3 games spare and CL secured. Well done Mourinho

Being runner up against the record breaking city, and 3 teams that many here says to have a better attacking team with modern manager. Another cup final. And people want jose sacked. That's right, not just given time and conditions, sacked on the spot.

Some people are really taking things for granted. They should know better post moyes and lvg that we're not too big to fall and midtable finish are a very real and present danger.
Those people play too much FIFA or PES.
 
Good but we're not Arsenal. Only took us £200m. Now improve the football.
I don't understand that argument. It is general myth here that we play awful. Yes, we had some bad games with awful display. Like all other clubs had. But in general i am happy with our style. Hard to beat, controling the games, scoring goals. When liverpool which style is so loved here can't create chance against some minor club then it is because that clubs defending. When we can't create something, it is because we are bad. Nonsense. We must work only on our consistency for next year. Only that.
 
The strangest thing about this thread is its Mourinho-centric nature, football is a team sport and logically we should be reading "Congrats to the players and staff". Then you have the fact that Manchester United shouldn't celebrate a CL qualification, that's ridiculous. In the end it feels like a wind-up.
 
I don't understand that argument. It is general myth here that we play awful. Yes, we had some bad games with awful display. Like all other clubs had. But in general i am happy with our style. Hard to beat, controling the games, scoring goals. When liverpool which style is so loved here can't create chance against some minor club then it is because that clubs defending. When we can't create something, it is because we are bad. Nonsense. We must work only on our consistency for next year. Only that.

I absolutely do not mind the hard to beat aspect of things, defensively solid. Only thing is we need to counter attack more. I like what we did against Spurs for example but against Arsenal again the passivity on the ball was driving me nuts. Thats either Jose telling them to take it easy or the players taking it easy themselves in which case Jose has to get them to do better.
 
I'm sorry but beating Chelsea, City, Arsenal, Spurs and Liverpool this season in a way we did deserves recognition. We haven't done that in a LONG time. Beating the top 6 wins you the league. If it wasn't for city's freak form we'd be champions right now. Mourinho had made us winners and next season they'll have the mentality to believe they can win against any team next season.
 
If we put up a good amount of points and still finished second I would say hats off to City for beating us. But while we will probably still finish second, it's not an achievement. We should be doing better. It's an improvement, but in the mortal words of Ricky Bobby, "if you're not first, you're last"...
 
Top 4 and still playing boring football.
Next season Liverpool will improve their defense -> will be in the fight for the title.
Not a big surprise if City play that good also next season -> main favorite for the title.
Chelsea, Arsenal, Tottenham -> may be some surprise here, but if not, then still in the fight for top 4.

Us, again trying to win 1-0 and will play for draws in the derbies. So what are you, Mourinho lovers, going to say when we will be again in the top 4, with the boring football that Jose is playing.

I don't know why some of the fans don't get it - Mourinho is killing the United identity! Every minute he stays we are moving far away from the fast, attacking, passionate football. Instead we are parking the bus and watching the others clubs playing their football and us waiting for some lucky moment where Alexis will not run with the ball from the left wing to the right wing, Pogba will not loose the ball in the middle, Matic will make this one pass forward per game, Lukaku will score from the first shot. And of course will hope that the guys in the defense will not have a bad day.
 
We should secure second place before last match and then give a chance to some of the youngster like Chong, Gomes, etc in last game. Gribbin(If not injured) should start the match.
 
I'm sorry but beating Chelsea, City, Arsenal, Spurs and Liverpool this season in a way we did deserves recognition. We haven't done that in a LONG time. Beating the top 6 wins you the league. If it wasn't for city's freak form we'd be champions right now. Mourinho had made us winners and next season they'll have the mentality to believe they can win against any team next season.
No need to be sorry, because this is spot on!
 
Some of you are just misserable cnuts. We are all disappointed that we didn’t win it. But we can objectively say that there has been significant progress since Mou took over. For the first time in a while I am not scared before games. I expect to beat teams in the top six even away.
 
What a bunch of entitled cnuts.
 
Hooray, we reached the bare minimum after spending loads. Not something to be celebrated for one of the biggest clubs in the world.

And there wasn't much competition. Chelsea and Arsenal are way behind.

And so is every other team in the league bar City who have had a head start. Jose will have the last laugh imo.
 
Top 4 and still playing boring football.
Next season Liverpool will improve their defense -> will be in the fight for the title.
Not a big surprise if City play that good also next season -> main favorite for the title.
Chelsea, Arsenal, Tottenham -> may be some surprise here, but if not, then still in the fight for top 4.

Us, again trying to win 1-0 and will play for draws in the derbies. So what are you, Mourinho lovers, going to say when we will be again in the top 4, with the boring football that Jose is playing.

I don't know why some of the fans don't get it - Mourinho is killing the United identity! Every minute he stays we are moving far away from the fast, attacking, passionate football. Instead we are parking the bus and watching the others clubs playing their football and us waiting for some lucky moment where Alexis will not run with the ball from the left wing to the right wing, Pogba will not loose the ball in the middle, Matic will make this one pass forward per game, Lukaku will score from the first shot. And of course will hope that the guys in the defense will not have a bad day.

Glad my season ticket is not next to you mate. Cheer up we are nowhere near as bad as you are making out. Truth be told City have spent bucketloads and we are in pursuit. Jose will get us to the stage we are one of the two best (us and city) unless any other club ups their spending then they’ll struggle to get near year in year out. The squad Jose took over was way below standard. It will take time but he’ll get us there.
 
Mid 80s points is a good premier league season. We are about 5-6 points off having a great premier league campaign.

If we got 90 points next season and someone else won the league with 95, it would suck, but I wouldnt think we had a bad season. Just that the other team managed to have a better one.
 
Anything bad - need to clear those players out. Anything good - well done Mourinho.
Or, anything bad - it's Mourinhos fault. Anything good - nothing to do with Mourinho, the players have done it despite him.
 
Those people play too much FIFA or PES.
What gets me is the lack of rationale behind the thinking. The extent of the thinking (or lack therefore of) is 'Sack jose today'. No mention of who comes in next, who is currently available, another rebuilding process for the new manager, what happens if the new manager doesn't perform well and we're well behind by Christmas, do we sack the new manager and start again half way through the season? Do we let the new manager finish the season first? What if we don't make top 4? What happens to our next summer targets and budget then and who would be the following manager?

If someone can answer all those questions then I'll start engaging the 'Jose out' camp in discussion.
 
It has been a very good season. Since SAF left we haven’t been in this league position. Second is basically ours and even SAF did not win the league every season so fans saying we are Man Utd and we should win everything are spoiled, entitled and deluded.

People keep whining about Sevilla but conveniently forget under the best manager of all time we have had atrocious CL outings to even lesser clubs.

This season is almost as good as any that SAF could deliver. I am not sure how many seasons in the past teams of SAF that we’d have outdone this season’s Man City. Some like to use the spending as an excuse but even under SAF Utd constantly breaking transfer records so why belittle Mourinho’s achievement?

For those saying this season is the bare minimum, what would be improvement next year? It’s basically then only acceptable to become league champions, win the FA cup and at least CL semis. That’s as good as some of the best seasons SAF had. No one would expect such achievements from Moyes or LVG, but if such is the expectation of Mourinho, then these whining fans are basically setting expectations of Jose at the same level of SAF, if so why are they crying for Mourinho to be sacked if it is implied we have a manager who can be expected to deliver results similar to the best manager ever?
 
I think one of the issues here, is the nature of the forum, and what people may expect from it (the forum). It's a public platform, and people are different and express and state their views in ways which should suit them... I for one thinks that's a healthy thing.

People (like me) who do not buy into the style of football, how the club is being managed, and the management style of Jose Mourinho, and how this fits with the Manchester United 'model' (style of play, bringing through young players, improving players, and supporting players publicly..) are going to need a lot to be pursuaded on, before showing a sense of gratitutude to Jose Mourinho. What about the players? I, personally, do think that a culture and tradition of a club, are more important than any manager, and what he thinks about how a club plays.

This is a manager that has played some of the dullest football I can remember at United.
This is a guy that has regularly rebuked, publicly, his players.
This is a guy who told Man United, that getting knocked out of the CL was 'normal'.

He has disrupted the squad, and when it suits, has absolutely no problem, not even a second-thought in blaming the players for how the team plays and performs.
It is only about him when things go well, as he takes credit, absolutely bathes in the glory and is full of explanations when we play well, and then tears into the team when they do not perform? What sort of manager is that? Man Utd fans are happy with that? If so, that's quite incredible, and rather sad.

So, no, as much as I like the defensive side of things (which isn't amazingly better than others.. look at how many goals Spurs have conceded for example..), I don't thinking gushing Mourinho with thanks and praise is what I am prepared to do. The biggest club in the world 'securing a top four spot' is no means for celebration, and this is the mentality that has crept into the club under Mourinho.

That squad should make top four, easily.

My respect goes to people like Hodgson, Benitez, and Sean Dyche, Pep.. I would extend that to Klopp too following reaching the CL.

This isn't moaning, or being miserable, it's a point of view. I love United, but Mourinho is no great flaming saviour of the team, and I am not sure how much more he can get out of that squad.
 
I think one of the issues here, is the nature of the forum, and what people may expect from it (the forum). It's a public platform, and people are different and express and state their views in ways which should suit them... I for one thinks that's a healthy thing.

People (like me) who do not buy into the style of football, how the club is being managed, and the management style of Jose Mourinho, and how this fits with the Manchester United 'model' (style of play, bringing through young players, improving players, and supporting players publicly..) are going to need a lot to be pursuaded on, before showing a sense of gratitutude to Jose Mourinho. What about the players? I, personally, do think that a culture and tradition of a club, are more important than any manager, and what he thinks about how a club plays.

This is a manager that has played some of the dullest football I can remember at United.
This is a guy that has regularly rebuked, publicly, his players.
This is a guy who told Man United, that getting knocked out of the CL was 'normal'.

He has disrupted the squad, and when it suits, has absolutely no problem, not even a second-thought in blaming the players for how the team plays and performs.
It is only about him when things go well, as he takes credit, absolutely bathes in the glory and is full of explanations when we play well, and then tears into the team when they do not perform? What sort of manager is that? Man Utd fans are happy with that? If so, that's quite incredible, and rather sad.

So, no, as much as I like the defensive side of things (which isn't amazingly better than others.. look at how many goals Spurs have conceded for example..), I don't thinking gushing Mourinho with thanks and praise is what I am prepared to do. The biggest club in the world 'securing a top four spot' is no means for celebration, and this is the mentality that has crept into the club under Mourinho.

That squad should make top four, easily.

My respect goes to people like Hodgson, Benitez, and Sean Dyche, Pep.. I would extend that to Klopp too following reaching the CL.

This isn't moaning, or being miserable, it's a point of view. I love United, but Mourinho is no great flaming saviour of the team, and I am not sure how much more he can get out of that squad.
I don't think you'll find a single United fan that will say we played brilliant football this season or is happy with the way we play sometimes but you must also appreciate that Jose and the coaching staff know this, even the players know this but we're missing something within the team that's stopping us from clicking all the time, it will come people just have to be patient.

Jose brought through McTomminay this season and wanted Pereria to stay so he could get game time also. He's improved Lingard, Rahsford and Lukaku and is getting a tune out of Young and Valencia, both of which were considered dead wood for the last few seasons.

This supporting players nonsense was something that no one gave a shit about until it became a stick to beat Jose with. In everyday life you are accountable for your actions, if people don't want to be accountable for their actions then they should play for Arsenal. Jose hasn't done anything SAF hasn't done. SAF has called out many a player and everyone agreed with him, he even told lies from time to time so the general United supporting public would support his decisions. The only difference between SAF and Jose I can see in this regard is when we're playing badly, Mourinho says we're playing badly. Fergie would talk around the subject and the post match interview after a game we won, he would tear into the way we played. I don't think people take into account how hard it is to express yourself eloquently in a language that isn't your native language.

If you think this is dull you've got a very short memory.
Being knocked out of the CL has been normal for us. We've only won it three times, it's not like we're used to winning it season after season is it?

Don't know where this bullshit comes from about 'celebrating' the top four. There are other emotions that fill in the gaps between sheer depression and celebration, such as being content with a top 4 place after spending years out in the top 7 wilderness, not knowing if we would make the top 4 at the start of the season. People are 'happy' that next season we won't have to ask ourselves the question "Will we make top 4 this year?" the answer to that question is a astounding yes, which means we now have a platform to build upon.

The part in bold made me feel physically sick and you've finally shown your true colours.
 
The strangest thing about this thread is its Mourinho-centric nature, football is a team sport and logically we should be reading "Congrats to the players and staff". Then you have the fact that Manchester United shouldn't celebrate a CL qualification, that's ridiculous. In the end it feels like a wind-up.
No chance. He's obviously achieved this miraculous feat inspite of the terrible players at his disposal. Thing is, the thread was started by one of the die hard Mourinho fans.
 
I don't think you'll find a single United fan that will say we played brilliant football this season or is happy with the way we play sometimes but you must also appreciate that Jose and the coaching staff know this, even the players know this but we're missing something within the team that's stopping us from clicking all the time, it will come people just have to be patient.

Jose brought through McTomminay this season and wanted Pereria to stay so he could get game time also. He's improved Lingard, Rahsford and Lukaku and is getting a tune out of Young and Valencia, both of which were considered dead wood for the last few seasons.

This supporting players nonsense was something that no one gave a shit about until it became a stick to beat Jose with. In everyday life you are accountable for your actions, if people don't want to be accountable for their actions then they should play for Arsenal. Jose hasn't done anything SAF hasn't done. SAF has called out many a player and everyone agreed with him, he even told lies from time to time so the general United supporting public would support his decisions. The only difference between SAF and Jose I can see in this regard is when we're playing badly, Mourinho says we're playing badly. Fergie would talk around the subject and the post match interview after a game we won, he would tear into the way we played. I don't think people take into account how hard it is to express yourself eloquently in a language that isn't your native language.

If you think this is dull you've got a very short memory.
Being knocked out of the CL has been normal for us. We've only won it three times, it's not like we're used to winning it season after season is it?

Don't know where this bullshit comes from about 'celebrating' the top four. There are other emotions that fill in the gaps between sheer depression and celebration, such as being content with a top 4 place after spending years out in the top 7 wilderness, not knowing if we would make the top 4 at the start of the season. People are 'happy' that next season we won't have to ask ourselves the question "Will we make top 4 this year?" the answer to that question is a astounding yes, which means we now have a platform to build upon.

The part in bold made me feel physically sick and you've finally shown your true colours.

And your comment in bold is precisely why I started my comments raising the issue of what people expect from this forum. I'm going to ignore your comment about showing 'true colours' because it is unfounded and silly.

Of course, I agree that something is stopping us clicking, but who or what do you think that is? It is, to me, quite clear that there is a disconnect, with how Man Utd play as a tradition, and how Mourinho wants to manage his players and how his teams (still....) wish to play. Something has to give. It took him two thirds of the season for him to play Pogba at the attacking head of a three ffs, and that is obvious.

Pereria isn't there, so I'm not sure what the point is there, because as you state, he has brought in McTominay. Whilst outing a few others on loan by the way. I do not agree that he has improved Marcus Rashford, if anything, his treatment of Rashford, especially since the scinitillating performance at Liverpool, has been pretty dreadful. Lukaku isn't a better player to me either, no way. He is still a striker that will score goals in Prem, but an improved player??? I don't see that.

Lindgard I agree with, But look at Martial? Shaw? Pogba? Ashley Young has a mentality that is great for the club, and what Mourinho loves, but I'm not sure that he is a better footballer than he has been in the past. His performance against Watford was like the 'old' Ashley Young.

Fergie never rebuked individual players in public like Jose. I'm not having that. Jose has done this consistently.

My point is that Jose should never say that United losing to a team like Sevilla (v decent, but not great..) , after two of the poorest showings I can recall in our CL history, is "normal". Is it? Is that what you thought after watching those two games against Sevilla? That was a 'normal' CL tie involving Man United? Because I didn't.

And he has been going on about finishing second for a while now... why? because that was unexpected? We should be congratulated? £300m and your how many points behind the winning side?

Sorry... I'm not having that. It's Manchester United for crying out loud. I would be more interested in hearing how he plans to get more out of that squad.
 
Lets throw another 300M this summer and then 1Billion after 2 years to replace 32 year olds that we bought recently, then we will definitely be knocking on the title.

In all seriousness, Jose has assembled a strong squad, much better than what we saw from LVG and Moyes. And now, we can confidently say we are as strong as the likes of Spurs, Pool & Chelsea, if not better. It was not the case till last year.

But my support to Jose is conditional atm, another Sevilla like result and he can feck off for all I care.
 
The point tally, cup final and record vs the top 6 is a very good feat. No one can really objectively argue that we have not been very strong domestically at least this season, especially during 2018. I felt even before our recent wins against the top 6 that our team is in the same league as Mourinho's Chelsea winners and that they could have easily competed for the league in a normal season. I think this theory is even clearer now after beating City, Chelsea and Liverpool in particular. When we look at it like that, it's hard to criticize Mourinho, he is doing exactly what could be expected from him knowing his profile and history. What the club should expect when they hire a manager is to create a team in his vision and hope that the team performs to 90% to 100% of that vision which should naturally result in competing for the big honors and I think Mourinho has achieved that with us. His problem was arguably the greatest season by a single club in the PL making his work just not enough.

There is however clearly a lot of unease still. On paper, the season Mourinho has done so far would be lauded much more if it came from Klopp or Pochettino but it's not the case here from fans and media alike. There are two reasons for that in my opinion; the first is obviously our vastly superior financial clout and status in English football. This is something that some think is unfair and makes the media treat us bitterly and harshly but I happen to think it's a good sign to be judged by different standards to the likes of Spurs as higher expectations signify power and status. The second reason is quite clearly the football we play. I don't mean not playing free flowing football the way City do as no team does that and as many like to remind us, even under Fergie, that was not the case every game, far from it. What I mean is that there was literally zero pure thrilling game this entire campaign. There was not single game after which, there was a genuine exhilaration at the performance. There obviously was a lot of excitement about comebacks against City and Palace but not the performances. Spurs had that at home to Real and Liverpool. Liverpool had it about half a dozen times and the same goes for City. I think those occasions are just very memorable and leave a lasting positive impression on everyone. This simply did not happen for us in a very long time. Every post match is marked by comments from fans, media and the manager himself about how much character we showed or how solid we were or how we controlled the game very well. All good positive things obviously and things that makes us a really strong team but they just do not construct a very positive image or impression around the club.

It is for this that whereas objectively, Mourinho and the team cannot be criticized too much really. They have easily performed at a very good level and showed a lot of quality and personality throughout the campaign. But it is also totally understandable why it leaves a lot of fans and people in the media very cold even if they can be unsure on what exactly it is they are supposed to criticize.
 
Lets throw another 300M this summer and then 1Billion after 2 years to replace 32 year olds that we bought recently, then we will definitely be knocking on the title.

In all seriousness, Jose has assembled a strong squad, much better than what we saw from LVG and Moyes. And now, we can confidently say we are as strong as the likes of Spurs, Pool & Chelsea, if not better. It was not the case till last year.

But my support to Jose is conditional atm, another Sevilla like result and he can feck off for all I care.
So you’re basing your support on one or two games? Odd!

Did you want SAF out in 93-94, when Galatasaray knocked us out in the 2nd round?
Or in 94-95 when we didn’t even go through from the group stage?
And what about 03-04 and 04-05, both years kicked out in the round of 16 against Porto and Milan?
And lastly, 05-06, where we once again were knocked out in the group stage, SAF out?

Of course the Sevilla game was tough to swallow, but saying he can feck off with another result like that, is silly in my book.
 
So you’re basing your support on one or two games? Odd!

Did you want SAF out in 93-94, when Galatasaray knocked us out in the 2nd round?
Or in 94-95 when we didn’t even go through from the group stage?
And what about 03-04 and 04-05, both years kicked out in the round of 16 against Porto and Milan?
And lastly, 05-06, where we once again were knocked out in the group stage, SAF out?

Of course the Sevilla game was tough to swallow, but saying he can feck off with another result like that, is silly in my book.

How many trophies did SAF won in between those results?
 
Nothing compared to the amount or quality SAF had won when we lost those fixtures so not really sure why you are making a comparison.
Because basing your support in a manager on one match is crazy.
A lot of people complain about Mourinho being a short term manager, and still want him sacked, because of one bad result, despite making obvious progress.
Crazy, I say!
 
Because basing your support in a manager on one match is crazy.
A lot of people complain about Mourinho being a short term manager, and still want him sacked, because of one bad result, despite making obvious progress.
Crazy, I say!

It's not one game? It's underperforming in probably the biggest club competition in the world.

If he can't guide us past teams like sevilla in the first or second round then he is clearly underperforming.

Judging on one game would be saying if he loses to the city in the league etc
 
It's not one game? It's underperforming in probably the biggest club competition in the world.

If he can't guide us past teams like sevilla in the first or second round then he is clearly underperforming.

Judging on one game would be saying if he loses to the city in the league etc
Of course it’s one game, when saying another result like sevilla and he can feck off.
And saying comparison is off, is wrong in my opinion, Mourinho and SAF have equal records in the CL. Both have two wins, and some major feck ups. No reason to sack any of them because of that.
Anyways, let’s just agree to disagree.
 
So you’re basing your support on one or two games? Odd!
Yes I am.

Over the course of season, the games like Newcastle, Huddersfield, Burnley tends to happen, but the Sevilla one is unforgivable, no matter how you look at it. It was a 2 legged tie and we managed to be pathetic in both legs. Manager should know and motivate his players as per the occasion, and not just harp on about 'every game is important' and then go on to lose actually the most important one. On top of that, his post match comments were not like he was reponsible for the defeat but something like he Is great, he f**ed United with Madrid and POrto and United are just a pile of sh*t in europe.

At the highest stage, there is a very fine line between success and failure. And its usually these one or two games that makes a major difference in the season progression. If CL knock out match is not important, then what is?

Regarding your questions on SAF, No I didnt want him out for 93/94, 94/95 and 04/05 (that milan side was great). But I would definitely raise the concerns on 03/04 and 05/06 seasons, especially if SAF had spend crazy amount like Jose or had build the team for instant success.
And now my one question for you, Had Madrid won three CLs in 4 years, had they persisted with Jose?
 
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Regarding your questions on SAF, Now I didnt want him out for 93/94, 94/95 and 04/05 (that milan side was good). But I would definitely raise the concerns on 03/04 and 05/06 seasons, especially if SAF had spend crazy amount like Jose.
And now my one question for you, Had Madrid won three CLs in 4 years, had they persisted with Jose?
The thing is, SAF spent crazy amounts just like Jose.
How Madrid would have done in CL with Jose, we’ll never know.
 
How Madrid would have done in CL with Jose, we’ll never know.
I would say it was very unlikely that he would have won 3 times in 4 years, as good as he is. BUt anyway my point is that I support Jose for the moment, but with a big caution. If club decides to kick him out next season, I wont shed any tears.
 
The Sevilla games are obviously the big downer. He basically sacrificed our top 4 challenge last season and went all-out for the EL to get us back into the CL.

And then delivered that. And I'm not just talking the Sevilla games - was anyone seriously impressed with our group performances? The games against Benfica were abysmal, well, the away game was shocking the home game was alright I guess.

It was 6 forgettable performances, we then drew the most beatable team available and lost with THOSE performances.

His CL performances this season from start to finish were nowhere near the standard we would expect.