Jose Mourinho | Spurs manager

[Gabagoo]

I still like Jose and I do believe he absolutely could have been a success here.

The board of any club ultimately need to decide, when hiring a manager, whether they are ready to fully back his project or whether they are hiring the best candidate to get the best out of the current crop. Most will decide on the latter because it's cheaper to replace the manager than to sack an entire subset of a squad.

But if Jose were to be have been fully backed (not £500m per transfer window, but at least buying him Maguire, Perisic, etc) then we could have challenged - for a season or possibly two.

The issue with Jose is that he tends to get through and dispense with a lot of players, so hiring him will probably lead to a couple of seasons of title challenges but with a bit of squad carnage and a lot of unhappy players left at the end of it. The CEO/DOF of a club must decide whether they're up for it or nor.

 

[JPRouve]

Solskjaer gets plenty of criticism for loads of reasons, including all the ones you mentioned.

Weirdly enough, I am a lot more supportive of Ole while also being more critical of some of his decisions. The difference being that Ole seems honest, some of his mistakes are honest mistakes, he isn't playing games and it feels that he will try to improve and adapt while Mourinho felt like a lost cause.

 

[R77]

Not sure I quite count Ali in the same category, but getting the Jose treatment instead of being quietly moved on generally means you're a good player. That's why he does it.

De Bruyne, Salah, Ibra, Robben, almost Martial... He's arguably sold more players that have gone on to be very good than anyone he's ever signed. It's all about the numbers and himself, and generally a loss for the football side of things in the long run.

 

[TrustInJanuzaj]

Well obviousy you‘re an Ole fan? ...though this is not about Ole.

So you hate Mourinho and didn’t get any joy from Utd winning a couple of trophies? As a Utd supporter, I find that very sad and hard to believe. Personally, I love to see Utd winning trophies and I couldn’t give a toss who the manager was.

Each to their own.

I think ultimately trophies are kind of pointless if the journey there isn't enjoyable because at the end of the day football is an entertainment and I shouldn't feel that supporting my team is a chore. That being said, I did enjoy the trophy run in Mourinho's first season and that was easily my favourite season with him. He signed some exciting players including Pogba and Ibrahimovic and at that point, there was some optimism and we did, of course, manage to win a couple of secondary trophies (of which I was there for the league cup final which was great). I think its always funny that people use that second season 2nd place to defend him when to my mind that was one of the most depressing seasons I can remember.

But then as usual Mourinho let his ego take over, he alienated our best players and the style of football became even more boring. He no longer had Ibrahimovic to entertain and instead signed the absolute donkey Lukaku to bring even more misery on the pitch. Falling out with Martial and Pogba then compounded that and finally, he started to show that he thought he was bigger than the club with that Sevilla rant. At that point, it was clear that this was all just an egotistical, narcissistic project for him and he didn't respect, nor care about Manchester Utd and to me, that's an instantly stackable offence. Ultimately, the mood he left around the club has soured me to his character forever and I truly cant understand how his fans seem to overlook that negativity and baggage that comes with him.

 

[TrustInJanuzaj]

What? Our most successful era post Saf came under him. Solskjaer has done feck all compared to him.

Except bring back the joy and fun of watching football which is more important to me than 1000 league cups.

 

[TrustInJanuzaj]

‘Hate’, ‘not a proper Manchester United fan’, ‘cancer’. All this in 2 sentences. Are you 10 years old?

Couldn't really care less, I think he's a massive cnut for the way he treated and left this club, plus his history of just generally treating players badly.

 

[TrustInJanuzaj]

This post is wrong on so many levels. Also I think the word cancer shouldn't be thrown around like that.

cancer = 'an evil or destructive practice or phenomenon that is hard to contain or eradicate'.

 

[Posh Red]

Couldn't really care less, I think he's a massive cnut for the way he treated and left this club, plus his history of just generally treating players badly.

Weird that people still defend him on here even since he slagged off the club during press conferences etc. I don’t care that he won a couple of trophies. Hate the guy.

 

[AltiUn]

Weird that people still defend him on here even since he slagged off the club during press conferences etc. I don’t care that he won a couple of trophies. Hate the guy.

It is. It wasn't even a week ago he implied we weren't a big club. He and his rabid fanbase can do one.

 

[TrustInJanuzaj]

Weird that people still defend him on here even since he slagged off the club during press conferences etc. I don’t care that he won a couple of trophies. Hate the guy.

That's the rational response mate, the problem is when you have been believing his bullshit for years it's quite hard to admit you were taken a mug.

 

[JPRouve]

That's the rational response mate, the problem is when you have been believing his bullshit for years it's quite hard to admit you were taken a mug.

It's not that hard, my way to rationalize it is that Mourinho changed not that he bamboozled me.

 

[passing-wind]

Jose causes too much divide amoungst players. I don't think he will amass the type of team morale he had at early 2000's Chelsea in his career. A manager needs to cultivate the players to perform both mentally and tactically. I hear mixed reviews about Dele from spurs fans in everyday walk of life. What's typical about Jose's statement is its not only intended for Dele and there's others he's also referring too.

Tottenham might cave into Jose demands as he might have more sway over Levy then he would per say with the Glazers so he could get away with demanding wide-scale changes. The issue of course is when and if these types of outburst start consistently influencing poor results.

 

[AR87]

But imho in his 3rd year he was not supported enough if you aimed to fight for the title because your squad was nowhere near good as City's (and imho still not as good and/or balanced as other rivals).
This isn't an escuse for the terrible third year but yes, I do really thing he wasn't supported enough for the expectations you had.

Jose failed at United pretty spectacularly as well. This idea he wasn't backed properly in the 3rd year means the collapse was inevitable is nonsense.

Solskjaer didn't get Haaland, Bellingham, or Sanch, three priority targets he set because the club decided it wasn't prudent for a variety of reasons in each case. He didn't spend weeks moaning about transfers or denigrating the players at his squad. He's gotten on with it and after a weird start with little preseason there are positive signs he's turning things around.

Additionally he didn't inherit some buoyant 2nd place team with a bunch of rising talent on the cusp of stardom. He inherited a broken team in terms of spirit and style, a mishmash of a broken unfocused transfer policy of 3 previous managers well off CL qualification pace on the heels of being thoroughly embarrassed by City and Liverpool in the league. He was nearly able to get us into top-4 the first season but came up short.

Since then he's been focuses on turfing out high earning disappointments and players who simply didn't fit his vision like Lukaku, Alexis, Smalling, etc. He's had to work under far more financially stringent conditions and promoted youth internally.

Under him players who stagnated or regressed under Mourinho such as Rashford, Martial, Fred, Lindelof, Shaw, etc. have improved and we've seen youth players like Greenwood and Williams successfully be integrated into the first team. He was forced due to lack of options and a failure on the board to deliver an attacking mid to field Pereira and Lingard regularly. Once we got Fernandes our form immediately matched the best teams in the league.

No, he's not perfect. He's made mistakes numerous times, and if I'm being honest I'm still not sold he's the man to lead us back to the top. I wonder about his ability to coach attacking patterns to break down teams that sit deep, although I think his big match tactical ability should be beyond question at this stage. However, what he has done is an excellent job of restoring a sense of actual togetherness at the club and a commitment to building the squad with a focus on your, creativity, speed, and character without ever throwing players or the board or anybody else under the bus unlike his predecessor.

Mourinho is one of the greatest managers at all time but it sure as hell isn't because of a single thing he achieved at United. Solskjaer is unlikely to ever be viewed as such but what he's done at United deserves far more credit than he gets and certainly more than Jose ever should.

 

[RedSky]

Jose failed at United pretty spectacularly as well. This idea he wasn't backed properly in the 3rd year means the collapse was inevitable is nonsense.

Indeed. They both spent the same amount of money. The big difference is that Ole accepted it like an adult and Jose behaved like a toddler for months.

 

[united_99]

In the second year he ended... in 2nd
Which is still the best post-Fergie position in the table

For a club like United who was winning trophy after trophy for more than 2 decades only 3 years before Mourinho came to the club, winning a Europa League trophy or coming 2nd don’t have much meaning. Same would be the case for Chelsea or Arsenal. Now if he destroys Spurs but wins the EL then maybe Spurs would be happy because Spurs almost never ever win a trophy so it would be nice to have something in the history books.
But at United winning minor trophies and getting 2nd while at the same time leaving so much damage at the club and setting us back is really nothing to be proud of.

 

[Wilt]

Jose failed at United pretty spectacularly as well. This idea he wasn't backed properly in the 3rd year means the collapse was inevitable is nonsense.

Solskjaer didn't get Haaland, Bellingham, or Sanch, three priority targets he set because the club decided it wasn't prudent for a variety of reasons in each case. He didn't spend weeks moaning about transfers or denigrating the players at his squad. He's gotten on with it and after a weird start with little preseason there are positive signs he's turning things around.

Additionally he didn't inherit some buoyant 2nd place team with a bunch of rising talent on the cusp of stardom. He inherited a broken team in terms of spirit and style, a mishmash of a broken unfocused transfer policy of 3 previous managers well off CL qualification pace on the heels of being thoroughly embarrassed by City and Liverpool in the league. He was nearly able to get us into top-4 the first season but came up short.

Since then he's been focuses on turfing out high earning disappointments and players who simply didn't fit his vision like Lukaku, Alexis, Smalling, etc. He's had to work under far more financially stringent conditions and promoted youth internally.

Under him players who stagnated or regressed under Mourinho such as Rashford, Martial, Fred, Lindelof, Shaw, etc. have improved and we've seen youth players like Greenwood and Williams successfully be integrated into the first team. He was forced due to lack of options and a failure on the board to deliver an attacking mid to field Pereira and Lingard regularly. Once we got Fernandes our form immediately matched the best teams in the league.

No, he's not perfect. He's made mistakes numerous times, and if I'm being honest I'm still not sold he's the man to lead us back to the top. I wonder about his ability to coach attacking patterns to break down teams that sit deep, although I think his big match tactical ability should be beyond question at this stage. However, what he has done is an excellent job of restoring a sense of actual togetherness at the club and a commitment to building the squad with a focus on your, creativity, speed, and character without ever throwing players or the board or anybody else under the bus unlike his predecessor.

Mourinho is one of the greatest managers at all time but it sure as hell isn't because of a single thing he achieved at United. Solskjaer is unlikely to ever be viewed as such but what he's done at United deserves far more credit than he gets and certainly more than Jose ever should.

When Utd hired Mourinho what did you expect ....Mother Teresa in trainers?

Yes Mourinho is an annoying fecker, yes he winds a lot of people up (seemingly you), that‘s what you get when you hire him. BUT he’s also a winner and that’s why people like Woody and Levy are willing to pay top dollar for him.

He’s gone now, If he annoys you so much then stop stalking him ....ie leave this thread alone for starters.

 

[AltiUn]

When Utd hired Mourinho what did you expect ....Mother Teresa in trainers?

Yes Mourinho is an annoying fecker, yes he winds a lot of people up (seemingly you), that‘s what you get when you hire him. BUT he’s also a winner and that’s why people like Woody and Levy are willing to pay top dollar for him.

He’s gone now, If he annoys you so much then stop stalking him ....ie leave this thread alone for starters.

He's perfectly entitled to defend his opinion on Mourinho in the designated Mourinho thread. You're in the wrong place if you think this is the place for positive unchallenged Mourinho-based opinions. People are challenging those opinions because most of us are sick to death of oppo fans coming in and telling us how great life was under Mourinho, and smugly dismissing all his shortcomings as bitterness on our behalf, placing all the blame on the club letting Mourinho escape with little or no blame.

 

[AR87]

When Utd hired Mourinho what did you expect ....Mother Teresa in trainers?

Yes Mourinho is an annoying fecker, yes he winds a lot of people up (seemingly you), that‘s what you get when you hire him. BUT he’s also a winner and that’s why people like Woody and Levy are willing to pay top dollar for him.

He’s gone now, If he annoys you so much then stop stalking him ....ie leave this thread alone for starters.

I expected Mourinho to build a team with a stable defensive base that excelled on the counter. The team functionally performed at its best in his first season, and benefited from DDG's once-in-a-lifetime season in 17/18 to outperform its metrics and finish 2nd, before it regressed in year 3 as he threw everybody at the club under the bus including blaming Phil Jones for going out on penalties in the League Cup to Derby.

He didn't win a league title or CL at United or ever come close, so he didn't deliver on the "winner" part of the tag, while certainly being an annoying fecker during the last months of his time here.

He annoyed me quite a lot towards the end, although I like Mourinho quite a bit, but I'm not going to pretend he wasn't a flop at United. I'm also not going to leave this thread because you're very upset that I deigned to be critical of him. If that bothers you, then I'd suggest you follow your own advice and feck off. Either way, I don't particularly care, but the choice is yours.

 

[Wilt]

He's perfectly entitled to defend his opinion on Mourinho in the designated Mourinho thread. You're in the wrong place if you think this is the place for positive unchallenged Mourinho-based opinions. People are challenging those opinions because most of us are sick to death of oppo fans coming in and telling us how great life was under Mourinho, and smugly dismissing all his shortcomings as bitterness on our behalf, placing all the blame on the club letting Mourinho escape with little or no blame.

Of course he’s entitled to his opinion, we all are. Mourinho is obviously going to get a lot of stick where ever he goes and justified in most cases. But calling him a ”cancer” together with the continual moaning about his short comings which the whole world and his dog already know about Is hardly news.

 

[Wilt]

I expected Mourinho to build a team with a stable defensive base that excelled on the counter. The team functionally performed at its best in his first season, and benefited from DDG's once-in-a-lifetime season in 17/18 to outperform its metrics and finish 2nd, before it regressed in year 3 as he threw everybody at the club under the bus including blaming Phil Jones for going out on penalties in the League Cup to Derby.

He didn't win a league title or CL at United or ever come close, so he didn't deliver on the "winner" part of the tag, while certainly being an annoying fecker during the last months of his time here.

He annoyed me quite a lot towards the end, although I like Mourinho quite a bit, but I'm not going to pretend he wasn't a flop at United. I'm also not going to leave this thread because you're very upset that I deigned to be critical of him. If that bothers you, then I'd suggest you follow your own advice and feck off. Either way, I don't particularly care, but the choice is yours.

Ooh you’re hard

 

[AR87]

Ooh you’re hard

You have no idea

 

[Real Name]

cancer = 'an evil or destructive practice or phenomenon that is hard to contain or eradicate'.

Saying that whoever doesn't hate the guy isnt a true United fan is a bit over the top dont you think.
Whatever.

 

[TrustInJanuzaj]

Saying that whoever doesn't hate the guy isnt a true United fan is a bit over the top dont you think.
Whatever.

Not really, as I've repeated the guys a massive tool who showed no respect to the club I love and why should he get anything but disdain from me?

 

[FrankDrebin]

Ole didn't get what he wanted this summer but still acts professionally, keeps the spirits high within the club and generally just gets on with it.

Jose in similar circumstances did nothing but complain while mopping around the club with a face looking like a slapped a$$.

 

[windco]

We play miles better and the players he thought were not good enough are some of the best players in the World now, Rashford in particular.

You talk as if we won all the trophies available by playing "miles better" and rashford being "best player in the world" . We are trophyless after he left ffs , mourinho can't be ever proven wrong until we actually win something remarkable.Spurs only took 3Ls since March including against Royal Antwerp and people talk like the world has fallen apart on Mourinho.

 

[NinjaZombie]

What? Our most successful era post Saf came under him. Solskjaer has done feck all compared to him.

And yet, I've enjoyed being a United fan with Ole in charge than with Mourinho.

 

[Strelok]

Jose failed at United pretty spectacularly as well. This idea he wasn't backed properly in the 3rd year means the collapse was inevitable is nonsense.

Solskjaer didn't get Haaland, Bellingham, or Sanch, three priority targets he set because the club decided it wasn't prudent for a variety of reasons in each case. He didn't spend weeks moaning about transfers or denigrating the players at his squad. He's gotten on with it and after a weird start with little preseason there are positive signs he's turning things around.

Additionally he didn't inherit some buoyant 2nd place team with a bunch of rising talent on the cusp of stardom. He inherited a broken team in terms of spirit and style, a mishmash of a broken unfocused transfer policy of 3 previous managers well off CL qualification pace on the heels of being thoroughly embarrassed by City and Liverpool in the league. He was nearly able to get us into top-4 the first season but came up short.

Since then he's been focuses on turfing out high earning disappointments and players who simply didn't fit his vision like Lukaku, Alexis, Smalling, etc. He's had to work under far more financially stringent conditions and promoted youth internally.

Under him players who stagnated or regressed under Mourinho such as Rashford, Martial, Fred, Lindelof, Shaw, etc. have improved and we've seen youth players like Greenwood and Williams successfully be integrated into the first team. He was forced due to lack of options and a failure on the board to deliver an attacking mid to field Pereira and Lingard regularly. Once we got Fernandes our form immediately matched the best teams in the league.

No, he's not perfect. He's made mistakes numerous times, and if I'm being honest I'm still not sold he's the man to lead us back to the top. I wonder about his ability to coach attacking patterns to break down teams that sit deep, although I think his big match tactical ability should be beyond question at this stage. However, what he has done is an excellent job of restoring a sense of actual togetherness at the club and a commitment to building the squad with a focus on your, creativity, speed, and character without ever throwing players or the board or anybody else under the bus unlike his predecessor.

Mourinho is one of the greatest managers at all time but it sure as hell isn't because of a single thing he achieved at United. Solskjaer is unlikely to ever be viewed as such but what he's done at United deserves far more credit than he gets and certainly more than Jose ever should.

Agreed.

Imo worst thing he did to us was bringing in that mercenary culture. And left us with a broken, overpaid full of deadwood squad. When the manager was a true mercenary who only cared about his ego, his image, himself and didn't give a feck about the club then how could we expect the players to do differently? It was really difficult for Ole to phase that culture out and built a new culture of hard working and the club above all.

He's probably the third worst thing happened to United during my 25 years of supporting the club. Still despise him. What a coward, narcissistic, hypocrite moaner and loser.

 

[nuanced]

Unique player ? There is plenty of lazy average footballers who showed signs of talent for a season. Those reasons are mainly being bent over the desk of FFP thus having no way to acquire their usual targets + an ego fight between Leonardo and Tuchel which left the club with an unbalanced squad.

I will defer to your knowledge of PSG on this matter.

According to you, which other plays a similar kind of role which Alli played under Poch? Alli is a good finisher, strong at protecting the ball, and thinks on his feet. Sure he isn't unique in having these attributes, yet I can't think of another player who plays a role similar to him in football at this point. I think of him as a Support Striker. Today, almost no team plays with an SS, and IMO Spurs playing around Alli as an SS under Poch was a testament to how good Alli is in that role.

 

[nuanced]

Welcome to caf, O agent of Deli Alli

Damn, you exposed my incognito within my first month here

 

[nuanced]

They signed Chopu moting too. Doesn't mean anything.

Choupo-Moting seems to get a lot of bad rep here. Maybe because he played for Stoke? While I think he is a not a top class player, he can do a job at a top club.

 

[nuanced]

And you’re supposed to not have a bias to Mourinho? Despite being named after his team’s performance against West Ham.

 

[TrustInJanuzaj]

I will defer to your knowledge of PSG on this matter.

According to you, which other plays a similar kind of role which Alli played under Poch? Alli is a good finisher, strong at protecting the ball, and thinks on his feet. Sure he isn't unique in having these attributes, yet I can't think of another player who plays a role similar to him in football at this point. I think of him as a Support Striker. Today, almost no team plays with an SS, and IMO Spurs playing around Alli as an SS under Poch was a testament to how good Alli is in that role.

Nah sorry to say it mate but Ali is shite and always has been.

 

[ClaytonBlackmoorLeftPeg]

I will defer to your knowledge of PSG on this matter.

According to you, which other plays a similar kind of role which Alli played under Poch? Alli is a good finisher, strong at protecting the ball, and thinks on his feet. Sure he isn't unique in having these attributes, yet I can't think of another player who plays a role similar to him in football at this point. I think of him as a Support Striker. Today, almost no team plays with an SS, and IMO Spurs playing around Alli as an SS under Poch was a testament to how good Alli is in that role.

His form, fitness are desire have fallen off of a cliff, that was evident under Poch.

he is to an extent unique, but that’s not a plus, it’s a massive negative, he doesn’t have a role at Spurs, because They can’t work out where best he plays. He had a purple patch in a role that doesn’t exist.

He needs to reinvent himself to become useful, find his mojo and motivation as very quickly I could see him tumbling down the leagues as many players have done down the years.

 

[AR87]

His form, fitness are desire have fallen off of a cliff, that was evident under Poch.

he is to an extent unique, but that’s not a plus, it’s a massive negative, he doesn’t have a role at Spurs, because They can’t work out where best he plays. He had a purple patch in a role that doesn’t exist.

He needs to reinvent himself to become useful, find his mojo and motivation as very quickly I could see him tumbling down the leagues as many players have done down the years.

Idk if he'd actually make the move but I think he'd have a chance to find himself again at Everton given how they play.

 

[Posh Red]

I will defer to your knowledge of PSG on this matter.

According to you, which other plays a similar kind of role which Alli played under Poch? Alli is a good finisher, strong at protecting the ball, and thinks on his feet. Sure he isn't unique in having these attributes, yet I can't think of another player who plays a role similar to him in football at this point. I think of him as a Support Striker. Today, almost no team plays with an SS, and IMO Spurs playing around Alli as an SS under Poch was a testament to how good Alli is in that role.

Firmino maybe?

 

[nuanced]

His form, fitness are desire have fallen off of a cliff, that was evident under Poch.

he is to an extent unique, but that’s not a plus, it’s a massive negative, he doesn’t have a role at Spurs, because They can’t work out where best he plays. He had a purple patch in a role that doesn’t exist.

Yes, players like him are quite polarizing. They either bring a lot of positives or a lot of negatives. Hence it's difficult to accommodate Alli in the Spurs team once he loses his form.

He needs to reinvent himself to become useful, find his mojo and motivation as very quickly I could see him tumbling down the leagues as many players have done down the years.

Yep, falling into obscurity is definitely a risk for him. Reinventing himself to be useful in other positions would get him back in the Spurs squad, but not sure if it would benefit him in the long run. He doesn't really have the complete package to play as a pure midfielder or a pure forward.

 

[Real Name]

Not really, as I've repeated the guys a massive tool who showed no respect to the club I love and why should he get anything but disdain from me?

From you yes but don't expand it on the whole fanbase.

 

[432JuanMata]

Toxic at times especially during his 3rd season meltdown and deservingly sacked but still our most successful manager in the last 8 years with a Europa League, Carling Cup and 81 point finish. I see people say he was wrong about Rashford and Martial, yes about Rashford but I still have my doubts(a lot do) about Martial he will be 25 soon and if he is too lead the line to get us challenging or even 81 points again needs to be more consistent he is not a kid anymore.

Im glad to see the back of Jose but the hate is off the charts he did ok with us

 

[TrustInJanuzaj]

From you yes but don't expand it on the whole fanbase.

To me that’s the rational view. What redeeming factors could possibly be held in the hearts of Utd fans,

 

[TrustInJanuzaj]

Toxic at times especially during his 3rd season meltdown and deservingly sacked but still our most successful manager in the last 8 years with a Europa League, Carling Cup and 81 point finish. I see people say he was wrong about Rashford and Martial, yes about Rashford but I still have my doubts(a lot do) about Martial he will be 25 soon and if he is too lead the line to get us challenging or even 81 points again needs to be more consistent he is not a kid anymore.

Im glad to see the back of Jose but the hate is off the charts he did ok with us

He quite clearly was wrong about those players, just as he was with De Bruyne and Salah, don’t fall for that bullshit.