Jose took an almighty risk today

[Miscemayl]

One thing I don't understand... People are slating Jose for the 6 man backline.

But what would be the preferred tactic when their wing backs overlap?

If we push the lb and rb out, then our two cb would be against their entire midfield?

Add to that the fact we had Rooney and Carrick meaning only Hererra can do any running and I am not sure a 4 man backline would've done any better.

 

[Insanity]

I will suggest you switch to supporting Arsenal while Mourinho is in charge at United.

It is only common sense that a manager puts his team in the best position to get the desired result and not to help the opposition win. With the players on the field, trying to outplay arsenal would have likely resulted in huge loss. But then the likes of you will come and complain about the magnitude of the loss. When he had a full squad at his disposal, Arsenal were lucky to escape with a draw at OT.

I will suggest you to not quote my posts again if you are going to come up with childish nonsense like the part I bolded. I am not one of your junior school friends who is going to have playground bickering matches with you.

I am little confused with the second paragraph. So you mean that Jose tried to win the game in the best way he possibly could, because I swear people have been making the argument that him prioritizing Europa is why we played like imbeciles. Which one is true?

What Mourinho has done all season is won the LC and has us with one foot into the EL finals. He might not have won the league, but if he wins the EL we would not be any less successful this season than Chelsea winning the double.

Winning the league and FA cup would be equivalent to winning league cup and Europa?

Delete this part before anyone else sees it. I'll also unquote it to save you any embarrassment.

 

[SalfordRed1960]

Winning the league and FA cup would be equivalent to winning league cup and Europa?

Delete this part before anyone else sees it. I'll also unquote it to save you any embarrassment.

 

[Womp]

I will suggest you to not quote my posts again if you are going to come up with childish nonsense like the part I bolded. I am not one of your junior school friends who is going to have playground bickering matches with you.

I am little confused with the second paragraph. So you mean that Jose tried to win the game in the best way he possibly could, because I swear people have been making the argument that him prioritizing Europa is why we played like imbeciles. Which one is true?



Winning the league and FA cup would be equivalent to winning league cup and Europa?

Delete this part before anyone else sees it. I'll also unquote it to save you any embarrassment.

TBF I think he meant in regards to number of trophies won, not the quality of those trophies. If we win the Europa, I'd claim we had a better season than every PL team except Chelsea in all honesty.

 

[Insanity]

TBF I think he meant in regards to number of trophies won, not the quality of those trophies. If we win the Europa, I'd claim we had a better season than every PL team except Chelsea in all honesty.

What Mourinho has done all season is won the LC and has us with one foot into the EL finals. He might not have won the league, but if he wins the EL we would not be any less successful this season than Chelsea winning the double.

I don't think so. If we are going by that logic than we'll be more successful than Chelsea as we would finish with three trophies.

Everyone besides the smaller clubs consider the league cup no better than a tin cup; which is why most play their second team or youth players in that competition. Every year there are calls that the FA should scrap the competition to help the PL clubs in Europe. I don't mind the trophy and it's good to win it. Though, it's not some major achievement.

As for Europa, if it didn't come with CL qualification, no would give a rat's ass about it, like they didn't up until a couple of years ago. We would be all calling for Jose to play the reserves in order to finish higher in the league.

Yes, now that it comes with CL qualification, if given a choice between finishing 5th and Europa, I would rather win Europa. Though, I would still consider putting a title challenge and finishing second over winning Europa as more successful.

 

[Shiva87]

@OP - its about probabilities. By doing what he did against arsenal, he increased our chances of winning the last 2 games by 50%.

For e.g. - Pogba will play both the EL games. This alone changes our entire midfield profile. Without him, we are really quite abject in the center of the park. If he played the Arsenal and Spurs game (only after just coming back from injury) - we are risking him being totally burnt out in the final.

Sometimes, big managers need to make big decisions to get the result they want. It's no point going gung-ho in the last 6 games of the season (with 8 injuries) hoping to come both 4th and win Europa. (It the comparison was between 1st and EL, then it would be a no brainer). The only logic to coming 4th is champions league - and ensuring we prioritise the easiest way to get their is what a confident manager needs to do. (If we had a Moyes, I'm sure he would be hedging his bets going gung ho in both).

 

[RedPnutz]

People are talking up this "can't compete on two fronts" narrative as though Mourinho decided at Christmas that we wouldn't bother competing in the league. What actually happened is that we've been consistently picking strong teams for every competion we've competed in right up until this weekend. The combination of losing our top-scorer followed by injuries/suspensions in midfield/defence and yet more dropped points at home against Swansea has basically killed our league campaign.

The goal has always been to compete in as many fronts as possible right up until this weekend, though. And the team we picked against Arsenal was still good enough to win the game. It was only when we went two goals behind that Mourinho obviously threw in the towel, by taking Hererra off and not playing Pogba. Which was sensible, with hindsight.

This. When he odds were really stacked against us, Mourinho chose the option with a higher probability.

 

[royboy16]

We have a 1-0 away goal advantage against Celta making us massive favourites to go to the final of the Europa League.

Jose Mourinho's record in finals:

June 15, 2003: Taca de Portugal final.

Porto 1-0 Uniao de Leiria. (Jose wins)

May 21, 2003: UEFA Cup final.

Celtic 2-3 Porto (after extra time). (Jose wins)

May 26, 2004: Champions League final.

Monaco 0-3 Porto. (Jose wins)

February 27, 2005: Carling Cup final.

Liverpool 2-3 Chelsea (aet). (Jose wins)

February 25, 2007: Carling Cup final.

Chelsea 2-1 Arsenal. (Jose wins)

May 19, 2007: FA Cup final.

Chelsea 1-0 Manchester United (aet). (Jose wins)

May 5, 2010: Coppa Italia final.

Inter Milan 1-0 Roma (Jose wins)

May 22, 2010: Champions League final.

Bayern Munich 0-2 Inter Milan. (Jose wins)

April 20, 2011: Copa del Rey final.

Barcelona 0-1 Real Madrid (aet). (Jose wins)

May 17, 2013: Copa del Rey final.

Real Madrid 1-2 Atletico Madrid (aet) (Jose loses)

March 1, 2015: Capital One Cup final.

Chelsea 2-0 Tottenham. (Jose wins)

26 February 2017: Carling cup final

Manchester united 3 - 2 Southampton (aet). (Jose wins)


1 cup final loss in 12 in his career and it'll probably be Manchester United vs Ajax. How anyone can question Jose prioritising and focusing on the Europa is beyond me. He wins finals better than any manager.

Thats impressive.

 

[Ferguson]

It is true that he played a weakened team against Arsenal and told everyone he was going to do it ahead of time.

I could feel the result coming even before the match had started, given the side that Mourinho picked.

Is it a big risk? Sure. But Mourinho is paid his salary to make the big decisions, not to dither like Moyes or Wenger or many others.

Actually, you could argue that by not committing to rest players for the Europa league earlier, we had injuries to key players result that could have been avoided.

Cup games are always a risk because one mistimed tackle or poor decision can cost you even if you are the better side.

But on the positive side, Mourinho has instilled a different mentality from Moyes and LVG where risk taking is acceptable, but only under the right circumstances.

Mourinho is a gambler, but a calculated one.

 

[Dr. Funkenstein]

For Mourinho it's the safe bet. He can't fail at making top 4 anymore because he didn't try. If he doesn't win the EL it's a one off game, the referee, injuries or players who fail to convert 'great chances'. It's about his reputation, United has no alternatives this time, but if they sack him anyway there'll be another desperate club thinking he's still special.