I don't love Jose, nor think we should have gone with him, but judging him at this stage is ridiculous.
1. We lost at Stamford Bridge, where we always lose, after playing Liverpool and a European match since Chelsea last played. Hardly surprising.
2. Two extremely experienced, apparently professional top-level players not only let in a goal after 30 seconds, they let it shake them so much that it basically ended the match.
3. He's barely had 3 months with United. That is no time at all for a manager to fix things. Put it into context:
- Pep hasn't won in what, 6 matches now?
- Conte has Chelsea 5 points off us, despite not having midweek football, and a first XI that is basically the same as last year, but with the best midfielder in the league slotted in.
- Pochettino has the same team of future stars, all with another year under their belt playing in the same system, and again, just ahead
- Klopp was mediocre at best in his first 3 months in the league
- On Saturday morning Koeman was the greatest thing sliced bread. Then he lost to Burnley.
The team at the top? Have had their manager a while now.
Managing is hard, changing a team's ethos and culture takes time. Look at the personality of not just Fergie's teams, but Veira's Arsenal, Drogba's Chelsea - they were tough, professional and terrible losers. Something that, unfortunately, United's current squad is not. The problems are large, systemic and will take any manager at least a year to fix. Whether or not Jose is the man to do it doesn't really matter at this stage, it's far too early to judge.