Jose Mourinho - ''First season at Man Utd has been the toughest year of my career''

I think his toughest job apart from managing us is Real Madrid in 2010, That was chaos, There was rumours of him falling out with players etc but at our club, I think he's got his dream job in my opinion, I'm glad he's our manager, don't forget, he took over a squad that was low on confidence, I know we won the FA cup but that was a one-off game to be fair -

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/football...irst-season-man-utd-has-toughest-year-career/

 

Mourinho took over from players with "low confidence"? REALLY? Players that just won FA Cup and a squad that just spent big in the summer. Can we just stop making foolish excuses for our failures. Chelsea finished mid table last, Leicester were almost relegated the year before. Low on confidence has to be the biggest bs excuse that we can come up with.

With that said, I do believe that the pressure to succeed at Manchester United is unlike that of any other club in the league. And perhaps one of the tougher jobs in world football. I can't even remember one decent memorable game for history books. I hope next year is better for us and Mourinho because this year has been a turn off.

 

I think the squad were completely demoralised by LvG - and that after Moyes tenure too. After three depressing years where they were turned from an attacking unit under SAF into indecisive and defensive minded under those two, it has taken a huge amount of work behind the scenes to get them motivated again, to give them confidence to play spirited football. Under LvG you could see the players look to the bench each time they lost the ball - getting rid of that fear and replacing it with confidence has been no mean feat.

 

there is a lack of confidence and believe, and not only you can see it in the yes of our players but other teams they are are not afraid coming to OT
anyone saying that is not the case is in denial.
given all problems he inherited and how Europa league exhausted the team and injuries in wrong time, I think he done just above average
tbh we played very well aside from not scoring goals despite the amount of chances we created, we need a striker and a midfielder who can score goals
the way we are playing remind me alot with Sir Alex era but with no end product

 

I can see how, the most expensive side assembled ever in the history of football must be pretty hard for him

 

Enrique is leaving yes, Barca is a tough job - just ask Pep

 

It's amazing how much a big name manager can get an easy ride with fans. It's the same with Klopp and Guardiola, Liverpool and City fans have given them an easy ride because of their previous reputation. A lesser known manager at all 3 clubs would have come under way more pressure.

Mourinho has done well in the cups, but the league form has been poor, let's not try to dress it up any differently. We're actually 1 place worse off than we where under LVG last season, abd 2 places worse off than LVGs first season, and that's after spending a fortune in the summer.

Mourinho is very clever in interviews and press conferences, he creates this siege mentality that everyone is against us. So he gets the fans on side and defending him.

The football for me has been far to negative under Mourinho, this 6 at the back tactic is not the way we should be playing. And when we are at home there is no need to have 3 holding midfield players. Stick 2 upfront and have a go at teams.

Everything is riding on this Europa Cup, if we lose it the season has been a total disaster. If we win it then it's Mourinho's get out of jail card.

 

Agreed. Look at Pep, supposedly the great messiah but he hasn't achieved anything Pellegrini didn't - the same for Klopp, worse results than Rogers. There is no doubt our overall style of play has improved at times, but to be biting our nails waiting for a Europa league route into the CL isn't what this club is about. I'm happy to give him one more season but if it is more of the same after that then we should look elsewhere - Poch maybe

 

Don't be daft. Poch has a project and nobody ever ever ever finishes a project.

 

I disagree that our overall style has improved under Mourinho, maybe against the smaller teams we are creating a few more chances. But in the games against the so called top 6 I think LVGs team was more of a goal threat, and got better results.

Mourinho approaches these big games with tactics that suggest he thinks the opposition is technically superior to us, where as LVGs teams would atleast try to outplay our opponents, and on quite a few occasions we did outplay the opposition and got the win.

With the players we have, and the price our squad has cost to assemble I really don't think it's acceptable to play with 6 at the back.

Wether we liked LVGs tactics or not, I think it's very blinkered to try to suggest that Mourinho has played with more style. As no way would LVG play as negatively as Mourinho has in the big games this season.

 

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I completely second everything you've said, especially with the tactics in big games. It's all well and good creating 20 chances against Watford, but the way we have played against bigger teams has been nothing short of disgraceful if you look at our history of taking these games to opponents.

We had so many users here labeling LvG a coward only few months after taking charge. Yet everything that I have seen so far this year is reminiscent of a manager that is too much of a coward to open up the game. We play these big teams and we settle for draws. When did we become a club that celebrates fkin draws against Liverpool, Arsenal, City etc? I would rather go all out and lose the game than play some BS tactics that would secure a fkin draw. MAAAN! It pisses me off because we gave LvG such a hard time. YET, we help make excuses for a disastrous season because we have a "superstar" manager.

Like I've said before, regardless of where we end up in EL cup, this season is a D+ considering how much money we've spent. Pep, you said? Pls don't make me laugh. That's another joke manager that had resources to waste and accomplished nothing with it.

But yes, I fully support going at it again next year with Mourinho in charge and not fall into the trap of changing manager again thinking it will get better. Hopefully next year brings better output across the board.

 

You have a very short memory. LVG got a lot of time and support in his first season, which was largely deemed acceptable even though we won nothing and only just qualified for the CL. Seems unfair to condemn Mourinho if he also achieves CL qualification and wins a couple of trophies into the bargain.

Of course if he fails to qualify for the CL then it is a different story, but doesn't alter the fact that LVG had the support of the majority of the fans after his first year in charge, despite achieving little of much note.

Next season is a very different matter - LVG was rightly given a hard time because we went backwards in the league, scored fewer goals than ever before in the PL, flopped in the CL and surrendered to Liverpool in the EL. If Mourinho can't push on from this season and move us up the table, and make us play better and score more goals, then I fully expect him to receive the same level of condemnation as LVG did.

 

Just look at what Pep said in your other post - if you don't succeed at a big club, you are out. That has to be our mentality now, the concept of an SAF type dynasty are over and there is simply no place for it in the modern game. We scout around the globe for the very best playing talent and the same should be true for a manager. We think nothing of paying £30m for a player yet clubs seem to baulk at the thought of paying £10m for the key figure at a club. JM has to step up next season, if he pulls it off, he stays - if not, he goes. Simple

 

Agreed. This nonsical theory that we had when SAF retired that we where going to hopefully find another guy that was going to have success for 25 years, was just unrealistic.

Keeping the same manager for years and years doesn't bring you success in most cases, as most, if not all of the top clubs in Europe switch their managers frequently.

The situation we had with SAF was a one off, it's not likely to happen anytime soon. We're more likely to end up with an Arsene Wenger type scenario if we go down that road.

I'm happy for Mourinho to have another season, but I expect to see big improvements in the league, and how we approach big games.

 

Where's my Dawkins book. By the way, next time you come over, make it a Sunday afternoon. They're starting a Trivial Pursuit-type quiz. Teams of two and the winners get free ale

 

Rodgers had Suarez

 

Pep said if you don't win anything you are out. We've won one trophy and have a chance to win another, hardly the same as spending the money and winning nowt. Which LVG actually did in his first season and still got the support and another crack at it.

As I said, we need Mourinho to show progress next season. I think it's unrealistic to demand a title win or CL win, that just ends up breeding short term Chelsea type thinking where you change manager every couple of seasons and are up and down like a yo yo. But he needs to demonstrate he can have us challenging for titles in the future if he is going to stay.