Mourinho or Pogba?

If it was an either/or situation, who would you rather United keep?


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VP89

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So, you don't care about what Pogba did while he played for other clubs but you care about Mourinho's record with other clubs?
Of course I care about Pogbas form with other clubs.

I don't care about national squads though. If we go by World Cup form let's buy Mina right now.
 

bdspeedy

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Both are mostly about their own agenda. I don't think either cares for the current United team or it's fans. I chose Mou because I think he at least seems to respect the history of the team but I can't imagine either will be here past next year if they stay or survive that long.
 

VP89

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Sorry I'm not with you tbh. You original statement is that Pogba needs to feel affiliated to the cause to perform. But so does any player, right? Obviously if someone doesn't feel as involved in their job or in the case or whatever then they're not going to perform to their best ability, that's true for all facets of like.

I'm not really sure where hard work on the pitch (and ignoring technical ability?) comes into that, especially when numerous players you've mentioned there (Sanchez, Ibra) have a history of not giving their all and throwing strops when they haven't felt fully affiliated or didn't get along with their manager.
I'm saying Pogba struggles to show an affinity to his club and give 100% consistently on the pitch whereas my named examples do give it their all.

Sanchez threw strops but he was always getting in and about and giving 100% every time he played for Arsenal even towards the end. Remember some AFTV people saying he might as well go because they get where he was coming from, being the only one trying to win games.
 

RedorDead21

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All you're proving is that some players like him and some potentially don't. Well, no shit. I'm not getting into some sort of naming war with you on this, we all know Mourinho's history with plenty of player's he's fallen out with.

Every manager has had players they don't get along with and vice versa. These are still humans at the end of the day. People don't always get along, personalities clash. if people at my workplace doubted my attitude and commitment purely because me and my boss didn't get along I'd be pretty damn offended.
If you not getting on with your manager at work caused you to only give 50% one week......and then 100%...and back to 50% and back up to 100% people would think your performance fluctuations are not caused by your manager.........even if you don't get on!

He can't even consistently play poorly if his poor performances are down to Jose!
 

elmo

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How exactly was giving in to players what messed the club up? The last time I checked that was down to Moyes being horrible, then Vangle coming in and being just a bit better. At what point have we given in to players and when has it been to the detriment of the club?

Like I said in a previous post regarding Busby, Sir Alex earned the right to be untouchable at the club. If it came down to him or a player, then rightly so everyone would side with Fergie. Mourinho has not earned that right in any way or form, and I do not believe a manager should be untouchable by default. There is much to be said that Mourinho’s management is not getting the best out of a lot of our players, it’s not as easy as just saying Pogba needs to man up.
They kept Rooney for far too long and allowed the older players to have too much say in club matters that every damn decision made by the manager was scrutinised by the media and players. The manager job is tough enough that having the players second guessing your every decision just makes it worse.

You realise the players that are supposedly on bad terms with Jose all have been questioned over their dedication to their game? Sure, fault Jose though. How can he expect players to give 100% to their job. Players need to be pampered and having them play well once in a well is good as long as they're happy, that's all that supposedly matters anyway.
 

SteveJ

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Mourinho is actually the 4th greatest thing (manager) to happen to United. I checked. Considering trophy quality and numbers, he is 4th.

Shocking!!!!

I'm not sure what to think.
We've only had about 5½ managers though, chief.
 

Member 5225

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Pogba needs to man the feck up and stop expecting to be pampered. He's one of the highest paid in our squad but he's not playing like it and wants out when Jose calls him out on it. Giving in to players was what fecked this club up the moment Sir Alex retired, continuing it isn't the answer.

Swop Sir Alex for Jose in this scenario and everybody would be supporting Sir Alex and shitting on Pogba instead.
This!!!
 

Massive Spanner

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If you not getting on with your manager at work caused you to only give 50% one week......and then 100%...and back to 50% and back up to 100% people would think your performance fluctuations are not caused by your manager.........even if you don't get on!

He can't even consistently play poorly if his poor performances are down to Jose!
I guess that's where we differ because I don't think it's a case where he "gave more" in some matches, I just think he's still a bit inconsistent and naive and as such his performances can vary wildly, like you'd expect from 24 year old midfielder.

People are getting excited by his performances for France because he showed a consistency and maturity we haven't seen from him here before. it's a shame other posters are instead using such a positive thing as a reason to beat him with a stick instead.
 

Chesterlestreet

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If you think Pogba is the sort of player who will elevate any team, regardless of circumstances, you're...naive. *

If you think he'll emerge - once José is gone - as our captain, a Robbo/Keano hybrid with some Scholesy thrown in...you're drunk. Or you're better off getting drunk. If you're old enough.

* You're actually an idiot, because the evidence is right there in front of you that he clearly isn't.
 

VP89

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I guess that's where we differ because I don't think it's a case where he "gave more" in some matches, I just think he's still a bit inconsistent and naive and as such his performances can vary wildly, like you'd expect from 24 year old midfielder.

People are getting excited by his performances for France because he showed a consistency and maturity we haven't seen from him here before. it's a shame other posters are instead using such a positive thing as a reason to beat him with a stick instead.
I wouldn't expect wildly inconsistent performances from a 24 year old "world class talent".

I also don't regard world Cup as showing consistency because its a few weeks long (he was bog standard in group stages FWIW). He showed great form for the last few games, which he's done before for us. Sandwiched between average ones of course.
 

Massive Spanner

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I'm saying Pogba struggles to show an affinity to his club and give 100% consistently on the pitch whereas my named examples do give it their all.

Sanchez threw strops but he was always getting in and about and giving 100% every time he played for Arsenal even towards the end. Remember some AFTV people saying he might as well go because they get where he was coming from, being the only one trying to win games.
I don't agree with the first part and I think there's no point continuing this further. Ultimately we don't know with Pogba because we have no insight on any of this beyond what we hear from the press. It's possible he does have attitude issues like you say, but I like to believe that he doesn't and that if we do hold on to him (which I think we will) then we'll see a genuinely great midfielder over the next few seasons.
 

GBBQ

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is there a neither option? Mourinho's whining is getting increasingly harder to defend (and i have been pretty much pro-Mourinho up to this point) and as for Pogba, United have shown a lot of faith in bringing him back so he should just get on with his game instead of complaining to the media via Raiola.
 

VP89

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I don't agree with the first part and I think there's no point continuing this further. Ultimately we don't know with Pogba because we have no insight on any of this beyond what we hear from the press. It's possible he does have attitude issues like you say, but I like to believe that he doesn't and that if we do hold on to him (which I think we will) then we'll see a genuinely great midfielder over the next few seasons.
Fair enough. We can both agree to hope for the last bit at least.
 

Massive Spanner

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I wouldn't expect wildly inconsistent performances from a 24 year old "world class talent".

I also don't regard world Cup as showing consistency because its a few weeks long (he was bog standard in group stages FWIW). He showed great form for the last few games, which he's done before for us. Sandwiched between average ones of course.
Why not?

How old were the likes of Xavi, Modric, Pirlo before people were discussing them among the best midfielders in the world? We hadn't even signed Michael Carrick yet, our best midfielder of the last decade, when he was 24.

It's a well known fact that midfielders are among the last to realize their full potential due to the discipline and maturity it requires to play there. There are only a handful of examples out there of top, top midfielders who were already brilliant aged 24.

EDIT: To clarify, I'm not saying Pogba will become anywhere as good as those three, just using them as examples
 

Cloud7

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They kept Rooney for far too long and allowed the older players to have too much say in club matters that every damn decision made by the manager was scrutinised by the media and players. The manager job is tough enough that having the players second guessing your every decision just makes it worse.

You realise the players that are supposedly on bad terms with Jose all have been questioned over their dedication to their game? Sure, fault Jose though. How can he expect players to give 100% to their job. Players need to be pampered and having them play well once in a well is good as long as they're happy, that's all that supposedly matters anyway.
Keeping Rooney was solely on Moyes head. SAF cleared the way for Rooney to be tossed out, and instead Moyes gave him a 5 year contract. Then came Vangle who seemed to love Rooney just as much. As for the older players questioning decisions, again I presume you’re talking about with Moyes? Players like Rio, Vidic etc who were serial winners and had achieved everything in the game were not misplaced to question certain decisions by Moyes. Again he was a disastrous appointment, and had he been left alone, there’s no doubt we would be much worse now. We can debate until the end of the year about Mourinho, but I fail to see how you can act like we’ve become some kind of lions den for managers. We made two poor managerial appointments, that’s not on the players.
 

RedorDead21

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I guess that's where we differ because I don't think it's a case where he "gave more" in some matches, I just think he's still a bit inconsistent and naive and as such his performances can vary wildly, like you'd expect from 24 year old midfielder.

People are getting excited by his performances for France because he showed a consistency and maturity we haven't seen from him here before. it's a shame other posters are instead using such a positive thing as a reason to beat him with a stick instead.
You are joking? In the Sevilla second leg second half thats Pogba giving his level? If that is indeed remotely true his level is not even PL quality. he kicked a ball out of play from 8 yards with no players with 10 yards! He was abysmal. I've seen at least 10 games last season pass him completely by. Again solely because he wasn't giving anything near his best....because if he was.....the type of players in the PL bottom 6....wouldn't be able to pass him by for 90 mins...but thats what happened. You'd defend him until the next manager had similar issues.....
 

Massive Spanner

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You are joking? In the Sevilla second leg second half thats Pogba giving his level? If that is indeed remotely true his level is not even PL quality. he kicked a ball out of play from 8 yards with no players with 10 yards! He was abysmal. I've seen at least 10 games pass him completely by. Again solely because he wasn't giving his anything near his best....because if he was.....the type of players in the PL bottom 6....wouldn't be able to pass him by for 90 mins...but thats what happened. You'd defend him until the next manager had similar issues.....
He was awful, it was one game, big deal. I don't see people questioning the rest of our team's attitudes despite them all also being fecking useless in both legs vs. Sevilla.
 

ash_86

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With or without Mourinho do you see Pogba staying at this club till end of his contract? I certainly don't see it happening. Neither option needs to be added to the poll to give it a unbiased view.
 

Florida Man

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I prefer Pogba but he's not the final solution. When he's on form, he can execute his tasks well and has a good eye for bombing it down the field to a teammate, especially on the far right. He can handle himself well in tight and crowded spaces and has no qualms contributing to the attack. We'll just need to find a good method of rotation so he's not too gassed by the end of the season. I also don't appreciate how the media portrays his relationship with Mourinho as some sort of war. I'm certain that behind the scenes, they are allies.
 

RedorDead21

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Why not?

How old were the likes of Xavi, Modric, Pirlo before people were discussing them among the best midfielders in the world? We hadn't even signed Michael Carrick yet, our best midfielder of the last decade, when he was 24.

It's a well known fact that midfielders are among the last to realize their full potential due to the discipline and maturity it requires to play there. There are only a handful of examples out there of top, top midfielders who were already brilliant aged 24.

EDIT: To clarify, I'm not saying Pogba will become anywhere as good as those three, just using them as examples
So until that point Jose should accept his a squad player......and not push him
He was awful, it was one game, big deal. I don't see people questioning the rest of our team's attitudes despite them all also being fecking useless in both legs vs. Sevilla.
One game he didnt start either leg? Because his form in that period was exactly the same as in that game...hence he was rightly on the bench!!
 

elmo

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Keeping Rooney was solely on Moyes head. SAF cleared the way for Rooney to be tossed out, and instead Moyes gave him a 5 year contract. Then came Vangle who seemed to love Rooney just as much. As for the older players questioning decisions, again I presume you’re talking about with Moyes? Players like Rio, Vidic etc who were serial winners and had achieved everything in the game were not misplaced to question certain decisions by Moyes. Again he was a disastrous appointment, and had he been left alone, there’s no doubt we would be much worse now. We can debate until the end of the year about Mourinho, but I fail to see how you can act like we’ve become some kind of lions den for managers. We made two poor managerial appointments, that’s not on the players.
Moyes was doomed to fail because the players doubted him from the very moment he was signed.

And our players are a bunch of spoilt brats ever since Sir Alex left, only Jose started out in clearing all the deadwood when Moyes and Van Gaal should have done it from the start. There's a reason why the team has been underperforming for years and it ain't just on the manager. The players deserve more flack than they're getting from the media and fans for it.
 

Bruno Marques

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I would like just to add something, just a small example that can mean anything or nothing. Have anyone seen the Deschamps talk after the France - Australia game?

Did you saw who was the player responding to the manager with excuses like " we didnt know what to do"
 

Massive Spanner

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So until that point Jose should accept his a squad player......and not push him!
He should nurture and improve him and show patience like a manager should with any talented player.

One game he didnt start either leg? Because his form in that period was exactly the same as in that game...hence he was rightly on the bench!!
.. do you have a point or .. ?
 

Nuts

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Moyes was doomed to fail because the players doubted him from the very moment he was signed.

And our players are a bunch of spoilt brats ever since Sir Alex left, only Jose started out in clearing all the deadwood when Moyes and Van Gaal should have done it from the start. There's a reason why the team has been underperforming for years and it ain't just on the manager. The players deserve more flack than they're getting from the media and fans for it.
If our board appointed someone who led, inspired, motivated and had a vision for the team that lifted and engaged our players, they’d respect him soon enough.

I don’t blame them, as since SAF they’ve had Moyes, LVG and Mourinho. Meanwhile, their rivals at other clubs are playing attacking football under inspiring coaches like Klopp and Guardiola.

The responsibility for this has to come down to the board, who’ve not got the succession to Ferguson right.

As for the OP, one is a midfielder with his best years ahead of him, the other is a manager who historically does well in the second of a three year reign. For me it’s a no brainier - Pogba, as Mourinho’s reign will naturally end well before Pogba even peaks.
 

Revaulx

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If we trawl back into the clubs history and went back to the 70's and asked "Busby or Best - who goes?" what would be the response back then versus today I wonder?
Busby had officially gone by the 70s, other than a brief caretaker role.

The circumstances were quite different. Busby had won us loads, including the European Cup. By the time this question would have been asked, Best was completely unreliable. The general consensus among both fans and (as it later transpired) players was that Busby was far too soft on him. Pogba occasionally displays unwarranted arrogance and petulance, but he's never been unprofessional or disrespectful. Though you could argue that his agent has!
 

VP89

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Why not?

How old were the likes of Xavi, Modric, Pirlo before people were discussing them among the best midfielders in the world? We hadn't even signed Michael Carrick yet, our best midfielder of the last decade, when he was 24.

It's a well known fact that midfielders are among the last to realize their full potential due to the discipline and maturity it requires to play there. There are only a handful of examples out there of top, top midfielders who were already brilliant aged 24.

EDIT: To clarify, I'm not saying Pogba will become anywhere as good as those three, just using them as examples
Firstly Pogba is a completely different mould of a midfielder to who you've named. But to entertain it:

Modric was 24 in 2010, 2 seasons before he went to Real Madrid. He was well established with Spurs and attracting a lot of interest from top clubs and far more consistent to what Pogba has shown for us in England so far.

Pirlo at 24 (2003) just came off the back of leading the entire league in 4 categories: successful balls, successful passes, passes played and most passes per game. He was widely regarded as one of the best midfielders in the world and firmly Ancelottis pet favourite. He also registered 9 goals from a deep lying playmaker position (career best, not bad for a guy playing so deep).

Xavi was 24 in 2004/2005 season where he was named vice captain and played a pivotal role in helping Barcelona win La Liga and the Supercup before being named the leagues player of the season the following year.

So yeah, all of your examples were pretty phenomenal by 24, let alone have buffers for wildly inconsistent performances. Pogba is a long way off that.

Infact from a consistency angle and comparing to present day players who aren't even legends, he's not as good as Thiago when he was 24, or Vidal when he was 24, or Kevin De Bruyne and so on and so on.
 

Murray3007

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quite happily see them both go, Jose was never the right man for the job, and pogba well was never going to be here long term with his current agent and has had a spell of about 2 months that he was actually any good.
 

elmo

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If our board appointed someone who led, inspired, motivated and had a vision for the team that lifted and engaged our players, they’d respect him soon enough.

I don’t blame them, as since SAF they’ve had Moyes, LVG and Mourinho. Meanwhile, their rivals at other clubs are playing attacking football under inspiring coaches like Klopp and Guardiola.

The responsibility for this has to come down to the board, who’ve not got the succession to Ferguson right.

As for the OP, one is a midfielder with his best years ahead of him, the other is a manager who historically does well in the second of a three year reign. For me it’s a no brainier - Pogba, as Mourinho’s reign will naturally end well before Pogba even peaks.
He's also a moaner who wants to leave the moment he doesn't have his way and his agent is the most infamous for pushing his players out for a big move. But yeah, stick with Pogba instead of one of the best manager in the world.

If you're so insistent on using history, how about the fact that Riaolo's players always makes multiple transfers in their career and Pogba's history of wanting out of clubs to get whatever he wants.
 

Massive Spanner

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Firstly Pogba is a completely different mould of a midfielder to who you've named. But to entertain it:

Modric was 24 in 2010, 2 seasons before he went to Real Madrid. He was well established with Spurs and attracting a lot of interest from top clubs and far more consistent to what Pogba has shown for us in England so far.

Pirlo at 24 (2003) just came off the back of leading the entire league in 4 categories: successful balls, successful passes, passes played and most passes per game. He was widely regarded as one of the best midfielders in the world and firmly Ancelottis pet favourite. He also registered 9 goals from a deep lying playmaker position (career best, not bad for a guy playing so deep).

Xavi was 24 in 2004/2005 season where he was named vice captain and played a pivotal role in helping Barcelona win La Liga and the Supercup before being named the leagues player of the season the following year.

So yeah, all of your examples were pretty phenomenal by 24, let alone have buffers for wildly inconsistent performances. Pogba is a long way off that.

Infact from a consistency angle and comparing to present day players who aren't even legends, he's not as good as Thiago when he was 24, or Vidal when he was 24, or Kevin De Bruyne and so on and so on.
Fair on Pirlo and Xavi, I do recall a lot of Barca and Spain fans at the time being quite frustrated with him though and he did only really peak at 27/28 under Pep, but you are right that both were streets ahead of Pogba at the same age.

Modric though? Come on, he was hardly rated as being top class at all, he was considered all potential and a lot of people weren't even sure if he had that much potential iirc. I remember plenty of Utd fans were totally against us signing. He was also voted the worst La Liga signing of the season in his first season at Real! He really only developed into a great player at 28/29.
 

Massive Spanner

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He's also a moaner who wants to leave the moment he doesn't have his way and his agent is the most infamous for pushing his players out for a big move. But yeah, stick with Pogba instead of one of the best manager in the world.

If you're so insistent on using history, how about the fact that Riaolo's players always makes multiple transfers in their career and Pogba's history of wanting out of clubs to get whatever he wants.
He may be one of the best manager's in the world (or may no longer be, he hasn't done much in the last few years after all) but what he also is is a manager who has NEVER stayed at a club for longer than three years, either through moving on himself or being sacked.

And... what season number is this he's in now?
 

FlawlessThaw

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I'm not Pogba's biggest fan but if I had to back money on who will most likely be with us next season it would probably be him over Mourinho.
 

VP89

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Fair on Pirlo and Xavi, I do recall a lot of Barca and Spain fans at the time being quite frustrated with him though and he did only really peak at 27/28 under Pep, but you are right that both were streets ahead of Pogba at the same age.

Modric though? Come on, he was hardly rated as being top class at all, he was considered all potential and a lot of people weren't even sure if he had that much potential iirc. I remember plenty of Utd fans were totally against us signing. He was also voted the worst La Liga signing of the season in his first season at Real! He really only developed into a great player at 28/29.
Yeah he had a tough year at Real. Immediately bounced back and was phenomenal the next season though.

I remember modric being massively rated in the Premier league for a couple of seasons before he went to Real. Would refresh the caf as a stalker to see if it was us or Chelsea who had higher chances of nabbing him. What a pipe dream :(.

Anyway my point is just that Pogba doesn't have the time anymore to allow for large buffers for inconsistency. 24 ain't young enough for that sadly.