Jose Mourinho | 2017/18 Assessments | Poll Added

[Andersons Dietician]

Nope, I call it as I see it. When you repeat lines from general consensus without any basis, then that's what I called a sheep.

Fact is Mourinho playstyle was not the same in last 5 matches. Saying he went defensive is just being lazy.

Jose playstyle for 90% is the same in every game. There might be tweaks but the principle is the same. Be safe, don’t over commit, hold position, basically protect and defend. He might throw something in like by pass midfield and lump it to Fellaini, Zlatan, Lukaku which by the way was a key tactic against Liverpool.

I think some people just don’t understand tactics at a deeper level therefore they make claims like yours. There is so much wrong with the way he sets up our team and the basic fundamentals he has them perform. I really don’t see how he turns it around. More so than just his football being awful, it’s hurting himself all because of the chip on his shoulder over Barca not giving him the job, and now he’s become the ultimate Hipster and is rebelling against everything positive about football. Points aside his team is fecking awful.

 

[Nikelesh Reddy]

Only one I would have is Allegri. The rest are not yet (or not, period) good enough for United.

Read on Twitter that we are averaging 2.17 points in the league, which puts us on course for 83-84 points, which in turn would be enough for the title in most seasons. The Sevilla game is a major black mark, but it is not the only thing that should be used to define the season.

Allegri is an under-rated manager,I think that he's hardly been given the credit that he deserves for what he's done/doing at Juve,but I would probably put Pochettino ahead of him in the pecking order.Allegris never managed outside Italy,so he would have to adapt to English football,whereas Pochettino is tried and tested in the premier league...

But anyways,Jose will hopefully lead us for the foreseeable future.We have definitely made tangible progress this season and as long as we keep progressing season after season,we should definitely stick to Jose....

 

[Classnordic]

Tbh. I've felt this team need to suffer alot before they can come together and start playing as a team, but i dont think this is suffering enough sadly.

 

[Infra-red]

The most worrying part is also that the second season almost always has been his best.

That being said I feel a second place in the league with the way City are playing isn't the worst, it's just annoying that our football sucks so much at times.

Yes that is the worry - that this season may well be as good as it gets during his tenure. He will get a third season, regardless, because top 4 (and certainly 2nd, if it happens) is a big improvement on where we've been these last few years.

Tuesday did feel like a kind of watershed, though, vaugely reminiscent of the Moyes '81 crosses' game vs Fulham, a match in which the manager's strategy and methodology is revealed as being so woefully and pathetically inadequate as to make it difficult to ever really take him seriously again.

 

[Adisa]

Tbh. I've felt this team need to suffer alot before they can come together and start playing as a team, but i dont think this is suffering enough sadly.

Lol, this is football.
Teams don't need to suffer before they start playing good football.
They just need a coach that emphasizes on the qualities that make football enjoyable.

 

[Z1L3]

Everybody keeps saying that Mourihno wants to leave after a few years. I actually believe that he would like to stay at United long term.

I think that he is a largely misunderstood person. When you look at the bond that he had with Chelsea and Inter players and fans, I get the feeling that he very much wants to be embraced and accepted. If you look at his career trajectory, he achieved his biggest successes at smaller clubs, or clubs that hadn't had success for long spells before he got there, which is why it was easier to get everyone on his side and buy into his "sacrifice for the common cause" philosophy. The issues and the bad rap that he got started when he was given the chance to manage big clubs, with big egos in the dressing room and in the board room, not to mention spoiled fans. In other words, because of his success he got the opportunity to manage clubs that don't suit his style.

I'm not saying he is faultless or that some of the criticism is not deserved. But this idea that he wants to leave will turn into a self-fulfilled prophecy. I have no doubt that given time he can win everything at United, but I get the feeling there is not enough patience and too much negativity to allow him enough time.

 

[Adebesi]

Tbh. I've felt this team need to suffer alot before they can come together and start playing as a team, but i dont think this is suffering enough sadly.

You would make a good catholic priest.

 

[Cloud7]

Mourinho must be delighted that there are so many fans who are willing to continually shift the goalposts for him.

He himself talked about challenging for the title in his first season. That went tits up, we crashed to our worst league finish since Moyes, and he barely rescued CL qualification with a scrappy EL win against cannon-fodder, which was then promptly talked up as a big achievement by the same manager and fans who have ridiculed the competition in the past. Then we were told that he needed the first season for the rebuild, and that expectations should be much higher in his second season because that’s always when his teams truly come together. Well, again we haven’t been close to challenging for the league title, have crashed out of CL with a whimper against a second-rate team, and haven’t remotely looked like a team with the mentality and quality to be able to challenge for major honours or compete with the very biggest clubs. More often than not we look completely and utterly clueless, incapable of keeping the ball for any sustained period of time, and so sloppy and lethargic that you begin to question whether the players and the manager really give a shit. We’ve become a laughing stock around Europe for the quality of our football after all that money spent.

Now we’re being told that next season is when we should be expecting to see Mourinho’s vision (whatever that might be, it’s still not clear) somehow magically come to fruition. Somehow I find myself doubting that.

Round of applause

 

[Bwuk]

We’ve improved there’s no question about that.

Do I think Jose can take us any further? I’m not sure.

 

[Adisa]

We’ve improved there’s no question about that.

Do I think Jose can take us any further? I’m not sure.

I think this is where the argument lies.
Every man and his dog will tell you we have improved.
Is that enough to stave criticism from the manager? I don't think it should.
We finished 6th last year despite spending £150m. We've spent another £150. I think it would have been a travesty if we were not any better.
Has he done poorly enough to get the sack?
No...not even close.
He won't be sacked nor should he be.
However, I ask myself, is he getting the most from these players? My answer is no.
I'm not one to overhype our squad but I'm not having the argument that our players aren't better than what they're showing, especially our attacking players. Some would have us believe Mourinho is working with complete duds.
I think this team has the potential to play far better football than it does most of the time.
The next question I ask myself is, do I trust him to ultimately get the best out of these attackers.
My feeling is no. Watching how we play most of the time and how far we usually are from the opposition goal, I think our attack will always struggle to look dangerous.
I maybe wrong and even hope I'm wrong but it's just the way I feel.
He will be given next season, let's see how things are and if we are challenging the top clubs.

 

[GifLord]

 

[Ban]

I find it funny when @L1nk says there's a Mourinho **** here. If anything there has been an anti Mourinho **** here from day one. And @Borden says Mourinho must be happy there has been so much shifting of the goalposts. God forbid some people don't see everything like you or are trying to see some middle ground, not being overly pessimistic or too optimistic.
All that talk about famous 2ND season is crap too. Who's to say we won't have a great 3rd season without meltdowns which are so expected.
I for one am not sure but I sure as hell won't portray last and this season black like some. That is moving the goalposts just to diss Mourinho.

 

[PepG]

Life is a b...., isn't it, Jose?!

 

[Ban]

Yeah I bet all people are saying the same things in 2018 as in 2003.

 

[Adebesi]

Life is a b...., isn't it, Jose?!

That's the thing about being as mouthy as Mourinho is, youre going to find your comments come back and bite you on the arse.

 

[Andersons Dietician]

I find it funny when @L1nk says there's a Mourinho **** here. If anything there has been an anti Mourinho **** here from day one. And @Borden says Mourinho must be happy there has been so much shifting of the goalposts. God forbid some people don't see everything like you or are trying to see some middle ground, not being overly pessimistic or too optimistic.
All that talk about famous 2ND season is crap too. Who's to say we won't have a great 3rd season without meltdowns which are so expected.
I for one am not sure but I sure as hell won't portray last and this season black like some. That is moving the goalposts just to diss Mourinho.

Truth be told both were here long before he even joined. There are defiantly two sects, probably more pro Jose cultists going by the what has been going on in the threads for months now.
What matters is what is best for United. Some think that is without Jose some think it’s with him. So far he hasn’t shown me anything to think he is the man for the job going forward. He’ll get next season, unless he somehow drops out of top 4. But next year he has to be closer to City and have the team just play better.

 

[kouroux]

The season is on its final straight line and we still don't know what our first 11 is. Astonishing really

 

[sunama]

We've reached the quarter finals once in 7 years (I think) under Moyes – hilariously – and have a Europa League title to our name in that time. I don't want to belittle the Europa League victory too much, but even if we place a lot of stock in it it still means that our recent (and I use 'recent' to mean nearly a decade here) European performances are outshone by Sevilla.

We simply do not have a culture of European success to draw from and for almost all of our players their Champion's League experience either comes from playing at other clubs or is virtually non-existent. There's very little experience and know how when it comes to winning Champions League knockout matches at United in that side. Of the team that lost to Sevilla, only Valencia and Young have enjoyed any sort of success in CL football here and only Pogba, Sanchez and Mata have had experiences of going deep in the tournament. For huge portions of that team, including the entire spine of it, it's almost completely non-existent.

2, very good points, which I failed to consider.
And it really does highlight (as I stated in my earlier post) that the progress is going to be gradual and consistent for us to be a force in Europe.
We are basically starting out as a team which has a big fan base, with a great past, but not a great "current". This means that the team (and mentality) have to be built and I think it is unreasonable to expect us to beat teams, which we would've beaten in our heyday.
While I don't expect it take 7 years before we win (or make a CL final), I do expect it take another 2-3 years before we are a force in Europe, again. And this is IF Jose stays for the long haul.
If another manager comes in and we hit the reset button, then it could be an additional 2-3 years on top of that (i.e 4-6 years from now) and that is one of the main reasons I want Jose to stay and improve himself and the team. I want to see him fight for this one and really show us what he has deep down in his locker.

 

[sunama]

But next year he has to be closer to City and have the team just play better.

I'm a big fan of Jose and MUFC in general.
But he does have to be closer to City and improve us in most aspects. This goes without saying.
I actually expect him to run City close, for the title win, or win it.

What I am against is the, "Jose out" and "Player X needs to be sold". Our squad is decent and will be improved further in the Summer.
The team won't improve if we keep replacing staff (managers and players). We need some consistency.

 

[fellaini's barber]

So Rojo, just extended his contract till 2021, a player I feel we should be getting rid of. This is what I try to tell people who spout that 'Pep inherited a better squad,Jose would have been ahead with City's squad' nonesense excuse. Pep is getting rid of players Kolarov,Clichy, Zabaleta and upgrading on them, while our manager is struggling to hold onto players like Fellaini and Rojo, well that's why Pep is doing well and we're so average, the type of players both managers want are very different

 

[Andersons Dietician]

I'm a big fan of Jose and MUFC in general.
But he does have to be closer to City and improve us in most aspects. This goes without saying.
I actually expect him to run City close, for the title win, or win it.

What I am against is the, "Jose out" and "Player X needs to be sold". Our squad is decent and will be improved further in the Summer.
The team won't improve if we keep replacing staff (managers and players). We need some consistency.

People are allowed to express they want him gone. Especially if they don’t feel he is the right fit. I have next to no faith in his ability to get us to where we want and should be. Maybe some people are fine with what he produces and can live with that, that’s fine. If he was to leave in the summer, personally i’d be a lot happier.

As for just replacing willy, nilly I fully agree but on occasion if it’s clearly not the right fit then you have to move on. One of the problems is the lack of thought going on at the top of United. Surely if you hire LVG, your next appointment is someone who can improve on what he was trying to build. Not rip it up and go for the short term Jose who plays completely differently from about 80% of the managers in world football.

 

[Swift Football]

The last paragraph is cringe. Your highlight of the season is the defeat against Sevilla. The fact is that we didn't even play defensive against Sevilla. We were just poor throughout. And Jose had his tactics wrong. If we had played defensive we wouldn't have lost the game.

And I'm sorry to have to break this to you, Jose's team, and indeed every team ever in history, will sooner or later bound to have a match like Sevilla.

Please read the post before commenting. When did I say we played defensive ? This is nothing to do with attacking/defensive approach but the tactics that was wrong on so many levels, the fact that we did not show any motivation, and the fact that our manager was content with our approach till 60' mark and did not try to change anything.

And yes, for me, this Sevilla game is the highlight of this season, and this defeat has overshadowed all the good works we have dont so far this season. Maybe you dont feel that way, but I do. Maybe you dint realize year by year, our pedigree in europe is waning , and performances/result like these does not help.

When you said - every team is bound to have a defeat like this, I feel you are undermining the importance of this match or you just dont understand what does it mean to play quarters in the CL. Jose himself told only when you are into top 8, you are counted as europe's top club and we denied ourselves that opportunity. No club is going to have unbeaten season, for sure, but that does not mean, they lose their important matches, especially when it is 2 legged tie. For e.g., when do Bayern last lose a match like this in CL?

 

[SirAF]

Not sure why it's relevant to dig up a 14 year old quote.

 

[Swift Football]

I'm not looking for excuses for Jose. For your first question, I can't really answer it. There are plethora of reasons why we did that and no one know for sure except a close inner circle. Mind you, Evra and Vidic struggled earlier on and i know SAF chose to benched them. However, Jose is different. There's an article lying around here that talks about Mourinho being an unconventional coach. I suggest you read that up. It will answer your questions/remarks.

I'm not defending the performance against Sevilla. It was horrible and everyone is at fault. However, going forward, I feel that Jose is the right man for us. I just don't agree with the amount of flak he is receiving now.

Showing sign of weakness to the media is a big no for me. We never know what was said behind closed doors. Earlier on, people were complaining Jose was throwing the players under the bus, now people are complaining he is shielding them?

You are not defending the performance against Sevilla because you cannot, nobody can. It is more than justifiable that he is scrutinized for this, since this match epitomises many of our weaknesses and especially Jose's. Again, this was our most important match so far, and our team and manager managed to screw that in both legs.

Jose deserves the flak he is receiving from media and fans, and probably deserve to get more. Do not forget many clubs would have instantly sack their manager for result like this. If this was Real/Chelsea/PSG, I think he was as good as gone. Many might not agree ( and they can call me pessimist) but I feel this might be the beginning of downward spiral for Jose, i dont think he will be sacked this season, but there is a good chance of that in next season. Games like these stay in people's psyche and whenever things look a bit bad, people and media will draw parallel with this match, unjustifiably so, but it is what it is.

So, it was okay to throw the players under the bus earlier, but it is not okay now? What has changed? Or is it that he cannot throw half of the team under the bus? Personally, I have never complained Jose throwing a player under the bus. And why do you think Jose dint say something like " I take the blame for this match". Was it that difficult to say?

 

[BigCaine]

Imagine if his teams were as aggressive and attacking as his press conferences are.

 

[dove]

So Rojo, just extended his contract till 2021, a player I feel we should be getting rid of. This is what I try to tell people who spout that 'Pep inherited a better squad,Jose would have been ahead with City's squad' nonesense excuse. Pep is getting rid of players Kolarov,Clichy, Zabaleta and upgrading on them, while our manager is struggling to hold onto players like Fellaini and Rojo, well that's why Pep is doing well and we're so average, the type of players both managers want are very different

We can't spend £200 million on defence in 1 transfer window so we can't just sell everyone.

 

[Bastian]

You are not defending the performance against Sevilla because you cannot, nobody can. It is more than justifiable that he is scrutinized for this, since this match epitomises many of our weaknesses and especially Jose's. Again, this was our most important match so far, and our team and manager managed to screw that in both legs.

Jose deserves the flak he is receiving from media and fans, and probably deserve to get more. Do not forget many clubs would have instantly sack their manager for result like this. If this was Real/Chelsea/PSG, I think he was as good as gone. Many might not agree ( and they can call me pessimist) but I feel this might be the beginning of downward spiral for Jose, i dont think he will be sacked this season, but there is a good chance of that in next season. Games like these stay in people's psyche and whenever things look a bit bad, people and media will draw parallel with this match, unjustifiably so, but it is what it is.

So, it was okay to throw the players under the bus earlier, but it is not okay now? What has changed? Or is it that he cannot throw half of the team under the bus? Personally, I have never complained Jose throwing a player under the bus. And why do you think Jose dint say something like " I take the blame for this match". Was it that difficult to say?

Would you agree with that kind of high level decision-making?

 

[Swift Football]

That is tom clare' page, probably as much informed about the club than anyone outside can be. He does not do bullshit, was right about mkhi, jones etc. I know you have anger at united going out but that does not make one of the oldest fans a bullshitter.

• Rest of your post is justfied by anger, this is plain stupid. Your confidence in manager is waning ok, but you are not the fans or the players, Not woodward nor glazers and definitely not me.
• Every back pass should be booed or when they pass amongst each other be booed? What are you crazy? Its stupid to even think this, LVG must have killed you with number of passes among themselves, Guardiola's players, spain's team all do it ALOT.
• Jose is always briefed by woodward and jose would have told woodward why he said what he said. BTW Woodward said, liverpool sell lot of shirts even when not in top 4, so business is sustainable. Now who will you blame?
• I guess after jose has done for them, players would be right behind him. He took the criticism despite improving the players and being let down by them.

Simple thing is my friend, dont believe everything you read. No journo knows what happens in the boardroom. They print things and Manutd in crisis always sells more than manutd improved from last season. They expect fans to fall for it, knowing negativity spreads like wildfire. That happens. I hope people could have brains.

Youngest or oldest fan, the column there 'Our View' mentions this is not Jose team because half of the players are not signed by Jose? That to me is bulls**t. Jose has spend enough time and money to safely say this is his team from every angle possible. So, when we won EL last season, I did not hear from anybody including Jose's camp saying this is not Jose's team that won the EL but SAF's/LVG's. Again, if he dint trust a particular player/starting position, he has ample chances to change that, but he chose not to. Another thing the article mentions is "Quite a few of the players that were considered suitable were shown up again for not being good enough" - Really? Do you think CL round of 16 tie is the match to show up some of our players are not good enough? This is the tie where we should have plans to hide our weaknesses, have a plan in place to tackle our problems, but we showed none.

I feel the article just try to hide what Jose meant by those mean words at the post match conference. He might be the oldest fan, but like you and me, he can only speculate what was Jose's intentions behind those words? To me, it looked like he is trying to protect himself, if it appears to be something like he meant United will bounce back to you or the author, it might be, but i just dont know for sure.

When I said fans' and players' confidence has waned, maybe i should have said only the fans' confidence. BUt this has, for sure, has given reason for players to doubt him. You can see the fan's reaction after the game, or the fans' comments in social media, this forum, anywhere and you can safely say this is not just one of those reactions after a defeat like Newcastle, this is bigger.

Of course, every team do back pass, but for us , it has reached a point where our inability to build from the back is ignored from a long time. Maybe if fans boo them, they will open their eyes and realize the obvious.

I do not understand your point who will I blame for what? Woodward said Liverpool sell many shirts to make a point that United is so huge, and has huge fan following, even if we hit some roadblocks, it wont change. Woodward said that to give confidence to our investors and sponsors. If you mean Woodward do not care about sevilla defeat and hence wont question Jose, I think you are wrong. Woodward knows the importance of CL, and what we lose by getting knocked out in early stages.

Lastly, do not underestimate the power of Journo. Even if they write wrong things, they still have a huge influence. Thats why I said, this could be downward spiral for Jose, for right or wrong reasons.

 

[Swift Football]

Would you agree with that kind of high level decision-making?

No, I do not. However, I do not believe in giving free pass either. There should be a clear message from the senior level to the manager that this kind of result is quite concerning, this particular defeat has done a lot of damage, and there simply is no more margin for error.

I just do not like the idea that a manager/players are not doing enough because they have unwarranted confidence from the board. A bit of fear from the board helps to keep the manager/players motivated.

 

[Bastian]

No, I do not. However, I do not believe in giving free pass either. There should be a clear message from the senior level to the manager that this kind of result is quite concerning, this particular defeat has done a lot of damage, and there simply is no more margin for error.

I just do not like the idea that a manager/players are not doing enough because they have unwarranted confidence from the board. A bit of fear from the board helps to keep the manager/players motivated.

I'm sure he knows that we played terribly. I'm sure he knows he set us up incorrectly on Tuesday and probably underestimated Sevilla a bit. I don't think he's got any free pass, if we were 4th or 5th, there'd be concern, but he's significantly improved us. He probably is somewhat at odds with the board in terms of the money that he feels is needed to address the balance and quality in the team.

Again, with the board and pressure on the players, I make the point again that City have limitless reserves so players know they won't be there if they aren't up to it, whereas we've had players that aren't good enough establishing careers at United, so we do not have a board that is in a position to say perform or go, having overseen recruitment that's resulted in quite a few average players being signed on high wages.

This next window will be instrumental in getting players out for as much as possible to make incisive purchases in key positions.

 

[Adebesi]

Not sure why it's relevant to dig up a 14 year old quote.

Why wouldnt it be? Would it be more relevant if he had said it last year? In which case what is the expiration date on hypocrisy?

 

[SirAF]

Why wouldnt it be? Would it be more relevant if he had said it last year? In which case what is the expiration date on hypocrisy?

Obviously.

It’s one and a half decade, people change their views.

 

[Return of the Manc]

People are allowed to express they want him gone. Especially if they don’t feel he is the right fit. I have next to no faith in his ability to get us to where we want and should be. Maybe some people are fine with what he produces and can live with that, that’s fine. If he was to leave in the summer, personally i’d be a lot happier.

As for just replacing willy, nilly I fully agree but on occasion if it’s clearly not the right fit then you have to move on. One of the problems is the lack of thought going on at the top of United. Surely if you hire LVG, your next appointment is someone who can improve on what he was trying to build. Not rip it up and go for the short term Jose who plays completely differently from about 80% of the managers in world football.

Bingo.
A daft mistake & can only be recovered the quicker the job falls to one of our own either Giggs or Butt. We had the whole league reacting to our football playing on the backfoot because we had possesion football better than anybody else; a year or two before Guardiola came. We had the oppurtunity to be a step ahead of them by passing the ball on to one of our own who knew how to overcome only the smaller teams that caused us a problem

See my post on "A cohesive modern structure/fluid style of play needs to come first before United can win big"

I'm glad i'm not the only one who cant stand Jose - a complete reaction to the opposite way we should be progressing which has shown in our reactive type of football.

The only benefit of Jose is that eventually when possession football comes back under one of our own managers; counter attacking involved from what the lads have learnt from Jose could add an extra level of potency to our game.

However as you have said - If he is gone I could not be much happier; there is not much further he can take us as a club; winning a trophy even the PL or a CL next season would be a fluke and does not represent our ability to be a long standing force of a club without having a core fundamental philosophy to its game.

 

[NotATroll]

Why isn't there a thread for the assessment of the fans for this season? For me, they are are the worst part of supporting this club. I need a poll on whether I am fans in or fans out so I can vote for the latter.

 

[BRRRRAP]

The form and play over the last three months has been a little disappointing to say the least. I think a key turning point was the defeat to City that killed all hopes for the premier league. Our form in all competitions before the city match and after the city match reads like this:
Pre City (Including the city match): 18W 2D 4L
Post City: 12W 4D 4L
That said, the team showed character in the last three matches and raised our expectation for the Seville match.
The defeat has deflated the morale and optimisim of the fan base. Its understandable. But we have had a couple of days to deal with that. I cannot understand the continued hatred, disgust and frustration of the fan base against Jose now though.
Jose tactics for the Seville game was terrible and he made big mistakes. That doesn’t take away from the fact that this team has shown itself to be inconsistent. IMO it was not ready to challenge the PL and CL at any time of the season.
So, this disproportionate reaction against the manager after the defeat seems childish and immature.
Objectively, the results and to an extent the play from the last season have improved decently. We are moving in the right direction, sacking Jose will not help the club in any way or form.
The next few months till the end of the season will be a true test of the character of this team. Lets do our job and help them finish on a high. All this negativity is harmful and has the potential to snowball and disrupt all the progress that has taken place till now.

You're entitled to your opinion but calling out others who do not agree with your opinion as childish and immature is more than a little ironic. You say this United team was never ready to challenge for the premier league but thst judgement is made in retrospect (is based on our poorly coached performances) and can be read as much as a failure of Mourinho than tbe lack of quality of the squad.
At the start of the season most pundits were expecting a two horse race between ourselves and the AbuDhabi project. Up u til our cowardly display vs Liverpool we were playing some good football. There was certainly some momentum to build on until José took the wind out of our sails.
We are not the perfect side by any means but we definitely have the attacking talent to challenge for the league if only they were allowed attack. Instead they've been stifled and look totally disheartened.

Mourinho's fecked it up big time with his small time cautious tactics. I'd thank him and kick him out the door at the end of the season and get a new progressive attack minded manager in. I am not looking forward to another year of outmoded stifling stodge and our players must be absolutely sick of playing like we are unequal, underdogs. The team is simply and shamefully not allowed play to their best ability.

 

[Adebesi]

Obviously.

It’s one and a half decade, people change their views.

Come now. You think he has changed his views? So you think he no longer believes it is embarrassing getting dominated by a team assembled at 10% of the price?

Somehow I dont think he has changed his views on that. I dont think anybody disagrees with it. He was right then, it wasnt so much a "view" as a caustic remark. The problem with making such memorable remarks like that is one day your luck changes and people can turn your own words against you. If he was a bit more magnanimous people wouldnt have so much ammunition now. But then he wouldnt be the character he is either.

Either way, there is nothing whatsoever wrong with posting that quote. Im pretty surprised if you cant see that to be honest.

 

[The Man Himself]

Not sure why it's relevant to dig up a 14 year old quote.

Spoiler

 

[Return of the Manc]

I'm sure he knows that we played terribly. I'm sure he knows he set us up incorrectly on Tuesday and probably underestimated Sevilla a bit. I don't think he's got any free pass, if we were 4th or 5th, there'd be concern, but he's significantly improved us. He probably is somewhat at odds with the board in terms of the money that he feels is needed to address the balance and quality in the team.

Again, with the board and pressure on the players, I make the point again that City have limitless reserves so players know they won't be there if they aren't up to it, whereas we've had players that aren't good enough establishing careers at United, so we do not have a board that is in a position to say perform or go, having overseen recruitment that's resulted in quite a few average players being signed on high wages.

This next window will be instrumental in getting players out for as much as possible to make incisive purchases in key positions.

No he overestimated Sevilla & this is the reason United will never be bigger than a season under him. We can play reactive to teams tactics; put theirs on top of ours but ultimately we will be the team who ends up lost more times than not due to the lack of time we have practised.
I dont like bigging up rival managers, but Jose winning one title wont do anything for United long term; we will be back in the black hole once he has gone - we have a bigger problem than he can choose; even though that title or cup isnt looking like its happening soon. On the contrary- Guardiola can be gone from City and a manger can make alterations to the fundamental gameplan they have as seen by the managers who manage barcelona- who has played alterations of 433 or atleast a level of possesion in their game and players in certain areas.

 

[Swift Football]

I'm sure he knows that we played terribly. I'm sure he knows he set us up incorrectly on Tuesday and probably underestimated Sevilla a bit. I don't think he's got any free pass, if we were 4th or 5th, there'd be concern, but he's significantly improved us. He probably is somewhat at odds with the board in terms of the money that he feels is needed to address the balance and quality in the team.

Again, with the board and pressure on the players, I make the point again that City have limitless reserves so players know they won't be there if they aren't up to it, whereas we've had players that aren't good enough establishing careers at United, so we do not have a board that is in a position to say perform or go, having overseen recruitment that's resulted in quite a few average players being signed on high wages.

This next window will be instrumental in getting players out for as much as possible to make incisive purchases in key positions.

Next window means nothing special, its just like any other window, and in fact less crucial than last 2 windows. We have already made purchases in key positions - CB, CDM, Striker - those are backbone of the team and we are only going to add in other areas, which i dont think would make as big impact.

What makes you so sure that he knows/realizes he set us wrongly on Tuesday? Its just your wishful & wild guess. I agree with Jose in that we have been sh*t in europe in many seasons now, but after the time and money he invested, there is not a shadow of doubt, we should be beating Sevilla over two legged tie. Except for City and PSG, we have resources as big as anybody's and in par with Madrid, but if you compare us with them in terms of performances, we are just a pile of sh*t as Jose mentioned.

 

[Bastian]

No he overestimated Sevilla & this is the reason United will never be bigger than a season under him. We can play reactive to teams tactics; put theirs on top of ours but ultimately we will be the team who ends up lost more times than not due to the lack of time we have practised.
I dont like bigging up rival managers, but Jose winning one title wont do anything for United long term; we will be back in the black hole once he has gone - we have a bigger problem than he can choose; even though that title or cup isnt looking like its happening soon. On the contrary- Guardiola can be gone from City and a manger can make alterations to the fundamental gameplan they have as seen by the managers who manage barcelona- who has played alterations of 433 or atleast a level of possesion in their game and players in certain areas.

I don't understand your whole post, but I think starting a game with two immobile players in midfield, one who's been run into the ground this season, and another who lacks match fitness just back from back-to-back injury layoffs, suggests to me that he thought we'd dominate the game and have plenty of the game in their final third. I don't get why he did it, but if he took them as a huge threat, he'd likely have rolled with a midfield 3.