so naive,” Neville said. They need an experienced, well-connected director of football overseeing proper, targeted recruitment, not continuing the big-name “pick-and-mix” approach of Woodward, United’s executive vice-chairman.
Liverpool’s well-coordinated player purchasing looks smarter, not simply the commanding presence of the £75 million Van Dijk, just the type of authority figure United crave, but the £13 million Shaqiri, who came on after 70 minutes, scored within three minutes, again seven minutes later, made 17 passes and created another chance.
After Shaqiri’s second went in, the cameras caught Woodward conversing with the club legend Sir Bobby Charlton, with his hand in front of his mouth, keeping his words from any lip-readers. Charlton deserved so much better than to sit and watch this surrender. It began almost from the opening whistle, with Liverpool rampant, pouring forward, and having nine attempts on De Gea’s goal before breaking through after 24 minutes.
Robertson started the move with a throw-in to the excellent Roberto Firmino. The pair exchanged passes before the Brazilian turned and, as Ander Herrera ran towards him, calmly stroked the ball across to Fabinho. Again United were too slow to react, to press, to attack the ball. Nemanja Matic stood off as Fabinho dinked the ball over Lindelof towards Sadio Mané. As Ashley Young hesitated, the leaping Mané effortlessly controlled the ball on his chest and then, almost floating in the air, athletically placed a left-footed volley under De Gea.
United bordered more on a rabble than a team at this point. But Lingard rallied them, urging them to push up. When Lingard, home-grown and hungry, helped to regain possession, Herrera forged forward, before returning the ball to Lingard. The England international released Romelu Lukaku down the inside-left channel and the Belgian’s cross should have been a simple gather for Alisson. But he fumbled, and there was Lingard, feeding on scraps, quickest to pounce, driving the ball past Liverpool’s keeper.
Liverpool were always dominant but it needed Shaqiri’s introduction to bring some sanity to the scoreboard. Robertson was again to the fore, passing to Mané, who tricked his way past Herrera, before driving the ball across. It clipped Matic and De Gea did well to divert it away from goal, but Shaqiri was lurking, and immediately sent it back past De Gea, taking a slight deflection off Young.
Mourinho sent on Martial, but there was only one substitute who really counted. Shaqiri made it 3-1 with ten minutes remaining, having started the move in the centre circle. Georginio Wijnaldum and Mané became involved, before Shaqiri passed to Firmino. The ball was moved at mesmerising speed and United were dazzled. They tried to clear but Shaqiri was too fast, and powered in another shot, this one catching Eric Bailly as it arrowed past De Gea. Liverpool returned to the top, United returned to another inquest.
It does when he has been saying the same thing forever . A broken clock will be right twice. The guy has never been shy of his hatred for Utd .
Now is not the time we allow those who hate the club and take delight at how we are doing become people we adhere too .
‘Not one Manchester United outfield player can match his Liverpool rival’
Call it the 7-8 rule. To contend for major honours, a club needs a nucleus of seven or eight players delivering performances rated at seven or eight out of 10 week in, week out. Liverpool are close to this, which is why they are title contenders and will be one of those teams the Champions League group winners do not wish to land in tomorrow’s last-16 draw. Manchester United are currently as far away from this position as they have ever been since Sir Alex Ferguson retired. Jurgen Klopp knows his starting XI. Jose Mourinho, even when he has all his squad available, does not know his.
I went through today’s likely line-ups and when I tried to pick a composite team I could find only one United player who merited inclusion — the goalkeeper.
Goalkeeper
Alisson made a big mistake against Leicester in September but has impressed since and was outstanding on Tuesday against Napoli. In fact, I never set much store by that earlier blunder. When I was playing, the only decisions a keeper had to make were over whether he should come off his line for a cross or a through ball. The rest was about shot-stopping.
The demands on a keeper have since increased. When the ball comes to him, does he put his team back on the offensive with a pass upfield or does he put his foot through the ball and launch it long? If the former, who on his team does he pick out? Does he have the skill level to execute a fast and accurate pass? In this context, mistakes will happen.
David de Gea had a poor World Cup by his high standards and has not quite been at his best this season but he has credit in the bank. Without him, it’s impossible to imagine Manchester United attaining any of the few baubles — Champions League qualification, Europa League, FA and League Cups — that have come their way since Fergie’s departure. In four of the past five seasons he has won the Matt Busby medal for United player of the year. The other winner was Ander Herrera, which also tells a story.
Defence
The contrast could not be starker. Klopp’s first-choice back four is probably Robertson, Gomez, Van Dijk and Alexander- Arnold. They look to me like they could play together for almost a decade (Van Dijk is 27 but I wouldn’t be surprised if he is still playing at the top level in his mid- 30s). When Gomez is injured or the manager thinks that his long-term development can best be served by time on the bench, he can throw in Matip or Lovren, both experienced and fairly dependable.
More than any other unit on the pitch, your back four needs to develop mutual empathy and, in a perfect world, telepathy. That comes from playing regularly together. In 16 Premier League games, however, Mourinho has used six different partnerships in central defence. At full-back, Young and Valencia are both natural wings and 33, while Luke Shaw seems to move from being flavour of the month to villain of the week. Don’t tell me this is the basis for a title-winning defence.
Like a Virgil: the experience of Van Dijk has helped the his young defensive partner Gomez this seasonJULIAN FINNEY
Midfield
A similar story, United have deployed 10 combinations in central midfield alone. I’m sorry to keep coming back to Paul Pogba but ask yourself if he has been picked to start because his performances in this campaign have demanded it or because it looks bad to have a player who cost £89m sitting on the bench. Could you really say the former? It’s as if he thinks making one great intervention gives him licence to try a couple of crazy moves which don’t come off.
On the other side, none of Henderson, Milner or Wijnaldum has the Frenchman’s talent yet they are reliable. It would not surprise me if they were among the first in for training and last to leave. Klopp realised last season that together they lacked that blend of creativity and intensity that beats the best opposition. That is why he brought in Fabinho and Keita. I wouldn’t say either has come up short so far but the fact that he wanted to sign Nabil Fekir from Lyons at the same time tells you plenty. Losing Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain to injury for so long was unfortunate.
Way ahead: Mo Salah and his attacking team-mates have easily outscored their Manchester United counterpartsJOHN POWELL
Attack
Salah, Firmino and Mane have not been at their best, yet they already have 26 goals between them. That should spook their rivals. Lukaku, Anthony Martial and Rashford have a combined total of 17. The numbers speak for themselves.
The goal drought Lukaku endured from September to the start of this month put him under the microscope but he had my sympathy. What a striker craves is fast and accurate passes to his feet or into his path. This Manchester United team move the ball too slowly and without precision.
I actually have some sympathy for Mourinho, too, because I have been in his shoes. His situation at Old Trafford is not much different from the one I walked into at Anfield in 1991: a big club, with huge pressure on the manager even when it is doing well, desperate to restore itself to the glories that five years earlier were taken for granted. And yet I return to what the great Jock Stein said: don’t go looking for trouble as a manager because it will come to you. With his grumblings at the start of the season about not getting the signings he wanted, and in his falling-out with Martial during the summer tour of America, Mourinho went looking for trouble. God knows what his relationship with Pogba is like.
For Klopp, on the other hand, there is the satisfaction of seeing his squad begin to master a vital art: winning matches when they are not playing well. For all the praise showered on Fergie’s United for their attacking style, it was this quality that underpinned their long periods of success. Put your money on Liverpool this afternoon.
I went through today’s likely line-ups and when I tried to pick a composite team I could find only one United player who merited inclusion — the goalkeeper.
Goalkeeper
Alisson made a big mistake against Leicester in September but has impressed since and was outstanding on Tuesday against Napoli. In fact, I never set much store by that earlier blunder. When I was playing, the only decisions a keeper had to make were over whether he should come off his line for a cross or a through ball. The rest was about shot-stopping.
The demands on a keeper have since increased. When the ball comes to him, does he put his team back on the offensive with a pass upfield or does he put his foot through the ball and launch it long? If the former, who on his team does he pick out? Does he have the skill level to execute a fast and accurate pass? In this context, mistakes will happen.
David de Gea had a poor World Cup by his high standards and has not quite been at his best this season but he has credit in the bank. Without him, it’s impossible to imagine Manchester United attaining any of the few baubles — Champions League qualification, Europa League, FA and League Cups — that have come their way since Fergie’s departure. In four of the past five seasons he has won the Matt Busby medal for United player of the year. The other winner was Ander Herrera, which also tells a story.
Defence
The contrast could not be starker. Klopp’s first-choice back four is probably Robertson, Gomez, Van Dijk and Alexander- Arnold. They look to me like they could play together for almost a decade (Van Dijk is 27 but I wouldn’t be surprised if he is still playing at the top level in his mid- 30s). When Gomez is injured or the manager thinks that his long-term development can best be served by time on the bench, he can throw in Matip or Lovren, both experienced and fairly dependable.
More than any other unit on the pitch, your back four needs to develop mutual empathy and, in a perfect world, telepathy. That comes from playing regularly together. In 16 Premier League games, however, Mourinho has used six different partnerships in central defence. At full-back, Young and Valencia are both natural wings and 33, while Luke Shaw seems to move from being flavour of the month to villain of the week. Don’t tell me this is the basis for a title-winning defence.
Like a Virgil: the experience of Van Dijk has helped the his young defensive partner Gomez this seasonJULIAN FINNEY
Midfield
A similar story, United have deployed 10 combinations in central midfield alone. I’m sorry to keep coming back to Paul Pogba but ask yourself if he has been picked to start because his performances in this campaign have demanded it or because it looks bad to have a player who cost £89m sitting on the bench. Could you really say the former? It’s as if he thinks making one great intervention gives him licence to try a couple of crazy moves which don’t come off.
On the other side, none of Henderson, Milner or Wijnaldum has the Frenchman’s talent yet they are reliable. It would not surprise me if they were among the first in for training and last to leave. Klopp realised last season that together they lacked that blend of creativity and intensity that beats the best opposition. That is why he brought in Fabinho and Keita. I wouldn’t say either has come up short so far but the fact that he wanted to sign Nabil Fekir from Lyons at the same time tells you plenty. Losing Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain to injury for so long was unfortunate.
Way ahead: Mo Salah and his attacking team-mates have easily outscored their Manchester United counterpartsJOHN POWELL
Attack
Salah, Firmino and Mane have not been at their best, yet they already have 26 goals between them. That should spook their rivals. Lukaku, Anthony Martial and Rashford have a combined total of 17. The numbers speak for themselves.
The goal drought Lukaku endured from September to the start of this month put him under the microscope but he had my sympathy. What a striker craves is fast and accurate passes to his feet or into his path. This Manchester United team move the ball too slowly and without precision.
I actually have some sympathy for Mourinho, too, because I have been in his shoes. His situation at Old Trafford is not much different from the one I walked into at Anfield in 1991: a big club, with huge pressure on the manager even when it is doing well, desperate to restore itself to the glories that five years earlier were taken for granted. And yet I return to what the great Jock Stein said: don’t go looking for trouble as a manager because it will come to you. With his grumblings at the start of the season about not getting the signings he wanted, and in his falling-out with Martial during the summer tour of America, Mourinho went looking for trouble. God knows what his relationship with Pogba is like.
For Klopp, on the other hand, there is the satisfaction of seeing his squad begin to master a vital art: winning matches when they are not playing well. For all the praise showered on Fergie’s United for their attacking style, it was this quality that underpinned their long periods of success. Put your money on Liverpool this afternoon.
Lingard £35-40m? Not on planet Earth
We'll probably never find out as he'll spend most of his career at United or I hope he does, but there are plenty of clubs at home and abroad that would pay that sort of money if we were to place him on the transfer list right now, nothing surer.
Anyway back to the "Why the hell haven't we sacked Jose Mourinho yet" thread
Liverpool this, Liverpool that.
It's all a bit tiresome now.
It's all a bit tiresome now.
Not even rumours of a sacking? It really is going to be the end of the season, isn’t it?
He may not have made them better but at least he didn’t make his players worse. That might just be the biggest argument against Jose
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