Mourinho : "Transfer spend is not enough"

[Mciahel Goodman]

It's hard to argue with Mourinho. If he'd signed a load of crap players you could say he was making excuses but only Mkhitaryan has been underwhelming (Lindelof too, but give him time).

Jose needs to be backed with a few hundred million in a single window. Signs of progression are there, but we're short on world class players and it shows when we have injuries.

 

[Adnan]

@Adnan
Can't fault anything there. Well, I'd say a right-winger over a left-winger, but I'm glad this perspective is seeping into public debate. We need to talk about a lack of ambition going back years and years.

Agree, "There's no value in the market" is something we're still recovering from it seems.

 

[Marcky411]

By the sounds of it we have two posters on here, the ones that take into consideration context and reference what is actually happening, and those that have no understanding of how the game works and expect the unreasonable. You sir, are in the latter.

If you can't see the SIGNIFICANT improvements under Mourinho, what are you doing on a football forum? Where was Liverpool, Spurs, Chelsea, Arsenal 'etc', all these teams you ate ejaculating over in comparison to us, and where were they last season in comparison to us last season? Unless you are 'numerically dyslexic', you might want to reconsider your POV.

Sad to see someone like you who can't accept any criticism of Mourinho and the mess we are in at the moment but you are not the only one on here. End result when you cannot combat my point of view with a well thought out, factual counter argument you resort to insults.
By the way Liverpool, Spurs, Chelsea -Champions, Arsenal 'etc' (I was referring to a style of football played) all ended up above us last season, we ended up 6th in the PL.
Momentarily we are second by 1 point and 15 behind the leaders and we still have half a season to play. By the way with LvG and his dross we ended up 4th in his first year, 5th and a cup in his second. That without the likes of Zlatan, Pogba, Bailly, Miki etc and we won't even start about the amount of injuries he had to deal with, Mourinho has really cut that figure down compared to the last so many years.

 

[Raebareliwale]

Pep has added 17 players since his arrival. Those 17 players have cost him £403m altogether. He inherited some top quality players from Pellegrini, even the much derided Moyes would finish top 4 with the kind of players Pep has at his disposal.

Mourinho has only added 7 players to the majority of dross he inherited from Van Gaal. Jose has spent around £286m altogether. Of course, Pep’s team should play better than Jose’s. If you add the variable of players that have missed big games due to long term injuries, I think Jose is where he’s supposed to be.

If you swap both managers, it’s the City team that will still be on top.

PEP finished 4th with the same squad barring Ederson/Walker last year.
You are not understanding the point.
He might have bought players like Mendy/Danilo/Bernardo but these aforementioned players have not really contributed enough for us till now.
So essentially, PEP has significantly improved last years team by adding 2 players in Ederson and Walker.

Jose spent too much on Pogba and Lukaku, especially when Rashford/Martial were strikers.
He could have spent less on wingers and bought better but instead he only went for players who contribute immediately.
PEP bought players like Stones/Sane/Jesus who were far from finished products but he has molded them into phenomenal players.

 

[ivaldo]

Sad to see someone like you who can't accept any criticism of Mourinho and the mess we are in at the moment but you are not the only one on here. End result when you cannot combat my point of view with a well thought out, factual counter argument you resort to insults.
By the way Liverpool, Spurs, Chelsea -Champions, Arsenal 'etc' (I was referring to a style of football played) all ended up above us last season, we ended up 6th in the PL.
Momentarily we are second by 1 point and 15 behind the leaders and we still have half a season to play. By the way with LvG and his dross we ended up 4th in his first year, 5th and a cup in his second. That without the likes of Zlatan, Pogba, Bailly, Miki etc and we won't even start about the amount of injuries he had to deal with, Mourinho has really cut that figure down compared to the last so many years.

No Indeed I can, and have done repeatedly. Yet no matter how many times your illogical inconsistencies are rebuffed it’s returned with staunch, baseless criticisms of one of the most successful managers in the history of the game. I will however apologise for the overzealous insults, no matter how nonsensical I find your point of view, you don’t deserve that level of vitriol. Sorry for that. Let’s go through step by step some of the points put forward by you and others shall we?

We should look to Arsenal, Spurs and Chelsea on how to play attacking football. They have scored less goals than we have this season. Categorically and emphatically they HAVE NOT attacked better than we have so far this season. The purpose of attacking is to score goals. We have scored more goals therefore we have attacked better. There is no arguing that.

Those aforementioned teams all finished above us last season.
Correct. And now they are below us because we have improved under Mourinho. How this is seen as a valid criticism of Jose is beyond me.

Because we have outspent them. Correct. Jose has also spent far less than Pep, despite having an inferior team than he to begin with. You can’t cherry pick when expenditure is important and when it isn’t.

LVG finished higher the season before Jose took over.
We were never winning the league last season. Our objective was to get back into the champions league. It (should be) entirely obvious Jose prioritised the europa cup over finishing top 4. Jose chose the route that came with a trophy and a higher seeding. Again no genuine criticisms can me made here.

We have the most expensively assembled team in the league.
That doesn’t mean it’s the best. Prior to Jose’s arrival, even after his first season, it was the popular opinion here to think City, Spurs and Chelsea had a better team than we did. If they had a better team, then why would the cost of the squad prior to Jose’s arrival be levied against how the team has performed under him? A month or two ago we were being told how amazing Spurs are. They had a better team and a better manager than we did. Surely it must be a masterstroke for Jose to be sitting above them in the league then?

We are Manchester United. We shouldn’t be happy with second place.

No one is happy with us finishing behind City, but, in the words of The Bloody Nine, you have to be realistic about these things. Our squad was a state and we had 4 managers in the space of 3 years, all with a different approach and player profile for how they wanted to play. We are seeing steady improvement since his appointment. We are winning trophies, back in the Champions League, signing talent, scoring more goals, conceding less and are on course to finishing higher in the league. If our progression does stagnate then perhaps some of these criticisms would be justified, but for now, why don’t we let him do his job?

 

[Jeffthered]

Look at the top 10 transfers in the world right now, and you would really appreciate Jose's comments.

1. Neymar, Barcelona to Paris St Germain, 2017, £200.6m

2. Ousmane Dembele, Borussia Dortmund to Barcelona, 2017, £96.8m

3. Paul Pogba, Juventus to Manchester United, 2016, £89m

4. Gareth Bale, Tottenham to Real Madrid, 2013, £85.3m

5. Cristiano Ronaldo, Manchester United to Real Madrid, 2009, £80m

6. Gonzalo Higuain, Napoli to Juventus, 2016, £75.3m

7= Romelu Lukaku, Everton to Manchester United, 2017, £75m

7= Virgil van Dijk, Southampton to Liverpool, 2018, £75m

9. Luis Suarez, Liverpool to Barcelona, 2014, £65m

10. James Rodriguez, Monaco to Real Madrid, 2014, £63m

When Virgil van Dijk is worth that money, then you know something is wrong with todays market. A small club like Liverpool spending so much money means one of two things:

1. They sold Coutinho, so they have gone on a spending spree.
or/and
2. Jose is right, £300m right now is a pocket change for big clubs like Man Utd.

Sorry, you're missing the point. Mourinho needs to be judged on the quality and effectiveness of his signings thus far, AND his management and development of the players he inherited. Who are his scouts? How do they work? Do they work the lower leagues? Can the current coaching staff take 'average' to 'very good'... can they take 'very good' to ' fantastic'? How many players have improved under Jose Mourinho?

Manchester United's board and supporters have every right to ask these questions.

You don't just throw more money at him, no way. Someone posted that Leroy Sane and Gabriel Jesus cost less than Lukaku and this is my point. More sensitive, intuitive management is required sometimes. The 'I need more money' line is wearing thin, and in many ways, adds to a list of things Mourinho has said that do not reflect well upon Manchester United Football Club. He needs to show a bit more class, and humility.

 

[Marcky411]

Sorry, you're missing the point. Mourinho needs to be judged on the quality and effectiveness of his signings thus far, AND his management and development of the players he inherited. Who are his scouts? How do they work? Do they work the lower leagues? Can the current coaching staff take 'average' to 'very good'... can they take 'very good' to ' fantastic'? How many players have improved under Jose Mourinho?

Manchester United's board and supporters have every right to ask these questions.

You don't just throw more money at him, no way. Someone posted that Leroy Sane and Gabriel Jesus cost less than Lukaku and this is my point. More sensitive, intuitive management is required sometimes. The 'I need more money' line is wearing thin, and in many ways, adds to a list of things Mourinho has said that do not reflect well upon Manchester United Football Club. He needs to show a bit more class, and humility.

Well said, we were right to ask these questions of Moyes and LvG but now to ask these questions of Mourinho seems blasphemous to some.

 

[Oneunited26]

Sorry, you're missing the point. Mourinho needs to be judged on the quality and effectiveness of his signings thus far, AND his management and development of the players he inherited. Who are his scouts? How do they work? Do they work the lower leagues? Can the current coaching staff take 'average' to 'very good'... can they take 'very good' to ' fantastic'? How many players have improved under Jose Mourinho?

Manchester United's board and supporters have every right to ask these questions.

You don't just throw more money at him, no way. Someone posted that Leroy Sane and Gabriel Jesus cost less than Lukaku and this is my point. More sensitive, intuitive management is required sometimes. The 'I need more money' line is wearing thin, and in many ways, adds to a list of things Mourinho has said that do not reflect well upon Manchester United Football Club. He needs to show a bit more class, and humility.

I don't even see the point in scouts, yeah we so needed a scout on Lukaku, many moan pep inherited KDB, didn't Jose ship out KDB at chelsea? god help he wanted to throw nearly 60 million on perisic at 28 going on 29 lol. He asked for 4 players, its not at the realms of possibility we still need a better striker

 

[United never give up]

Mourinho is, on balance, doing a good job and has improved us greatly since he took over.

However, his constant use of excuses and inability to accept any criticism is slightly infuriating.

This is after he said that he "doesn't complain" or "cry" in a previous press conference

Fergie didn't go round using lack of spending as an excuse. We're the club that came back from the 1958 Munich Air Disaster: petty complaining may be fine at clubs like Chelsea and Inter, but not us: United should never resort to it, it is in the fabric of this football club to never, never give up - Mourinho needs to realise this and remove some of the negativity from his interviews.

I still back Jose 100% though

 

[SwSw]

PEP finished 4th with the same squad barring Ederson/Walker last year.
You are not understanding the point.
He might have bought players like Mendy/Danilo/Bernardo but these aforementioned players have not really contributed enough for us till now.
So essentially, PEP has significantly improved last years team by adding 2 players in Ederson and Walker.

Jose spent too much on Pogba and Lukaku, especially when Rashford/Martial were strikers.
He could have spent less on wingers and bought better but instead he only went for players who contribute immediately.
PEP bought players like Stones/Sane/Jesus who were far from finished products but he has molded them into phenomenal players.

You are forgetting the point that Pep inherited a better squad and won nothing last year. You've invested more money on a better spine. We've invested less money to fix the mess from Moyes and LVG.

Mourinho has made Martial, Lukaku, Rojo (before injury), Herrera (last season), Young better. Lukaku at everton was all about getting on a cross or through ball and score. This season, he has improved his link play significantly. Proof: Leicester, Burnley, Arsenal. Martial's numbers has went up.

Pretty sure most of us wanted young out. Guess what, he's one of our most reliable LB/RB and he is our best crosser. Fellaini has scored crucial goals for us. What was he under LVG and Moyes? everyone's boo boy. Rojo was trash under LVG, he was immense before he got injured.

And let's not forget, fullbacks are important for modern day football. Our fullbacks are just aren't good enough atm.

 

[Oneunited26]

Well said, we were right to ask these questions of Moyes and LvG but now to ask these questions of Mourinho seems blasphemous to some.

We are playing some players in defense who have been here 5 6 7 years ago, some of them were wingers now are our wing backs, lets not forget 90% of the Moyes and VG signings are even a key part of this squad which cannot sit right, so in all valencia, young, jones, smalling, rojo, shaw, carrick, herrera, fellaini, martial, mata have been here either over 10 years, and at most 3 to 4 years, who have been part of either fergie's teams, Moyes and VG's, so the so called transition is hard to do when the manager lives in a hotel room, players who have been here a long time, the forward thinking planning seems to be very on the spot, Jose I don't see where he will be in 1 to 2 years time. Hell carrick could outlive Jose Mourinho at OT, and that says the direction this club is in which could keep happening every 3 years. So in short Jose is right, we are a big club, but not a big team

 

[Ramshock]

23 - Lindelof, 24 - Lukaku and 28 - Mkhi. Too old for the under-18s, where some of their performances belong.

Let's be honest here, they aren't exactly young players waiting for their first opportunity. They are established players.

How many goals and assists have Mkhi and Lukaku got between them and how many games has Lindelof played for us?

 

[Oneunited26]

This probably sums it up

 

[Acquire Me]

No Indeed I can, and have done repeatedly. Yet no matter how many times your illogical inconsistencies are rebuffed it’s returned with staunch, baseless criticisms of one of the most successful managers in the history of the game. I will however apologise for the overzealous insults, no matter how nonsensical I find your point of view, you don’t deserve that level of vitriol. Sorry for that. Let’s go through step by step some of the points put forward by you and others shall we?

We should look to Arsenal, Spurs and Chelsea on how to play attacking football. They have scored less goals than we have this season. Categorically and emphatically they HAVE NOT attacked better than we have so far this season. The purpose of attacking is to score goals. We have scored more goals therefore we have attacked better. There is no arguing that.

Those aforementioned teams all finished above us last season.
Correct. And now they are below us because we have improved under Mourinho. How this is seen as a valid criticism of Jose is beyond me.

Because we have outspent them. Correct. Jose has also spent far less than Pep, despite having an inferior team than he to begin with. You can’t cherry pick when expenditure is important and when it isn’t.

LVG finished higher the season before Jose took over.
We were never winning the league last season. Our objective was to get back into the champions league. It (should be) entirely obvious Jose prioritised the europa cup over finishing top 4. Jose chose the route that came with a trophy and a higher seeding. Again no genuine criticisms can me made here.

We have the most expensively assembled team in the league.
That doesn’t mean it’s the best. Prior to Jose’s arrival, even after his first season, it was the popular opinion here to think City, Spurs and Chelsea had a better team than we did. If they had a better team, then why would the cost of the squad prior to Jose’s arrival be levied against how the team has performed under him? A month or two ago we were being told how amazing Spurs are. They had a better team and a better manager than we did. Surely it must be a masterstroke for Jose to be sitting above them in the league then?

We are Manchester United. We shouldn’t be happy with second place.

No one is happy with us finishing behind City, but, in the words of The Bloody Nine, you have to be realistic about these things. Our squad was a state and we had 4 managers in the space of 3 years, all with a different approach and player profile for how they wanted to play. We are seeing steady improvement since his appointment. We are winning trophies, back in the Champions League, signing talent, scoring more goals, conceding less and are on course to finishing higher in the league. If our progression does stagnate then perhaps some of these criticisms would be justified, but for now, why don’t we let him do his job?

Great post. Well done. I hope people take notice.

 

[Kapardin]

If we don't even sign an attacker in Jan, this will be on Ed and the Glazers. Sure, winter window is always difficult, but it shouldn't be hard to get atleast one player in when we are in a crunch situation.

 

[el3mel]

No Indeed I can, and have done repeatedly. Yet no matter how many times your illogical inconsistencies are rebuffed it’s returned with staunch, baseless criticisms of one of the most successful managers in the history of the game. I will however apologise for the overzealous insults, no matter how nonsensical I find your point of view, you don’t deserve that level of vitriol. Sorry for that. Let’s go through step by step some of the points put forward by you and others shall we?

We should look to Arsenal, Spurs and Chelsea on how to play attacking football. They have scored less goals than we have this season. Categorically and emphatically they HAVE NOT attacked better than we have so far this season. The purpose of attacking is to score goals. We have scored more goals therefore we have attacked better. There is no arguing that.

Those aforementioned teams all finished above us last season.
Correct. And now they are below us because we have improved under Mourinho. How this is seen as a valid criticism of Jose is beyond me.

Because we have outspent them. Correct. Jose has also spent far less than Pep, despite having an inferior team than he to begin with. You can’t cherry pick when expenditure is important and when it isn’t.

LVG finished higher the season before Jose took over.
We were never winning the league last season. Our objective was to get back into the champions league. It (should be) entirely obvious Jose prioritised the europa cup over finishing top 4. Jose chose the route that came with a trophy and a higher seeding. Again no genuine criticisms can me made here.

We have the most expensively assembled team in the league.
That doesn’t mean it’s the best. Prior to Jose’s arrival, even after his first season, it was the popular opinion here to think City, Spurs and Chelsea had a better team than we did. If they had a better team, then why would the cost of the squad prior to Jose’s arrival be levied against how the team has performed under him? A month or two ago we were being told how amazing Spurs are. They had a better team and a better manager than we did. Surely it must be a masterstroke for Jose to be sitting above them in the league then?

We are Manchester United. We shouldn’t be happy with second place.

No one is happy with us finishing behind City, but, in the words of The Bloody Nine, you have to be realistic about these things. Our squad was a state and we had 4 managers in the space of 3 years, all with a different approach and player profile for how they wanted to play. We are seeing steady improvement since his appointment. We are winning trophies, back in the Champions League, signing talent, scoring more goals, conceding less and are on course to finishing higher in the league. If our progression does stagnate then perhaps some of these criticisms would be justified, but for now, why don’t we let him do his job?

Brilliant post. Best I have read here for a while.

 

[haram]

No Indeed I can, and have done repeatedly. Yet no matter how many times your illogical inconsistencies are rebuffed it’s returned with staunch, baseless criticisms of one of the most successful managers in the history of the game. I will however apologise for the overzealous insults, no matter how nonsensical I find your point of view, you don’t deserve that level of vitriol. Sorry for that. Let’s go through step by step some of the points put forward by you and others shall we?

We should look to Arsenal, Spurs and Chelsea on how to play attacking football. They have scored less goals than we have this season. Categorically and emphatically they HAVE NOT attacked better than we have so far this season. The purpose of attacking is to score goals. We have scored more goals therefore we have attacked better. There is no arguing that.

Those aforementioned teams all finished above us last season.
Correct. And now they are below us because we have improved under Mourinho. How this is seen as a valid criticism of Jose is beyond me.

Because we have outspent them. Correct. Jose has also spent far less than Pep, despite having an inferior team than he to begin with. You can’t cherry pick when expenditure is important and when it isn’t.

LVG finished higher the season before Jose took over.
We were never winning the league last season. Our objective was to get back into the champions league. It (should be) entirely obvious Jose prioritised the europa cup over finishing top 4. Jose chose the route that came with a trophy and a higher seeding. Again no genuine criticisms can me made here.

We have the most expensively assembled team in the league.
That doesn’t mean it’s the best. Prior to Jose’s arrival, even after his first season, it was the popular opinion here to think City, Spurs and Chelsea had a better team than we did. If they had a better team, then why would the cost of the squad prior to Jose’s arrival be levied against how the team has performed under him? A month or two ago we were being told how amazing Spurs are. They had a better team and a better manager than we did. Surely it must be a masterstroke for Jose to be sitting above them in the league then?

We are Manchester United. We shouldn’t be happy with second place.

No one is happy with us finishing behind City, but, in the words of The Bloody Nine, you have to be realistic about these things. Our squad was a state and we had 4 managers in the space of 3 years, all with a different approach and player profile for how they wanted to play. We are seeing steady improvement since his appointment. We are winning trophies, back in the Champions League, signing talent, scoring more goals, conceding less and are on course to finishing higher in the league. If our progression does stagnate then perhaps some of these criticisms would be justified, but for now, why don’t we let him do his job?

Good post.

 

[ash_86]

No Indeed I can, and have done repeatedly. Yet no matter how many times your illogical inconsistencies are rebuffed it’s returned with staunch, baseless criticisms of one of the most successful managers in the history of the game. I will however apologise for the overzealous insults, no matter how nonsensical I find your point of view, you don’t deserve that level of vitriol. Sorry for that. Let’s go through step by step some of the points put forward by you and others shall we?

We should look to Arsenal, Spurs and Chelsea on how to play attacking football. They have scored less goals than we have this season. Categorically and emphatically they HAVE NOT attacked better than we have so far this season. The purpose of attacking is to score goals. We have scored more goals therefore we have attacked better. There is no arguing that.

Those aforementioned teams all finished above us last season.
Correct. And now they are below us because we have improved under Mourinho. How this is seen as a valid criticism of Jose is beyond me.

Because we have outspent them. Correct. Jose has also spent far less than Pep, despite having an inferior team than he to begin with. You can’t cherry pick when expenditure is important and when it isn’t.

LVG finished higher the season before Jose took over.
We were never winning the league last season. Our objective was to get back into the champions league. It (should be) entirely obvious Jose prioritised the europa cup over finishing top 4. Jose chose the route that came with a trophy and a higher seeding. Again no genuine criticisms can me made here.

We have the most expensively assembled team in the league.
That doesn’t mean it’s the best. Prior to Jose’s arrival, even after his first season, it was the popular opinion here to think City, Spurs and Chelsea had a better team than we did. If they had a better team, then why would the cost of the squad prior to Jose’s arrival be levied against how the team has performed under him? A month or two ago we were being told how amazing Spurs are. They had a better team and a better manager than we did. Surely it must be a masterstroke for Jose to be sitting above them in the league then?

We are Manchester United. We shouldn’t be happy with second place.

No one is happy with us finishing behind City, but, in the words of The Bloody Nine, you have to be realistic about these things. Our squad was a state and we had 4 managers in the space of 3 years, all with a different approach and player profile for how they wanted to play. We are seeing steady improvement since his appointment. We are winning trophies, back in the Champions League, signing talent, scoring more goals, conceding less and are on course to finishing higher in the league. If our progression does stagnate then perhaps some of these criticisms would be justified, but for now, why don’t we let him do his job?

Couldn't have put it better.

 

[Valar Morghulis]

This probably sums it up

Good post! The United Stand is the best United fan channel on YouTube whereas The Full Time Devils are cocksuckers that charge overseas fans to go out to pubs with them and sing songs with Steven Segal's fat brother.

 

[red4ever 79]

Which Jose would wind his neck in and stop making excuses for the honk of cra* his team are serving up at the moment

 

[Oneunited26]

Good post! The United Stand is the best United fan channel on YouTube whereas The Full Time Devils are cocksuckers that charge overseas fans to go out to pubs with them and sing songs with Steven Segal's fat brother.

Listening to the video, does probably deep down say it all about these owners. One caller said it all, by the time we fight over a fee over a winger city have built an entire team. We fought the roman riches, it will anger me if we allow our neighbors to just steam role over us which is happening at the minute

 

[Kapardin]

LVG finished higher the season before Jose took over.
We were never winning the league last season. Our objective was to get back into the champions league. It (should be) entirely obvious Jose prioritised the europa cup over finishing top 4. Jose chose the route that came with a trophy and a higher seeding. Again no genuine criticisms can me made here.

Can add to this. During LvG's period, the league was much weaker and top teams were in a bit of a flux, with Rodgers and Pellegrini on the edge and Chelsea imploding in 15/16. That is why he won so many big games and that is why we matched City's points total. Problem with City and Chelsea was not lack of squad quality, but simply lack of motivation.

With Conte and Guardiola coming in, and Klopp settling down at Liverpool, the league has gotten much stronger and the big teams are no longer underperforming. So Jose's league position cannot be compared to LvG, though certainly he has to bear some blame for our performance in big games.

 

[Valar Morghulis]

Listening to the video, does probably deep down say it all about these owners. One caller said it all, by the time we fight over a fee over a winger city have built an entire team. We fought the roman riches, it will anger me if we allow our neighbors to just steam role over us which is happening at the minute

This is exactly it, also Officer Brent Di Cesare aka Mark Goldbridge, doesn't charge anyone to sing songs with him. Well said.

 

[Oneunited26]

This is exactly it, also Officer Brent Di Cesare aka Mark Goldbridge, doesn't charge anyone to sing songs with him. Well said.

Yeah you're right there, was searching video's and watched his vids he is awesome. I have given Jose loads of stick, but I do think this is a boardroom level problem, city owners want to win, utd owners want to make money, when 2 have those priority's let us not forget we sold ronaldo and give michael owen ronaldo's shirt number, and he's right fellaini is the embodiment of what is wrong with this team. We need to be ruthless in the transfer market, which I don't think they want to be, if we in a top 4 that is fine for them, and if Jose walks away I have a feeling its a boardroom problem

 

[Red Defence]

I do get fed up of listening to Mourinho rattle on about needing more and more money. Burnley played well against us and they’ve been pretty good all season. How much did their team cost I wonder?

Money can buy a good set of players but good set of players do not necessarily make a good team.

Bonding and a good TEAM mentality is something that cannot be bought.

 

[Bratt]

No Indeed I can, and have done repeatedly. Yet no matter how many times your illogical inconsistencies are rebuffed it’s returned with staunch, baseless criticisms of one of the most successful managers in the history of the game. I will however apologise for the overzealous insults, no matter how nonsensical I find your point of view, you don’t deserve that level of vitriol. Sorry for that. Let’s go through step by step some of the points put forward by you and others shall we?

We should look to Arsenal, Spurs and Chelsea on how to play attacking football. They have scored less goals than we have this season. Categorically and emphatically they HAVE NOT attacked better than we have so far this season. The purpose of attacking is to score goals. We have scored more goals therefore we have attacked better. There is no arguing that.

Those aforementioned teams all finished above us last season.
Correct. And now they are below us because we have improved under Mourinho. How this is seen as a valid criticism of Jose is beyond me.

Because we have outspent them. Correct. Jose has also spent far less than Pep, despite having an inferior team than he to begin with. You can’t cherry pick when expenditure is important and when it isn’t.

LVG finished higher the season before Jose took over.
We were never winning the league last season. Our objective was to get back into the champions league. It (should be) entirely obvious Jose prioritised the europa cup over finishing top 4. Jose chose the route that came with a trophy and a higher seeding. Again no genuine criticisms can me made here.

We have the most expensively assembled team in the league.
That doesn’t mean it’s the best. Prior to Jose’s arrival, even after his first season, it was the popular opinion here to think City, Spurs and Chelsea had a better team than we did. If they had a better team, then why would the cost of the squad prior to Jose’s arrival be levied against how the team has performed under him? A month or two ago we were being told how amazing Spurs are. They had a better team and a better manager than we did. Surely it must be a masterstroke for Jose to be sitting above them in the league then?

We are Manchester United. We shouldn’t be happy with second place.

No one is happy with us finishing behind City, but, in the words of The Bloody Nine, you have to be realistic about these things. Our squad was a state and we had 4 managers in the space of 3 years, all with a different approach and player profile for how they wanted to play. We are seeing steady improvement since his appointment. We are winning trophies, back in the Champions League, signing talent, scoring more goals, conceding less and are on course to finishing higher in the league. If our progression does stagnate then perhaps some of these criticisms would be justified, but for now, why don’t we let him do his job?

Amen!
Good post.

Mourinho is, on balance, doing a good job and has improved us greatly since he took over.

However, his constant use of excuses and inability to accept any criticism is slightly infuriating.

This is after he said that he "doesn't complain" or "cry" in a previous press conference

Fergie didn't go round using lack of spending as an excuse. We're the club that came back from the 1958 Munich Air Disaster: petty complaining may be fine at clubs like Chelsea and Inter, but not us: United should never resort to it, it is in the fabric of this football club to never, never give up - Mourinho needs to realise this and remove some of the negativity from his interviews.

I still back Jose 100% though

So you find SAF’s excuse of ‘no value in the market’ better?
For me, at least Mourinho’s statements are honest, where SAF felt a strong loyalty to the board, which made him come out with stupid comments like that one.

 

[Seij]

We desperately needed fullbacks on both sides this summer. We were never really linked to one though, were we? So many quality fullbacks moved this summer and somebody (Mourinho? Woodward?) decided we were A-ok with what we have. Guardiola is probably going to sign more players this window (he's been talking about making signings to replace injured Mendy and Stones) when they are sitting 15 points clear, while I'm pessimistic that we'll make any substantial signings.

City have simply spent better than us since during the last couple of years of SAF's retirement, and combine that with the calamity David Moyes who destroyed the very foundation of the club and Guardiola who started setting up his City team while he was still at Bayern, we've fallen way behind. Mourinho is correct in that sense but at the same time, he should not have been ok with just 3 signings last summer and really should've pushed for more if he felt he needed them.

 

[Fitchett]

Can add to this. During LvG's period, the league was much weaker and top teams were in a bit of a flux, with Rodgers and Pellegrini on the edge and Chelsea imploding in 15/16. That is why he won so many big games and that is why we matched City's points total. Problem with City and Chelsea was not lack of squad quality, but simply lack of motivation.

With Conte and Guardiola coming in, and Klopp settling down at Liverpool, the league has gotten much stronger and the big teams are no longer underperforming. So Jose's league position cannot be compared to LvG, though certainly he has to bear some blame for our performance in big games.

This. Leicester's league title win in 2015/16 really showed up the top six clubs for underachieving, despite their advantage in financial resources. They've all made a concerted effort not to be caught out again by a smaller club. The top six clubs are much stronger now than they were two years ago - look at the Champions League performances as evidence. Compare this season with two years ago.

 

[Stacks]

Sorry, you're missing the point. Mourinho needs to be judged on the quality and effectiveness of his signings thus far, AND his management and development of the players he inherited. Who are his scouts? How do they work? Do they work the lower leagues? Can the current coaching staff take 'average' to 'very good'... can they take 'very good' to ' fantastic'? How many players have improved under Jose Mourinho?

Manchester United's board and supporters have every right to ask these questions.

You don't just throw more money at him, no way. Someone posted that Leroy Sane and Gabriel Jesus cost less than Lukaku and this is my point. More sensitive, intuitive management is required sometimes. The 'I need more money' line is wearing thin, and in many ways, adds to a list of things Mourinho has said that do not reflect well upon Manchester United Football Club. He needs to show a bit more class, and humility.

Sane, De Bruyne, B.Silva, Jesus = 160 million
Pogba, Lukaku = 164 million
Fans will tell you that these are the only options to get us back on top.

Mourinho is, on balance, doing a good job and has improved us greatly since he took over.
can't deny this
However, his constant use of excuses and inability to accept any criticism is slightly infuriating.

This is after he said that he "doesn't complain" or "cry" in a previous press conference

Fergie didn't go round using lack of spending as an excuse. We're the club that came back from the 1958 Munich Air Disaster: petty complaining may be fine at clubs like Chelsea and Inter, but not us: United should never resort to it, it is in the fabric of this football club to never, never give up - Mourinho needs to realise this and remove some of the negativity from his interviews.
I actually tried to find SAF quotes from 2004-06 to see if there was an acceptance of defeat due to lack of funds, after Jose and Chelsea were spending never before seen amounts over that time. Considering that Jose once enjoyed having a budget far bigger than his rivals, who were still expected to compete (United and Arsenal), I find it humorous listening to the present day lamenting.
I still back Jose 100% though

You are forgetting the point that Pep inherited a better squad and won nothing last year. You've invested more money on a better spine. We've invested less money to fix the mess from Moyes and LVG.

Mourinho has made Martial, Lukaku, Rojo (before injury), Herrera (last season), Young better. Lukaku at everton was all about getting on a cross or through ball and score. This season, he has improved his link play significantly. Proof: Leicester, Burnley, Arsenal. Martial's numbers has went up.
Martial has clearly regressed. When Jose came, Martial was rated the top under 21 in the world. He isn't there now (possibly due to being 22), but he is a worse player since the take over. Lukaku is not better than he was last season. He is on course to less goals and he is primarily a goalscorer. Young has played well at FB under previous managers (LVG). He is more or less the same, just wasn't getting games.
Pretty sure most of us wanted young out. Guess what, he's one of our most reliable LB/RB and he is our best crosser. Fellaini has scored crucial goals for us. What was he under LVG and Moyes? everyone's boo boy. Rojo was trash under LVG, he was immense before he got injured.

And let's not forget, fullbacks are important for modern day football. Our fullbacks are just aren't good enough atm.

Can add to this. During LvG's period, the league was much weaker and top teams were in a bit of a flux, with Rodgers and Pellegrini on the edge and Chelsea imploding in 15/16. That is why he won so many big games and that is why we matched City's points total. Problem with City and Chelsea was not lack of squad quality, but simply lack of motivation.
Fan theory. There is never an optimum time to play your rivals. One could argue that this is a weak league as City are near enough 20 points ahead and they don't have Messi, Iniesta, Xavi, Suarez and Neymar.
With Conte and Guardiola coming in, and Klopp settling down at Liverpool, the league has gotten much stronger and the big teams are no longer underperforming. So Jose's league position cannot be compared to LvG, though certainly he has to bear some blame for our performance in big games.

 

[Stacks]

This. Leicester's league title win in 2015/16 really showed up the top six clubs for underachieving, despite their advantage in financial resources. They've all made a concerted effort not to be caught out again by a smaller club. The top six clubs are much stronger now than they were two years ago - look at the Champions League performances as evidence. Compare this season with two years ago.

We are only at the group stage mate. Solid evidence is yet to be seen. 3/4 teams made it through to KO rounds in 2016 and it was US who let the side down.

 

[Redmurph16]

I do get fed up of listening to Mourinho rattle on about needing more and more money. Burnley played well against us and they’ve been pretty good all season. How much did their team cost I wonder?

Money can buy a good set of players but good set of players do not necessarily make a good team.

Bonding and a good TEAM mentality is something that cannot be bought.

Spot on.

We need leadership on the pitch. I haven't seen much since Gary Neville's day and it's costing us.

I remember watching Vidic telling Smalling what to do but we don't have that any more.

These guys are international footballers but they look like little boys lost at times.

 

[JustFootballFan]

Seems almost like Mourinho is trying to convince himself that you can only compete, if you have a roster of 20 players, who each cost €40-50M upwards, but that´s not how it works anywhere outside of maybe City/PSG. Not even Barcelona, Madrid, Bayern can spend a billion dollars over 4-5 years. You need bargain buys. You need to develop some youth players. You need role players. You need a functioning unit. All the top clubs in the world do that. It´s the right mix of these players that makes great teams. There are still plenty of bargains to be had. You just need to identify them early.

I think this is mainly a structural problem of not having a DoF. Building such a functioning team and buying "squad" players that can form a cohesive unit requires a clear directive of how you want to approach a game. If you have a DoF that stands for a clear idea (say 4-4-2 possession based), then he´ll only hire a manager that represents that same playing idea, which leads to only buying players that are comfortable in a possession based system. Now the coach gets fired, and you hire a new coach with the same principle ideas, you don´t have to start from scratch again, even if the new manager is slightly tweaking the system.

That´s basically what I feel United have been doing since the end of the SAF era.

And the argument is always looked the wrong way around. The DoF should be the powerful person in the club, not the manager. If the DoF has the power to pick a manager, he´ll naturally pick a manager that he gets along with on a personal level and who shares the same basic footballing principles. That´s how you get consistency into the front office and move forward.

Plus I think it´s impossible for a manager to function as a de facto DoF/head scout at the same time. You need to delegate responsibilities.

 

[FootballHQ]

Would Mourinho get sacked if he finishes 5th this season?

Looking at the table and Arsenal are only 6 points off and they're sixth. Still got to go to Man. City and Spurs and generally way United are playing they'll be plenty more points dropped so it's a decent possibility I'd say.

 

[Mart1974]

No Indeed I can, and have done repeatedly. Yet no matter how many times your illogical inconsistencies are rebuffed it’s returned with staunch, baseless criticisms of one of the most successful managers in the history of the game. I will however apologise for the overzealous insults, no matter how nonsensical I find your point of view, you don’t deserve that level of vitriol. Sorry for that. Let’s go through step by step some of the points put forward by you and others shall we?

We should look to Arsenal, Spurs and Chelsea on how to play attacking football. They have scored less goals than we have this season. Categorically and emphatically they HAVE NOT attacked better than we have so far this season. The purpose of attacking is to score goals. We have scored more goals therefore we have attacked better. There is no arguing that.

Those aforementioned teams all finished above us last season.
Correct. And now they are below us because we have improved under Mourinho. How this is seen as a valid criticism of Jose is beyond me.

Because we have outspent them. Correct. Jose has also spent far less than Pep, despite having an inferior team than he to begin with. You can’t cherry pick when expenditure is important and when it isn’t.

LVG finished higher the season before Jose took over.
We were never winning the league last season. Our objective was to get back into the champions league. It (should be) entirely obvious Jose prioritised the europa cup over finishing top 4. Jose chose the route that came with a trophy and a higher seeding. Again no genuine criticisms can me made here.

We have the most expensively assembled team in the league.
That doesn’t mean it’s the best. Prior to Jose’s arrival, even after his first season, it was the popular opinion here to think City, Spurs and Chelsea had a better team than we did. If they had a better team, then why would the cost of the squad prior to Jose’s arrival be levied against how the team has performed under him? A month or two ago we were being told how amazing Spurs are. They had a better team and a better manager than we did. Surely it must be a masterstroke for Jose to be sitting above them in the league then?

We are Manchester United. We shouldn’t be happy with second place.

No one is happy with us finishing behind City, but, in the words of The Bloody Nine, you have to be realistic about these things. Our squad was a state and we had 4 managers in the space of 3 years, all with a different approach and player profile for how they wanted to play. We are seeing steady improvement since his appointment. We are winning trophies, back in the Champions League, signing talent, scoring more goals, conceding less and are on course to finishing higher in the league. If our progression does stagnate then perhaps some of these criticisms would be justified, but for now, why don’t we let him do his job?

I hate it when posters say this. But this.

 

[Kraftwerker]

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This article is spot on and diagnoses how the current issues are long term dating back to the ‘no value in the market’ years.

The old phrase that if you stand still you go backwards has never been more accurate. We were on top and stood still. Strange when you consider that Fergie had always been a proponent of investing whilst you’re on top to stay ahead. Something changed.

If Fergie thought the market was inflated then, I wonder what he thinks now.

 

[LeftyBlaster]

No Indeed I can, and have done repeatedly. Yet no matter how many times your illogical inconsistencies are rebuffed it’s returned with staunch, baseless criticisms of one of the most successful managers in the history of the game. I will however apologise for the overzealous insults, no matter how nonsensical I find your point of view, you don’t deserve that level of vitriol. Sorry for that. Let’s go through step by step some of the points put forward by you and others shall we?

We should look to Arsenal, Spurs and Chelsea on how to play attacking football. They have scored less goals than we have this season. Categorically and emphatically they HAVE NOT attacked better than we have so far this season. The purpose of attacking is to score goals. We have scored more goals therefore we have attacked better. There is no arguing that.

Those aforementioned teams all finished above us last season.
Correct. And now they are below us because we have improved under Mourinho. How this is seen as a valid criticism of Jose is beyond me.

1. But we can certainly draw lessons from them in terms of improving our attacking unit, there's no denying THAT. We need a footballing identity. Not a game by game reaction. And we can certainly learn from Arsenal / Liverpool / City in terms of attacking movement.

2. They are below us for now. Season's not done. If we continue in this form they will finish above us again. They aren't far behind. And they will catch up if Jose decides to yield initiative in big games and park the bus because we always drop points when he does that.

 

[dichinero]

Sane, De Bruyne, B.Silva, Jesus = 160 million
Pogba, Lukaku = 164 million
Fans will tell you that these are the only options to get us back on top.

Nothing like blowing all your lunch money for the week for a spoon of caviar.

 

[catmandeu]

I can feel what jose is saying. We need to fill the blanks in our squad. Only then we can be at top or else we are pretty much above all other teams at the moment ( may be barring chelsea )

 

[SwSw]

Martial has clearly regressed. When Jose came, Martial was rated the top under 21 in the world. He isn't there now (possibly due to being 22), but he is a worse player since the take over. Lukaku is not better than he was last season. He is on course to less goals and he is primarily a goalscorer. Young has played well at FB under previous managers (LVG). He is more or less the same, just wasn't getting games.

I'm sorry but you are wrong. How has Martial regressed when his numbers have went up? Are you basing that on your feel? As far as i'm concern, he has gotten slightly more minutes and his numbers have went up. Gotten into better position and his defensive work has went up. All signs of him maturing.

 

[amolbhatia50k]

PEP finished 4th with the same squad barring Ederson/Walker last year.
You are not understanding the point.
He might have bought players like Mendy/Danilo/Bernardo but these aforementioned players have not really contributed enough for us till now.
So essentially, PEP has significantly improved last years team by adding 2 players in Ederson and Walker.

Jose spent too much on Pogba and Lukaku, especially when Rashford/Martial were strikers.
He could have spent less on wingers and bought better but instead he only went for players who contribute immediately.
PEP bought players like Stones/Sane/Jesus who were far from finished products but he has molded them into phenomenal players.

I made this point before and it gets ignored a lot. For all the talk of spending and who had a better initial foundation, Pep could have spent a lot less end as still been comfortably winning the league. As you say, the likes of Bernardo, Danilo and mendy have played a small part thus far and I don't think you can point to these three being difference makers between United and City, and have been signed to take them even further beyond in depth and competing in Europe.

Essentially, that leaves us with a couple of key additions (as is the case with us) but more internal improvement than we and Jose have done. It's in then cohesiveness and understanding between players. The consistency of applying the same patters and general tactics. It's individuals improving two fold across the board. That's where I see the big difference. That's where Pep hasn't outperformed Jose and I feel the latter needs to improve.