Is Mou still 'The Special One' for you all?

[Edgar Allan Pillow]

I was actually arguing that had our squad been marginally stronger (e.g. Rooney upgrade) there's a very good chance we'd still be in the title race. Completely hypothetical but does show we're not miles off the pace, despite having options up front that aren't a patch on what we normally had in the Fergie era.

£250m+ spent in past 2 seasons and where are we now?

"Oh, we need 2 more world class strikers"!
"And maybe another DM"
"and a CB"
"and a LB"

And we need half a new team again. Will that stop the excuses? Probably not

"Give them time to gel together"

We may lack certain pieces, but team as is is good enough for the 4th place. Maybe past few seasons have set the bar ridiculously low making even minor improvement seem massive...but I still think Jose is not getting the best out of this team. We are underperforming. I know it's his first season and I expected more from Jose. Not only did he deliver, but I'm getting more critical of his methods.

Hope we get a Europa win to get by this miserable league season. It's only fair he gets one more full season and I don't mind giving him that...but the jury's still out and it ain't looking good.

 

[Vashu]

Don't think he's the 'Special One' any longer, more like a 'Broken one'. It looks like his appetite for conflict escalated beyond repair and that's hell of an issue for the club to successfully deal with or counter it. Mourinho's doing better than LvG and Moyes obviously, though he's also used up more cash in the transfer market. In my eyes we're not going to win the title with Jose in charge. We'll win some less prestigious competitions and eventually get that top 4 spot, but that's it.

I hope that Griezmann transfer isn't on the cards, cause it would screw us up in very expensive way.

 

[The_Order]

I expect we will be signing some strong, fast and overall athletic players over the summer. more in the frame of Bailly and Pogba...

 

[sammsky1]

£250m+ spent in past 2 seasons and where are we now?

"Oh, we need 2 more world class strikers"!
"And maybe another DM"
"and a CB"
"and a LB"

And we need half a new team again. Will that stop the excuses? Probably not

"Give them time to gel together"

We may lack certain pieces, but team as is is good enough for the 4th place. Maybe past few seasons have set the bar ridiculously low making even minor improvement seem massive...but I still think Jose is not getting the best out of this team. We are underperforming. I know it's his first season and I expected more from Jose. Not only did he deliver, but I'm getting more critical of his methods.

Hope we get a Europa win to get by this miserable league season. It's only fair he gets one more full season and I don't mind giving him that...but the jury's still out and it ain't looking good.

What would you do if you were a Glazer?

Assume worst case that we lose Europa Cup and finish 6th.

What is your specific recommendation for next season?

 

[Giggs86]

Don't think he's the 'Special One' any longer, more like a 'Broken one'. It looks like his appetite for conflict escalated beyond repair and that's hell of an issue for the club to successfully deal with or counter it. Mourinho's doing better than LvG and Moyes obviously, though he's also used up more cash in the transfer market. In my eyes we're not going to win the title with Jose in charge. We'll win some less prestigious competitions and eventually get that top 4 spot, but that's it.

I hope that Griezmann transfer isn't on the cards, cause it would screw us up in very expensive way.

Very unfair to Mourinho. All of his signings were spot on. It's not his fault that Moyes spunked loads of cash on Fellaini or that LVG overpaid on massive flops.

We are doing better in every aspect since Mou took over. It is far from being a smooth ride but at least we don't have to witness the Moyes / LVG shit-shows.

 

[Roeindo]

nope...you are not special, when you need other special to make you special. For me those title should be awarded to Pochetino, he make his young "average" spurs side looked special.

 

[TheNewEra]

nope...you are not special, when you need other special to make you special. For me those title should be awarded to Pochetino, he make his young "average" spurs side looked special.

There's a 9 year gap between the two, I think when you are young as a manager players relate to you more, you are more charismatic too.

Klopp was that way at Dortmund, Guardiola early on, Ancelotti, Mourinho, Simeone, eventually Pochettino will not be so special.

He will become a footballing dinosaur like van Gaal and Wenger.

 

[Needham]

There's a 9 year gap between the two, I think when you are young as a manager players relate to you more, you are more charismatic too.

Klopp was that way at Dortmund, Guardiola early on, Ancelotti, Mourinho, Simeone, eventually Pochettino will not be so special.

He will become a footballing dinosaur like van Gaal and Wenger.

Thankfully, there are counter examples as well, Fergie being the greatest.

 

[TheNewEra]

Thankfully, there are counter examples as well, Fergie being the greatest.

Fergie is the greatest club manager in the history of the game, he's one of the few exceptions to the modern era of football.

For one Jupp Heynckes you have 10 Roy Hogsons generally though, I think managers do seem less charismatic as they age.

Pochettino right now is a breath of fresh air, he tries new ideas, will start new players, Mourinho is more experienced and sticks to what he knows from experience.

Neither one is wrong, it's just a younger manager is successful seems to be bright and invigorating to a team. Mourinho nine-years ago was a much better manager than Pochettino and probably still is.

 

[Needham]

Fergie is the greatest club manager in the history of the game, he's one of the few exceptions to the modern era of football.

Sure, and I agree that youngish managers (40s) tend to have that perfect balance of relatability and energy to innovate. We have to hope Morinhou will rise to the tactical challenge and not just go all out in dealing with the players through the media. There are other non-spring chickens out there that persist with success, like Ancelloti. If these guys aren't on our radar we will have to scout incredibly smartly and take a radical step, bringing in the next Pochettino wherever he is.

 

[PepG]

If these guys aren't on our radar we will have to scout incredibly smartly and take a radical step, bringing in the next Pochettino wherever he is.

Julian Nagelsmann is only 29 years old and he outplayed Ancelotti's Bayern already twice this season and currently is at 3rd position in the Bundesliga with the mighty Hoffenheim. Guy's destined to be the next big thing among the managers imo

 

[CS@SG]

Only "serial winner" like JM can bring serial champions like Manchester United to glory again. This is what some fans think.

A manager without any champion medal in his cabinet? No no no.

 

[Lawman]

Fergie is the greatest club manager in the history of the game, he's one of the few exceptions to the modern era of football.

For one Jupp Heynckes you have 10 Roy Hogsons generally though, I think managers do seem less charismatic as they age.

Pochettino right now is a breath of fresh air, he tries new ideas, will start new players, Mourinho is more experienced and sticks to what he knows from experience.

Neither one is wrong, it's just a younger manager is successful seems to be bright and invigorating to a team. Mourinho nine-years ago was a much better manager than Pochettino and probably still is.

Fergie is up there with Stein, Shankly and Clough for me arguing he's the greatest is subjective but feck it I love him regardless.

 

[SSSSnake]

I'm losing faith but wont make any further judgement until he has another season.
What annoys me the most is his attitude. He comes off as a miserable twat sometimes when doing interviews.

 

[ants7]

I'm losing faith but wont make any further judgement until he has another season.
What annoys me the most is his attitude. He comes off as a miserable twat sometimes when doing interviews.

This. Although, I appreciate the number of chances which is an improvement from last season. It'll be very important summer transfer window for the club regarding improvements on our ability to finish those chances.

 

[SammyUnited_83]

I am not arguing with your basic premise that it's not good enough. But it's April and we are where we are, and we need to think how do we get out of this rut (let's assume worst case of not winning Europa League and finishing below 4th). Does Mourinho deserve the sack? Well, I certainly expected more given his reputation and there is a lingering fear he's burnt out. On the other hand, I'd argue the quality of our squad is behind Chelsea, City and Spurs (in terms of attackers, we are way behind the first two) and so it becomes a fight with a team with no mid-week football distractions under a manager in his second season and the 4th place trophy specialists. So, I don't see a compelling reason to sack him after less than a year (unlike the disastrous Moyes) and getting a new man in (who will also come with no guarantees, whoever he is) involves a trip back to square one while he analyses the squad etc. So the better option is to keep the faith a bit longer. And there's no need to warn Mourinho - he knows the rules of the game at this level and expects a lot better himself.

Fair enough mate.

Let's hope we qualify and all of this is irreverent.

 

[SammyUnited_83]

I'm losing faith but wont make any further judgement until he has another season.
What annoys me the most is his attitude. He comes off as a miserable twat sometimes when doing interviews.

Has he always been this miserable?

I literally haven't seen him crack a smile for months.

 

[SammyUnited_83]

If'd we'd converted just 4 of the draws in home games we dominated into wins (say Burnley, Stoke, Boro and WBA) then we'd be 3 points behind Chelsea. So we're not exactly talking a massive gulf in performances. With a slightly beefed up strike force that would have been very possible.

I see the point, but loads of clubs could say that, Liverpool have conceded late goals in games etc.

IF we had just held on for 15 mins against West Ham last year, would LvG still have a job?

 

[Pogue Mahone]

I see the point, but loads of clubs could say that, Liverpool have conceded late goals in games etc.

IF we had just held on for 15 mins against West Ham last year, would LvG still have a job?

*shudders*

 

[SammyUnited_83]

*shudders*

Yes, it's a horrible thought!

 

[SalfordRed1960]

There are some fickle fans in here. They demand immediate success, but at the same time, demand that Jose respect the club's tradition of bringing through youth players.

We have 3 young players in our attack - Rashford, Martial, and Lingard, (plus Pogba also is relatively young) and they are just not ready to carry the team through pressure situations.

Reality is he has only played them (martial and rashford) when we have had injuries or suspensions. Rashford morr recently, the others like tfm not even got a look in. Young players need a run of games to get form and consistency. This play once or twice every month does no good. Radford as an example has lost all sharpness because he is shunted to the wing. Martial looks like he has lost all confidence to attack full backs. Is that because he has been told not to do it? Who knows? At the moment it is very hard to see what Jose is attempting to do in terms of style, tactics or formation.

 

[Sammyjunn]

Im struggling, like really really struggling why some are finding this so difficult to grasp.

I'm hoping its trolling because of utter boredom. Otherwise, well I don't really want to say

Do you actually believe we are the only team for which that holds? All of our contenders have drawn/lost matches which they should have won.

 

[Escobar]

He's clearly not the special one right now. He failed to bring the team up to speed, to play with a clear gameplan that can win games and neither did he manage to get players in top form

 

[Adebesi]

Julian Nagelsmann is only 29 years old and he outplayed Ancelotti's Bayern already twice this season and currently is at 3rd position in the Bundesliga with the mighty Hoffenheim. Guy's destined to be the next big thing among the managers imo

Youd have to be an extraordinary person to be able to handle the pressure of stepping up to Man United at that stage in your career. More chance itd destroy his career, or set it back significantly, if he came too early.

I say this knowing nothing about the guy.

 

[giorno]

What would you do if you were a Glazer?

Assume worst case that we lose Europa Cup and finish 6th.

What is your specific recommendation for next season?

Look who else is available, then trust mou for another season anyways

 

[sammsky1]

Do you actually believe we are the only team for which that holds? All of our contenders have drawn/lost matches which they should have won.

Yeah I do.

The Duncan Castle stats in the other 'cards on the table' thread proves it: We are no 1 team in the league in terms of creating chances, Crossed and spending time in opposition 3rd, 2nd in terms of creating clear chances and pass completion and 3rd in terms of possession. The killer is we are also no 1 team in entire league for missing clear chances.

In all our drawn games, we had significantly more clear chances on goal that we missed (see the xG stats).

Of course stats may not tell the whole picture, but in this case they simply provided irrefutable evidence of what I've been watching and feeling for months.

 

[Adebesi]

Lies, damned lies and statistics!

Seriously mate, you can cherry pick stats to make any case you want. It proves nothing.

 

[Sammyjunn]

Yeah I do.

The Duncan Castle stats in another thread proves it: We are no 1 team in the league in terms of creating chances, chances on target, 2nd in termss of pass completion and 3rd in terms of possession. The killer is we are also no 1 team in entire league for missing clear chances.

In all our drawn games, we had significantly more clear chances on goal that we missed (see the xG stats).

Of course stats may not tell the whole picture, but in this case they simply provided irrefutable evidence of what I've been watching and feeling for months.

Every team loses or draws matches that they would "deserve to win", we arent unlucky our anything we are exactly where we deserve to be. Not finishing chances is a weakness in this team, similar to Liverpool giving away cheap goals in the last 10 min of the game to lose the 3 points. Every club can say only if we ....., we would have so much points more.

 

[Globule]

If'd we'd converted just 4 of the draws in home games we dominated into wins (say Burnley, Stoke, Boro and WBA) then we'd be 3 points behind Chelsea. So we're not exactly talking a massive gulf in performances. With a slightly beefed up strike force that would have been very possible.

We would have been 7 points behind them, now 10 after they beat City. Converting draws into wins is +2 points, not +3.

But I agree with your point though. We're not a million miles away, we just need to do better at converting the chances we do make. Or, if we can't improve our conversion rate, look at increasing the amount of chances we do make. I think the problem is that we're not as good defensively as the stats may suggest and we can't trust out attackers to score, so we're not really in a position to throw caution to the wind. If we had been more gung-ho in those drawn games in search for victory, it's possible we may have converted those draws into losses.

That said, that might have benefited us. we'd be in a better position now with 6 extra wins and 6 extra losses, rather than our current 12 draws.

 

[sammsky1]

Every team loses or draws matches that they would "deserve to win", we arent unlucky our anything we are exactly where we deserve to be. Not finishing chances is a weakness in this team, similar to Liverpool giving away cheap goals in the last 10 min of the game to lose the 3 points. Every club can say only if we ....., we would have so much points more.

So ignore objective irrefutable evidence because it doesn't fit your prior subjective view. OK then.

 

[sammsky1]

We would have been 7 points behind them, now 10 after they beat City. Converting draws into wins is +2 points, not +3.

But I agree with your point though. We're not a million miles away, we just need to do better at converting the chances we do make. Or, if we can't improve our conversion rate, look at increasing the amount of chances we do make. I think the problem is that we're not as good defensively as the stats may suggest and we can't trust out attackers to score, so we're not really in a position to throw caution to the wind. If we had been more gung-ho in those drawn games in search for victory, it's possible we may have converted those draws into losses.

That said, that might have benefited us. we'd be in a better position now with 6 extra wins and 6 extra losses, rather than our current 12 draws.

Unlikely we can create even more chances and clear cut chances as we are already the best in the league in doing so!

We simply need to improve our finishing and get it up to Ruud or RVP standards. Even Ibra has room to improve here.

 

[Pogue Mahone]

Unlikely we can create even more chances and clear cut chances as we are already the best in the league in doing so!

We simply need to improve our finishing and get it up to Ruud or RVP standards. Even Ibra has room to improve here.

Just a slight understatement! His finishing has consistently been amongst the worst, stastistically, of any striker in the league.

 

[sammsky1]

Just a slight understatement! His finishing has consistently been amongst the worst, stastistically, of any striker in the league.

I was being kind! It's around 15% if I remember correctly?

 

[Sammyjunn]

So ignore objective irrefutable evidence because it doesn't fit your prior subjective view. OK then.

No, Im not dismissing we could and maybe should have a few points more, but so have our contenders which makes is pointless. Liverpool, City have had similar but different problems which have resulted into draws. We arent the only team in the word who has fortune against us sometimes, and I dont even think its bad luck tbh, its a weakness as we just dont have good enough finishers.

 

[VorZakone]

Julian Nagelsmann is only 29 years old and he outplayed Ancelotti's Bayern already twice this season and currently is at 3rd position in the Bundesliga with the mighty Hoffenheim. Guy's destined to be the next big thing among the managers imo

Dude is probably younger than some of his players. Crazy, what is his secret?

 

[sammsky1]

Dude is probably younger than some of his players. Crazy, what is his secret?

On what basis did he get the appointment? Presumably was already a coach at the club and impressed the owners and got appointed when the incumbent was fired mid season as a stop gap?

 

[Don _ Conte]

Has he always been this miserable?

I literally haven't seen him crack a smile for months.

Not at all! before his second stint of Chelsea he had that blend of witty/steel and dry humour. But when he came back to Chelsea the second time a lot of fans noticed that had gone and he truly was just miserable all the time, sad to see really.

 

[sammsky1]

No, Im not dismissing we could and maybe should have a few points more, but so have our contenders which makes is pointless. Liverpool, City have had similar but different problems which have resulted into draws. We arent the only team in the word who has fortune against us sometimes, and I dont even think its bad luck tbh, its a weakness as we just dont have good enough finishers.

We suffer from poor finishing more than any other team so yes, in that sense we are the only team to suffer so badly.

We absolutely agree on the final bolded bit and I've been posting for weeks on this. Mourinho does not have sufficient quality on attack compared to what SAF had, even in seasons like 2013 which was not one of his vintage 94, 99 and 08 teams.

Mourinho inherited this problem because of LVG's did not properly replace his disposal of RVP, Welbeck and Hernandez.

With such clear and damning evidence that even us Internet geeks can deduce I'm very confident Mourinho will get funds from the board to rectify this in the summer with a proven goal scoring no 9 and a proven goal scoring inside forward.

I'm not happy where we are at all, it's not acceptable for our club and Mourinho still has to prove himself. However I think he has already made huge positive progress and there are mitigating reasons for his failings: he can't score the goals himself.

I'm that sense, whilst the league table never lies, 6th is an absolutely false position for us, we are not very far away from bossing the league like Chelsea have this season.

 

[Sammyjunn]

We suffer from poor finishing more than any other team so yes, in that sense we are the only team to suffer so badly.

We absolutely agree on the final bolded bit and I've been posting for weeks on this. Mourinho does not have sufficient quality on attack compared to what SAF had, even in seasons like 2013 which was not one of his vintage 94, 99 and 08 teams.

Mourinho inherited this problem because of LVG's did not properly replace his disposal of RVP, Welbeck and Hernandez.

With such clear and damning evidence that even us Internet geeks can deduce I'm very confident Mourinho will get funds from the board to rectify this in the summer with a proven goal scoring no 9 and a proven goal scoring inside forward.

I'm not happy where we are at all, it's not acceptable for our club and Mourinho still has to prove himself. However I think he has already made huge positive progress and there are mitigating reasons for his failings: he can't score the goals himself.

I'm that sense, whilst the league table never lies, 6th is an absolutely false position for us, we are not very far away from bossing the league like Chelsea have this season.

I agree with you to certain extent but a weird thing is that Martial, Rashford for example have also scored less. Bar Ibra every player has scored considerably less than the season before whether under van Gaal or at a different club it is worrying, hope this gets fixed as soon as possible.

I dont think we are near Chelsea, not unless we start doing better in the matches vs other top teams in the prem. We need to show the likes of City, Chelsea, Arsenal that we can beat them these coming weeks and months until Im convinced. As of now we dont beat the minnows but didnt beat the top dogs either. Hope we can change that soon.

 

[Moonwalker]

We suffer from poor finishing more than any other team so yes, in that sense we are the only team to suffer so badly.

We absolutely agree on the final bolded bit and I've been posting for weeks on this. Mourinho does not have sufficient quality on attack compared to what SAF had, even in seasons like 2013 which was not one of his vintage 94, 99 and 08 teams.

Mourinho inherited this problem because of LVG's did not properly replace his disposal of RVP, Welbeck and Hernandez.

With such clear and damning evidence that even us Internet geeks can deduce I'm very confident Mourinho will get funds from the board to rectify this in the summer with a proven goal scoring no 9 and a proven goal scoring inside forward.

I'm not happy where we are at all, it's not acceptable for our club and Mourinho still has to prove himself. However I think he has already made huge positive progress and there are mitigating reasons for his failings: he can't score the goals himself.

I'm that sense, whilst the league table never lies, 6th is an absolutely false position for us, we are not very far away from bossing the league like Chelsea have this season.

Yeah, just like all the other goal scoring inside forwards he has signed during the years. Could you remind us who they are?