Mourinho | 2016/17 Performances

[united_99]

Does he have an attacking plan? He is supposed to be a great tactician after all, or is the word "great tactician" limited to just being great at reacting and defending? Which btw he can't do either at the moment.

Under SAF even with a couple of average players at times we always had an attacking plan, our players seemed to know how to attack. We were more dynamic and had many options up front, at times even if we looked clueless elsewhere, when we were attacking it all looked dangerous and you always felt there is a goal coming, and mostly it came. Apart from a few games late in 2011-12 I almost never wondered where or how the goals would be coming from.
Since he has retired a constant lack of attacking ideas has been an issue until today.

I don't get it.

 

[bucky]

I somewhat agree but coaching players what positions to take and not to ball watch is part of Jose's job.

It wasn't a blunder by players, it's a mistake in the defensive shape.

They aren't babies. Especially Smalling for the second goal should be doing better. It's actually laughable where he's at and covering no one. As soon as that ball happens he should be moving to that area and not Fellaini. Fellaini has to cover for him, while Pogba is going there too, since it's probably his player actually and consequently Zuniga is open. Even if Fellaini is going there, Smalling should be be more centrally and Pogba should go to the centre, since he must have seen he's not going to be there on time.

I agree that it's part of the coaching and Mourinho will point out obvious mistakes like that, but someone with Smalling's experience should be doing better.

 

[Dumbat12]

Yea but how do you know they arent playing their way into the team by being the best players at training? Hes not trying to feck himself ye know? He will have picked that team based on how the team trains. If its a case that theyre the best of a bad bunch then we're truly fecked.

Who the feck knows what he is trying to do? It's pretty obvious that Rooney is not United quality and Mata has played better than him every single time. Yet he doesn't start ahead of him. We also had Miki and aside from that terrible performance he did against City (where he was injured) he played way better than Rooney every time he appeared in a game. Rooney also forces us to play a system that isn't suited to our capabilities (4-2-3-1) instead of 4-3-3.

Mourinho has dropped way better players for less and yet he doesn't seem to do so in this situation with Rooney. I don't know if he is scared of media backlash, team revolt or whatever, but he has to be blind if he can't see that Rooney is detrimental to the team.

As for Pogba, we have no idea of the instructions he or other players are being given. It could well be a case of positional indiscipline on his part and that he in fact is the responsible. Have you considered that?

Ok, if you've watched Juventus you would know that Pogba is class, but to take the best out of his abilities you need a holding midfielder and another one to partner him. That gives him the freedom to roam all over the pitch - be it to defend or attack. Pogba doesn't have the necessary discipline to play in the midfield of two especially which a guy that also doesn't have the same discipline. He can dominate games when he is allowed to play the way he wants, but he isn't a controlling type of midfielder. He isn't Pirlo, nor is he Scholes.

Most importantly, Watfords game plan worked. They kicked Martial, Rashford, Shaw and Pogba off the pitch.

Watford's plan worked only because we played like shit. Tell Arsenal how well Watford's plan worked against them.

 

[::sonny::]

He seems tactically outdated, the today's line up was simply unacceptable.

 

[OohAahMartial]

They aren't babies. Especially Smalling for the second goal should be doing better. It's actually laughable where he's at and covering no one. As soon as that ball happens he should be moving to that area and not Fellaini. Fellaini has to cover for him, while Pogba is going there too, since it's probably his player actually and consequently Zuniga is open. Even if Fellaini is going there, Smalling should be be more centrally and Pogba should go to the centre, since he must have seen he's not going to be there on time.

I agree that it's part of the coaching and Mourinho will point out obvious mistakes like that, but someone with Smalling's experience should be doing better.

Seems a shame that we didn't get during the summer the experienced defender who can organise the defense we rumoured to be after. Serious lack of communication and organisation.

 

[humdinger]

We are in a very rocky patch, but we have some quality players and Jose is an excellent manager. He needs to earn his coin and get things turned around very quickly though.

 

[bucky]

Seems a shame that we didn't get during the summer the experienced defender who can organise the defense we rumoured to be after. Serious lack of communication and organisation.

At this point I'm expecting more from Smalling and I think we should. Don't think everything can be solved with new signings. I'm also not denying that we might need that experienced defender more than I hoped we would.

 

[Adisa]

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[Cassidy]

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Everyone can see it

 

[marlowe78]

Instead of talking about signing more new players, why don't we try coaching the ones we have? Klopp came into an absolute mess in the middle of last season and they improved within a month.

 

[Mohammed Javed]

The players are tactically inept. Absolutely no idea about what they're doing. Don't why people were happy with Jose building such a physical team with height. We didnt win headers; no pace, no creativity.
IMO i think we failed in the transfer market.
We needed a ball playing centre half who would compete with Blind however we didn't get that, instead we got a a combative Centre back to compete with Smalling.
We needed a right back as valencia isn't a RB and Darmian isn't good enough.
We needed 2 CM one box-to-box and one playmaker. We got one and not the other.
It doesnt seem like Jose has a plan. He didn't use pre-season properly as he dosn't even know his best 11 nor his formation.

In contrast look at Pep and his revolution at City. He had a plan identified weaknesses and corrected them. Got city playing their best ever footie. Had the balls to drop Yaya. Got rid of deadwood. And getting results instantly.

I honestly believe that Jose had lost it since last season at Chelsea.

 

[championo]

Can't blame LVG now. He needed more time. Oh well, count down till sack Jose thread starts going around.

 

[podurban2]

Can't blame LVG now. He needed more time. Oh well, count down till sack Jose thread starts going around.

One was created. He got banned.

 

[PlayerOne]

It's still early, but he really needs to learns from his mistakes. Right now he sets the team up wrong, takes one half to fix that.

Mourinho moves players around far too much, one of the reasons why we look so disjointed I feel. Take Rooney today, he starts on the right of the midfield, then moves to number 10 and then ends up at on the left wing. Funny enough, Mourinho is going back on his word there

Besides that, we're dropping far too deep, Fellaini is playing as a third CB, the wingers keep cutting in when we have the ball or don't, making us narrow and easy to defend against. Yeah the players haven't been great but that's on the manager

Worrying that he doesn't know what to do with Pogba, a player he wanted since he was at Chelsea. A lot of work for Mourinho

 

[nick2004]

Mourinho should start over from the defense.

Perhaps play Carrick, or anyway play two defensive midfielders.

Even if all our attacking players are non-existent, we shouldn't concede three goals to Watford.

 

[Ace]

 

[AndyJ1985]

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This is what I meant by alarm bells are starting to ring. I thought Jose would be able to make the tough decisions and at least set the team up properly, but we're seeing the same mistakes that van Gaal made.

Record signing not being utilised properly, Rooney being given a free pass, and over-reliance on a technically inept battering ram like Fellaini.

 

[Brownie85]

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Anyone would think that Mourinho is under orders to start Rooney every game.
Moyes, van Gaal or Mourinho has had the balls to drop him, so there has to be a reason why? Is the club demanding that he play due to his astronomical wage and they don't want a player on that amount of money to be left out the squad? Or do the club see him as the face of United so want him stating every game?

I know thats a very far fetched excuse, but there has to be a reason why he always starts even when it's obvious he's playing so very poorly

 

[JustAFan]

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If Jose won't manage, what are we paying him for?

 

[shr89]

Mourinho commented after Bournemouth and Hull wins that the team is trying to unlearn the LVG philosophy (reduce horizontal passes in build up phase and triggering player movements to enable fast transitions) , at that point I felt at least like he had a definitive plan in mind. An international break and 3 losses later we have come back full circle again.
We must be one of the slowest teams in the build up phase in premier league. It was painful to watch Smalling in possession today and it affected Bailly's game too I felt.

 

[Vato]

He'll bounce back, I still believe in him.

 

[Xaviesta]

He and United will stop the rot when they play Northampton during the week but if Leicester beat United on Saturday, it'll be crisis time.

 

[Speak]

Modern football has passed him by. Even his last Chelsea champions were dull and relatively poor, with one of the least impressive POTY winners in recent times, in Hazard.

The club needed a fresh manager with real charisma, no Premier League baggage, modern tactics, and a huge drive to prove himself in the country.

 

[Adisa]

I still think he will get it right. My problem is that we don't have to wait for him to make decisions every one can see is not working. Drop Rooney, reinforce the midfield by going to three man, get the team pressing higher up the pitch and depend less on the counter. Easier said than done i admit.

 

[sunama]

Even if all our attacking players are non-existent, we shouldn't concede three goals to Watford.

In fairness, we could've conceded 4 or 5. So, we got quite lucky today, I think.

 

[El Zoido]

He's not that old and past it. You could level that accusation at LVG but not Jose. We're a difficult problem to solve but he needs time for now.

 

[Speedy30]

He's not that old and past it. You could level that accusation at LVG but not Jose. We're a difficult problem to solve but he needs time for now.

One thing that Utd fans have always given other teams stick for is how quickly the managers change. Moyes got 9 months (must have felt like a 9 month sentence for you lot), LVG got 2 years and won a cup. I understand that Mourinho was available but with his recent record at Chelsea, the way his teams play football and the questions over his ego and how that would fit in at Utd, I still don't understand why LVG wasn't given the last year of his contract.
LVG had you playing some awful stuff but is it any better now? I know hindsight is a wonderful thing but do you all feel that this is just a blip or is it a continuation of the form that Mourinho had at Chelsea?

 

[Wednesday at Stoke]

The press turning on him too at the right moment, some pretty harsh articles on his decision to let De Bruyne leave Chelsea now that he is back and looking like the best player in the league on current form. Everyone senses a weakness when its brewing.

 

[gza the genius]

I genuinely don't get how we have three managers in a row who think Rooney and Fellaini are good enough to start here. We could bring in absolutely any manager in the world and we'd still look terrible starting those two.

 

[26andahalfyears]

If all of us football fans and self-claimed football analysts can see the problems (i.e Pogba is not being utilized properly with an effective partner in the midfield and Rooney is past his prime), I am sure someone as experienced as Jose can see them too. No?

 

[BennyBlanco]

Our attack is dogshit. Fix it.

 

[Deleted member 101472]

The press turning on him too at the right moment, some pretty harsh articles on his decision to let De Bruyne leave Chelsea now that he is back and looking like the best player in the league on current form. Everyone senses a weakness when its brewing.

The de bruyne decision confused me. I thought it was blatantly obvious that he had the potential to become a world class playmaker, and just because he didn't fit the strategy mourinho let a very talented player leave ( like he's done with others )

 

[kouroux]

One thing that Utd fans have always given other teams stick for is how quickly the managers change. Moyes got 9 months (must have felt like a 9 month sentence for you lot), LVG got 2 years and won a cup. I understand that Mourinho was available but with his recent record at Chelsea, the way his teams play football and the questions over his ego and how that would fit in at Utd, I still don't understand why LVG wasn't given the last year of his contract.
LVG had you playing some awful stuff but is it any better now? I know hindsight is a wonderful thing but do you all feel that this is just a blip or is it a continuation of the form that Mourinho had at Chelsea?

This feels like a continuation of LVG more than Mourinho's Chelsea.

 

[JustAFan]

If all of us football fans and self-claimed football analysts can see the problems (i.e Pogba is not being utilized properly with an effective partner in the midfield and Rooney is past his prime), I am sure someone as experienced as Jose can see them too. No?

We thought the same thing with LvG

 

[K2K]

Looks like last season at Chelsea might not be a blip, he could be gone by christmas

We never fire anyone by Christmas.

 

[Borden]

We never fire anyone by Christmas.

Oh yes we would, if it got bad enough.

 

[kouroux]

Mourinho : 7 win in his last 21 PL games.

 

[AndyJ1985]

Oh yes we would, if it got bad enough.

The only way Mourinho is getting sacked by Christmas is if he kicks the shit out of Bobby Charlton and throws dog dirt at the Trinity statue. There's zero chance he gets sacked that early based on results alone.

 

[salford_]

WOrld class manager, but suspect Chelsea in the EPL and Inter had his best years in terms of being a winning machine, (obviously not including Inter here). It'll be hard for any manager to reproduce that level of class, but his tactics are seeming a little outdated.

 

[K2K]

Mata for Valencia and Memphis for Shaw are massive warning signs for me, just panic subs which sacrifice any kind of balance and cohesion in the hope that something comes off. Exactly how LVG and Moyes would react.

Triple substitution on Thursday another example.

The warning signs are flickering like crazy.