Jose Mourinho

Mourinho: "I want to bring the young players up (academy) when they are in the right moment. But the reality is, some of them come to stay."

Mourinho: "For example, Fosu-Mensah & Marcus Rashford, we realise that the level they are at is so good that they don't need the step back."

The months after September will tell everything about Mourinho's plans with the youngsters. He will have plenty of opportunities to use them. Hopefully we will stay alive as long as possible in every competition in which we are involved.

Mourinho started to talk a little bit too much in contrast with my personal preference. I like less talks, more action. But I tend to have faith in him, I think it comes naturally due to the fact that I love this team.

Not liking the way he is publicly outing Luke Shaw.

It's bad enough the way he has treated Mkhy, now Shaw...nah.

What do you expect Jose to do when players turn up on match day to say - they are not 100% and not playing? This is not about performance to have a private conversation but an attitude problem. Any professional who gets paid weekly has a job to do when called up on. Esp. given the circumstances Man United are in - must win game. I think Smalling & Shaw are 2 sissies who deserved to be called out.

As for Mkhy - Understood he was carrying a knock against city, but for Jose it was not a good enough reason for a lifeless perf.  Mkhy apparently was quite upset after being subbed at half time and wanted an outright transfer  . Jose won't tolerate that attitude. so the reason for his limited game time.

Nedved wrote:What do you expect Jose to do when players turn up on match day to say - they are not 100% and not playing? This is not about performance to have a private conversation but an attitude problem. Any professional who gets paid weekly has a job to do when called up on. Esp. given the circumstances Man United are in - must win game. I think Smalling & Shaw are 2 sissies who deserved to be called out.

As for Mkhy - Understood he was carrying a knock against city, but for Jose it was not a good enough reason for a lifeless perf.  Mkhy apparently was quite upset after being subbed at half time and wanted an outright transfer  . Jose won't tolerate that attitude. so the reason for his limited game time.

That's such a load of absolute nonsense, seriously who comes up with this crap.
Wait, I know of course: some online rag called theunitedpages which has no credibility whatsoever.

He 'demands a transfer' after his first 45 minutes played? Seriously?

Jesus. Just use your brain for a nanosecond will you.

Jesus. Just use your brain for a nanosecond will you.

Use your common sense and come up with a reason for why Mkhy is dropped.

Yes - Mkhy requesting transfer sounds extreme and most likely not true. I should have said allegedly instead of apparently. Jose after Man City defeat/sub never started him. Lately demanded he needs to do more (like in 45 mins?) . There is no smoke with out fire. He doesn't seem to like his attitude for whatever reason. He keeps saying he is not ready..Perhaps he doesn't like how he trains.I am not so sure. Guy needs to play though to judge.

but no excuses for Shaw & Smalling though

Although I partly agree with Jose's treatment of Shaw and Smalling he is not entirely right either.

Forget about smalling, in case of Shaw, we are here talking about a 20 year old kid who had a double leg break last season. It wont be easy by any stretch of imagination to come back and give 8+ performances every week. Perhaps physically he is somewhat ready, but the emotional side of that horrific injury will still take considerable time to get over. So, these guys need to be careful in their handling of Shaw this season. He might be having trouble to get back into the match mentality i dunno and as for fitness there was always an issue with his fitness. We have been playing far too many games lately and the intensity might have taken its toll on him.

The part I agree with Mourinho however is that he is calling out players who dont have the mentality. That was something that should have been done long back. Moyes was a ball less charlatan. LvG eventhough was more strict compared to Moyes, he also came about as a negative pos in general willing to lie down and accept anything and everything that suited the big names in the side.
This club need an enforcer, a strict disciplinarian, a villain. Too many primadonas in the side who seem to have no fight and heart in them. (The shirt swapping scenes after the Chelsea defeat is a prime example). It can of course go wrong and can create a rift in the dressing room. But I firmly hold the opinion Jose is not going to be here long term. He will be gone in 3 years. He simply doesnt have the qualities to be a long term manager, for any club for that matter. So this stirring the lockerroom idea and phasing out pussies might be good for the long run. At least the players will be reminded of the values and the significance of playing for the club and its fans.

Nedved wrote: There is no smoke with out fire. He doesn't seem to like his attitude for whatever reason. He keeps saying he is not ready..Perhaps he doesn't like how he trains.I am not so sure.

That's all reasonable speculation, yes. Something like that is going on.

Mourinho should cut out the crap here and wise up. If we weren’t the most hated club in the world before, we are now, thanks to him being here . It is clear we wont be getting anything from referees anytime soon. There is a reason why we are the unluckiest team in the league. This ‘us against the world’ drivel and siege mentality is past its due date now. Mou has to adapt. At the end of the day, no one will give a shit. There are shinier toys in the league right now. A reason why the media and the pundits alike are creaming over the Klopp’s and the Conte’s barring how good their respective teams are playing, is also because they arent bitching and moaning on every single occasion like mourinho. This constant criticizing of referees, of media, hell even his own players for that matter will serve no purpose than to merely boomeranging back and hitting him on the backside. At the end of the day, its only Manchester United who is going to suffer because of his antics, not anyone else.

And that is exactly why I have stopped criticizing ref decisions going against us. If the same shit happens  3 times in a row, that too at home, it is not ill luck, there are deeper issues in there. We didn’t deserve shit from these 3 games anyway. If we cant convert the bucket load of chances we create these days, its our problem and our problem alone.

I still support him but in all honesty, he's been absolutely shit so far. Our league form under him has been abysmal. 1 win in 7 now, home form is poor, incosistency and baffling starting 11 selections.

We just can't for the life of us string a run of wins, and that is annoying and very hard to take, especially when the teams above us continue to win.

He has to fcking sort it out. He can't blame it on misfortune and what not.

Impressed with his treatment of Rooney tbh so far. Its like he has ignited that fire in him by scrapping off that undroppable tag of his forehead. Of late he's been decent to really good. An in form yet droppable rooni is good for the overall good of the team as it will keep Ibra too on his toes to perform consistently.

As for his treatment of Mkhi and Martial, it has been ridiculous so far especially in case of Mkhi but what if he was saying was true after all regarding the fact that he needed time to adjust. Let's see what happens from here. If Mkhitaryan starts to get regular starts from hereon, then fair enough.

Glory wrote:Impressed with his treatment of Rooney tbh so far. Its like he has ignited that fire in him by scrapping off that undroppable tag of his forehead. Of late he's been decent to really good. An in form yet droppable rooni is good for the overall good of the team as it will keep Ibra too on his toes to perform consistently.

As for his treatment of Mkhi and Martial, it has been ridiculous so far especially in case of Mkhi but what if he was saying was true after all regarding the fact that he needed time to adjust. Let's see what happens from here. If Mkhitaryan starts to get regular starts from hereon, then fair enough.

I thought Rooney was MOTM last night TBH.

Knowing Mourinho, the signs are there and he will come through for United.

And the team has been truly unlucky. The squad is underwhelming too, in my opinion. Sounds better than it is.

I actually think the squad is pretty good.

Two genuine world class players in their prime or approaching it with Mkhi and Pogba, a number of former world class players with huge experience and quality in Ibra, Rooney, Schweini and Carrick, top players in De Gea and Mata, top talents in Martial, Rashford, Shaw, Bailly, a number of very good players in Herrera, Darmian, Smalling, Blind, Jones, and the rest are very decent too, Valencia for example.
Makes no sense whatsoever to assume a good coach couldn't form a great team out of these. Of course, it's the most expensive PL squad ever, so it's unsurprising it's full of quality.
And tbf they're not playing bad at all at the moment.

Many raw players, some past their prime, some out of position, some out of form... A very complicated roster.

Second season will be much better.

Maybe he should remain in the stands from now on.

What was that Fellaini sub all about?

He's been pathetic in the league. Has turned us into a cup team.

Mourinho will never learn

why t f would you play this scrub fellaini when you have the likes of Mata, Schweinsteiger and Schneiderlin all of whom can carry out defensive roles only much better than the scrub fellaini, and they could still link up with the attack.

If Mourinho gets the sack this season or the next, then he deserves it based on how he has handled united so far. It's not only the results; but the way he has managed them so far.

Only reason he brought Fellaini on was because Everton's aerial threat was too big. However instead of being proactive, he went reactive. Why not just eliminate the possibility of them crossing? control the game. Bring on Schweinsteiger or Schneiderlin who both can easily see the game out.

Also taking off his two biggest attacking threats at 1-0 when there are 15 minutes to go.

Something is not right with Mourinho. He hasnt been this scared and cautious ever in his career, even when he used to PTB in the past, he used to do it with conviction and guile. He used to be confident in his decisions in the past. Its like he knew exactly what he was doing. But now, its not the case sadly for us.

The bad boy image he created of himself, I think it is starting to undo him a bit. Its been hellish for him for a while now starting from last season. He must have now realized his aura and reputation as a great coach is no longer helping him to tide over rough seas he is constantly finding himself in these days.

The repeated bad luck, not even the slightest leeway from the refs and authorities, the emergence of better managers in the Prem, his family trouble, health of his father, all of these while managing a Herculean club like Man United, all these things would have really taken a toll on him, draining him of authority and confidence and appearing scared and pragmatic most of the tim

Subbing a technically limited fellaini would have never happened had this be happening 2 years earlier in his career. Heck, fellaini wouldnt be even playing for us if so. One setback after another might have brought out the defensive side to his personality. Even though he professed PTB in the past, Mou was never a defensive coach, counter attacking yes, but not defensive.

Totally agreed with everything. The trademark conviction that he is so famous for is lacking and has been since last season. U can hate the guy all u want but one thing no could deny was the guy knew how to get job done. Not anymore tbh. He looks shaky maybe due to saturation or personal problems but he is not the Mou we know that's for sure.

Stop tinkering with the formation and select your best 11 to play all the matches. One day Mata, another Mkhi.
For every point won by Rooney, there are two points which are lost.

And why not play Martial? And Isnt Luke Shaw better than Blind?

But he has to tinker and keep swapping players thinking that he is doing justice to them and to the team.

huntsman wrote:Stop tinkering with the formation and select your best 11 to play all the matches. One day Mata, another Mkhi.
For every point won by Rooney, there are two points which are lost.

And why not play Martial? And Isnt Luke Shaw better than Blind?

But he has to tinker and keep swapping players thinking that he is doing justice to them and to the team.

Better than him sticking with Ivanovic despite Ivanovic being the cause of 9 out of our first 12 goals, like last season

I think Mourinho doesn't know his best XI and clearly doesn't rate Martial or Shaw.

A manager's job is to make sure the engine of the team is working and he should not tinker with its settings unless the team starts to malfunction.

when you are on a streak of six wins, you dont tinker with the team's formation.

His services are only required when the team is not functioning and he should try and stay as far away as possible when they are reaping good results; even at the risk of burning his main players.

This Rojo at the left back experiment is failing really bad.

anyone still expecting anything but failure under this clown? he has to go next season. We are gonna be perennial cowards and bottlers under him. He's welllllllllllllllllllllllllllll past it as a top coach IMO. He looks as though he doesn't wanna be here most of the time and the feelings mutual. OUT. You know it's bad when I miss LVG.