Will Mourinho try to reinvent himself this time? Do you want him to?

[Dir Wangem]

When Mourinho got fired last year, he was arguably at the lowest point of his career. His reputation took a massive blow and the stereotype that he's a one trick pony only suitable for short-term solutions was only strengthened further. Whether you're a fan of Mourinho or not, it's hard to deny that he has a very specific style of management. And he's stuck to this style in 4 different leagues.

If there ever was a time for Mourinho to reinvent himself it would be now, as he certainly has something to prove. Can he stay at a club for longer than 3 seasons while providing a consistent stream of success? You can't deny the patterns, and the patterns don't look too good.

I personally think it would be for the better if he tweeked his style a bit. I also have a feeling that he will. He's had success in so many countries now, but I think he wants to "settle down" somewhere. He's a big admirer of Fergie, who was a ruthless winner to be sure, but he was also adaptable and consistent like no one else. Surely Mourinho must dream of doing something similar now? And what better place to do so than here?

So what do you think? Has he grown wiser and swallowed some of his pride, or will he go all out with the exact same approach as before? Which do you prefer, and why?

 

[facund]

I think it is great that we are potentially appointing an incredibly successful manager who still has something to prove.

Other than International football Jose only really has the challenge of building a team long term left to fulfil. It should keep him incredibly hungry and focussed. The short term nature/benefits of his prior appointments are largely overblown in my opinion and hopefully he can be effective enough to serve a 5 year stint at the club.

I'm not too worried about the style of play because Jose is pragmatic enough to adapt based on the quality of the squad he has at his disposal. If we attract talented players then the quality of football will reflect that.

 

[TrustInJanuzaj]

The question is can Mourinho change without losing what made him a great manager in the first place. He has always relied on that siege mentality but its also the same reason he never lasts long, it will be interesting to see if he can adapt in a positive manor

 

[Dir Wangem]

The question is can Mourinho change without losing what made him a great manager in the first place.

This is a good point.

It would certainly be horrible if he tried to change and failed, without getting us his usual trophies.

 

[kr0nix]

We should hope so.
Early on his interactions with the media were light and mischievous rather than malicious, but following his time at Madrid, the cynical, bitter nature of the man began to emerge. I don't consider this current iteration to be amusing, and if anything he appears to have a big chip on his shoulder.That's not what we want or need here.

While Rashford is talented enough to keep his spot, you wonder what will happen with the likes of Pereira, Januzaj, Borthwick-Jackson, Fosu-Mensah, Varela, and others who have not yet cemented their places in the first team but deserve additional chances to show their talent. There's no doubt that he's going to increase the squad that LVG left behind, which was perceived to be shallow to begin with, and that means some of these players will be sent out on loan or transferred permanently.
At the end of the day I like to see young players being given chances in the first team with enough guidance from senior players, and if Jose manages that I'll be happy enough.

 

[Sigma]

Honestly I think he will. Like I've said previously, the clubs he has been at in the past didn't allow for long term and were only focussed on the short term (people like Abramovich at Chelsea and Perez at Madrid). This means it didn't allow him to use younger, less established players as he was under so much pressure to win. I think coming to a club with a different ethos to those 2 will allow him to change too. Here he will be much more encouraged to use younger players e.t.c. Also, we've seen him in the past say he is looking to settle down now and he loves England. I think and hope this will be his longest managerial spell yet.

 

[RedStarUnited]

I need to get clarification on this. How often has Mourinho actually left a team rather than being sacked?

Porto - He left them to come to a bigger league and bigger team.
Chelsea 1st time - he got sacked, didnt he? Not his choice.
Inter - Won everything he could win, Italian league isnt exactly exciting for a long term project.
Real Madrid - Mutual decision wasnt it? Him and Perez both wanted it.
Chelsea - Sacked.

So looking at his past, Inter is the only team you could say he could have tried to rebuild. He was sacked both times at Chelsea, Madrid it was a mutual decision.

For as long as he keeps United in the top 4 and challenging for things. He wont get sacked here. Look how long it took LVG to get the boot.

 

[GloryHunter07]

I think he just needs to tweak:

• His distrust of youth
• His propensity to lose all sense of proportion when things go against him

 

[Brwned]

The Mourinho in his first two seasons in his second stint at Chelsea was "reinvented", IMO. They played pretty football more often than effective football and their key players absolutely weren't about pace, power and stamina. They weren't mechanical and there was a freedom to their game. He reverted to type after that 5-3 to Spurs though and things started crumbling from there.

I think he'll always be that way and a short-term move away from that only causes long-term damage.

The biggest question is does he still have the same burning desire for success. The Mourinho that came back to England was a much more docile character and after the title win he looked completely devoid of motivation and inspiration. He started lashing out when he was up against it but at that point he'd given up on inspiring his team - that was painfully clear.

The idea that because he's been incredibly successful in the past, he'll be incredibly successful in the future is deeply flawed. There are plenty of managers who had tremendous success when they were young and failed to recreate that later. Personally I think that's a huge element that's been overlooked by many.

 

[united_99]

The question is can Mourinho change without losing what made him a great manager in the first place. He has always relied on that siege mentality but its also the same reason he never lasts long, it will be interesting to see if he can adapt in a positive manor

This siege mentality didn't work at Madrid. It worked at Chelsea and Inter. Madrid was a different monster and its players together with Barca 's were European and World Champions and he somehow thought it would be a good idea to convince Casillas and Ramos to turn against Barca players and thus put Spain's most dominant spell in the history in danger.

Shock horror it didn't work out and then some are happy to blame Casillas and his gf when they decided to react and not be Mourinho 's puppet.
Mourinho also had the most power of any Madrid manager, hell they even sacked their legend Valdano because of him. But Mourinho still ended up fighting with his best players including the Portuguese ones.
Things won't magically change at United. Yes United offers a calmer atmosphere but Mourinho also needs to work on his weaknesses, it's not always everyone else's fault when things get messy.

 

[Ole's_toe_poke]

He'll always be a sour cnut when things aren't going his way.

 

[Green_Red]

Leopards never change their spots, especially not 50 year old ones

 

[Gambit]

I want him to keep his sense of disproportion and theatrics. I also think he'll be here planning for a long term stay and develop youth as it's something he hasn't fully done yet.

 

[Mr Smith]

I need to get clarification on this. How often has Mourinho actually left a team rather than being sacked?

Porto - He left them to come to a bigger league and bigger team.
Chelsea 1st time - he got sacked, didnt he? Not his choice.
Inter - Won everything he could win, Italian league isnt exactly exciting for a long term project.
Real Madrid - Mutual decision wasnt it? Him and Perez both wanted it.
Chelsea - Sacked.

So looking at his past, Inter is the only team you could say he could have tried to rebuild. He was sacked both times at Chelsea, Madrid it was a mutual decision.

For as long as he keeps United in the top 4 and challenging for things. He wont get sacked here. Look how long it took LVG to get the boot.

Putting each of those in context:

Porto - Made a lot of sense for him to move on. He'd reached his peak there, and that was always going to be a platform for something greater.
Chelsea first stint - a harsh sacking I think. He was having problems, but it wasn't terminal, and IIRC most of the players were still very much behind him. That was also around the time Abramovich was getting particularly trigger happy though.
Inter - I remember comments about him being "happy with Inter, but not happy with Italian football". Yes there's an argument he could and should have stuck around, but I think he'd made a decision to move on after 2009/10 long before they won the Champions League. Certainly he didn't have the love affair with Italian football that he has with the premier league.
Real Madrid - Hindsight is 20-20, but Mourinho has always seemed to have a real inferiority complex when it comes to Barca, and I think he had real problems getting past that. Definitely had to go after the third year, he'd triggered a civil war not only in his own dressing room but within the Spanish national team.
Chelsea second stint - perfectly reasonable departure, things were beyond saving and the players had downed tools on him. Effectively a sacking.

The Madrid stint worries me the most. He chafes when he has to compete with established power within a club (Casillas), and I worry about whether he'll chafe under the eyes of SAF and Charlton.