Mourinho : "Transfer spend is not enough"

[Pogue Mahone]

I think this is the main problem. While City have made some good purchases, it's their internal player improvement that's the biggest driver behind their success imo. The likes of Sterling, De Bruyne, Fernandinho, Silva(yes even Silva), all have gone up a level under Pep's guidance.

And on Mourinho's point about City's fullbacks, their 1st choice LB is Delph at the moment. Delph.

And ours is Young. Young.

What’s any of that got to do with the massive sums of money City were happy to spend on Mendy and Walker? Which is Mourinho’s point. He wanted to spend less that that on an attacking player (Perisic) and we couldn’t get the transfer across the line. Which is obviously bothering him.

 

[haram]

It's amazing how the players we sign are the best for their respective teams and arrive here and turn to shite....hmmmm

Like who?

 

[Jericholyte2]

Jose - City buy fullback the price of strikers

Jesus -27m
Shaw - 30m

Not comparable, one was an unknown Brazilian striker from a Brazilian club, anyone apart from scouts can't claim to know the talent / potential he had, the other was widely accepted as one of the most promising young full backs of the time, English, from one Premier Legue team to another (with the premium that ones with it).

Whilst I don't agree that it's purely down to money, you have to buy the right players and this is where I think Woodward has to take some of the blame.

Players such as di Maria, Sweinsteiger etc who were bought for branding reasons rather than purely football. The money we had wasted since Fergie left, as well as Fergie's reluctance to refresh the squad that was clearly on the wane as he left have left us trailing behind.

The fact that Manchester United doesn't really have an out-right winger, one senior striker (I do fear, as knee-jerk as it may seem, Ibra may never be the same again) and has relied on players who weren't productive enough as wingers to be our full-backs is frankly negligent on behalf of those in charge.

The problem is that those in charge haven't spent to continue the footballing tradition of the club, merely to increase the stature of the Manchester United brand.

 

[Pogue Mahone]

It's amazing how the players we sign are the best for their respective teams and arrive here and turn to shite....hmmmm

You’re describing every player signed by every top club ever. Obviously, many of them turn to shite too.

 

[DomesticTadpole]

And ours is Young. Young.

What’s any of that got to do with the massive sums of money City were happy to spend on Mendy and Walker? Which is Mourinho’s point. He wanted to spend less that that on an attacking player (Perisic) and we couldn’t get the transfer across the line. Which is obviously bothering him.

I agree that the failure to get Perisic is irritating him.

 

[Bojan11]

Jose - City buy fullback the price of strikers

Jesus -27m
Shaw - 30m

Aren’t you a Chelsea fan wiseass?

Then surely you would know Mourinho refused to sign Shaw for that amount before cracking jokes.

 

[Kush]

I think this is the main problem. While City have made some good purchases, it's their internal player improvement that's the biggest driver behind their success imo. The likes of Sterling, De Bruyne, Fernandinho, Silva(yes even Silva), all have gone up a level under Pep's guidance.

And on Mourinho's point about City's fullbacks, their 1st choice LB is Delph at the moment. Delph.

Delph isn't going to last long, he's already spoken about signing a new LB. Plus there are also plans to get rid of whatever dross there is left i.e. Mangala and Yaya. Jose hasn't been ruthless like Pep has at City, we don't know the reason behind it. Maybe he genuinely rates these players or maybe we're not getting the required fee for such players or maybe these players don't want to take a wage cut. It's all guess work.

Pep got rid of aging 30+ FBs in Sagna, Clichy and Kolarov in 1 go while we still have ours in Valencia, Young playing every minute of it. This just reveals part of a problem with our squad. I agree with what @Pogue Mahone said, it's obvious what he's saying but people are still going to get outraged.

 

[Eddy_JukeZ]

And ours is Young. Young.

What’s any of that got to do with the massive sums of money City were happy to spend on Mendy and Walker? Which is Mourinho’s point. He wanted to spend less that that on an attacking player (Perisic) and we couldn’t get the transfer across the line. Which is obviously bothering him.

If reports are to be believed, he wanted to use Perisic as a wing-back.

My point is that one of their 1st choice full-backs is injured and Delph has replaced him with no issues.

 

[DomesticTadpole]

Not comparable, one was an unknown Brazilian striker from a Brazilian club, anyone apart from scouts can't claim to know the talent / potential he had, the other was widely accepted as one of the most promising young full backs of the time, English, from one Premier Legue team to another (with the premium that ones with it).

Whilst I don't agree that it's purely down to money, you have to buy the right players and this is where I think Woodward has to take some of the blame.

Players such as di Maria, Sweinsteiger etc who were bought for branding reasons rather than purely football. The money we had wasted since Fergie left, as well as Fergie's reluctance to refresh the squad that was clearly on the wane as he left have left us trailing behind.

The fact that Manchester United doesn't really have an out-right winger, one senior striker (I do fear, as knee-jerk as it may seem, Ibra may never be the same again) and has relied on players who weren't productive enough as wingers to be our full-backs is frankly negligent on behalf of those in charge.

The problem is that those in charge haven't spent to continue the footballing tradition of the club, merely to increase the stature of the Manchester United brand.

At least they had scouts in Brazil, I think the Anderson experience has put us off. I also agree that the motives behind some signings are driven by business rather than footballing reasons.

 

[Litch]

You’re describing every player signed by every top club ever. Obviously, many of them turn to shite too.

No I'm not. Many go on to build their reputation. Which one of our signings since SAF has done this......?

 

[Eddy_JukeZ]

Delph isn't going to last long, he's already spoken about signing a new LB. Plus there are also plans to get rid of whatever dross there is left i.e. Mangala and Yaya. Jose hasn't been ruthless like Pep has at City, we don't know the reason behind it. Maybe he genuinely rates these players or maybe we're not getting the required fee for such players or maybe these players don't want to take a wage cut. It's all guess work.

Pep got rid of aging 30+ FBs in Sagna, Clichy and Kolarov in 1 go while we still have ours in Valencia, Young playing every minute of it. This just reveals part of a problem with our squad. I agree with what @Pogue Mahone said, it's obvious what he's saying but people are still going to get outraged.

Well, I argued that Jose should have been more ruthless. I don't know if he's embraced the "deadwood" or he simply couldn't find a buyer for them.

 

[haram]

Delph isn't going to last long, he's already spoken about signing a new LB. Plus there are also plans to get rid of whatever dross there is left i.e. Mangala and Yaya. Jose hasn't been ruthless like Pep has at City, we don't know the reason behind it. Maybe he genuinely rates these players or maybe we're not getting the required fee for such players or maybe these players don't want to take a wage cut. It's all guess work.

Pep got rid of aging 30+ FBs in Sagna, Clichy and Kolarov in 1 go while we still have ours in Valencia, Young playing every minute of it. This just reveals part of a problem with our squad. I agree with what @Pogue Mahone said, it's obvious what he's saying but people are still going to get outraged.

Also he had to spent big money on Lukaku and Pogba to catch up in the first place. Jose couldnt just get rid of everyone at once and replace them. Pep had his Pogba and Lukaku in de bruyne and Aguero already at the club. He could then go and spend £130 million on fullbacks. Jose couldnt even get his man in Perisic.

We are behind City in terms of our squad period.

 

[JPRouve]

At least they had scouts in Brazil, I think the Anderson experience has put us off. I also agree that the motives behind some signings are driven by business rather than footballing reasons.

Anderson wasn't in Brazil and he wasn't unknown.

 

[kouroux]

I believe pep has admitted to being a check book manager as well.

Why are you even mentioning Pep ? Please just explain it to me this as I am lost to this phenomenon of mentioning them and him on the caf on matters completely unrelated to them

 

[Marcky411]

Didn't see the interview but by reading this it really sounds like a manger cracking under the pressure. As we all know a fortune has been spent and I get what he is trying to say (player prices have become ridiculous) but there are much lesser teams, with a lot less quality players in their teams with lesser managers managing them playing one hell of a lot better/attractive football he and his team are shoveling us week in week out.

 

[golden_blunder]

I think the problem was the takeover, it had to be financed and he only way to do that was through the club.

Sorry but that excuse has long sailed. When Moyes and Lvg took over there was more than enough money

 

[Eddy_JukeZ]

I don't know why Perisic has been overrated on this forum.

Yes, he could have been a good signing, but that's a complete unknown.

You'd think we missed out on Neymar the way some people go about him.

 

[Cristiano Lell]

De bruyne had been doing great things in Germany.

Remind me again why was De Bruyne in Germany?

 

[12OunceEpilogue]

It's a tricky one. I can see both sides, in that yes we need new, bigger and sustained investment if we are to compete at the very top but Jose and the current squad have to bear their share of the blame for poor performances and results this season.

The 'historic status vs current status' point Jose makes is a valid one, in that the expectation to challenge for honours and the premium we pay in the transfer market do not match where we are on and off the pitch at the moment. We are a good team with great financial muscle but we are outmatched, equalled and challenged on both fronts by far more teams than we've had to deal with before. That said we are better than 2-2 against Leicester and Burnley, Jose should be getting more out of the current multi-million pound squad and there are clear deficiencies in our play (broadly in leadership, composure, creativity arguably among others) that could and should have been addressed more satisfactorily over Jose's transfer windows and time working with the squad.

As to exactly how much of a point Jose has I'm on the fence. I think transfer spending has been comparatively less than it needs to be (including the premium in the market we pay compared to everyone other than City and top European clubs) and that currently we are not the club our history suggests we should be but Jose has been allowed to bring seven of his signings in for big money. I find bemoaning transfer spend in the media distasteful, as a smack to the face of his current squad and an excuse for his own failings, and the excuse is wearing increasingly thin.

 

[JPRouve]

Why are you even mentioning Pep ? Please just explain it to me this as I am lost to this phenomenon of mentioning them and him on the caf on matters completely unrelated to them

It's a new trend on the caf. When you want to defend Mourinho use City's spending or Pep, when you want to have a dig at Mourinho bring City's playing style and Pep.

 

[Kush]

Well, I argued that Jose should have been more ruthless. I don't know if he's embraced the "deadwood" or he simply couldn't find a buyer for them.

I think most of us want him to be more ruthless but like I said we don't know the reason why that isn't the case. Anyways, with the way City are setting the standards it'll leave us no choice but to clear the deadwood if we're to catch them.

Also he had to spent big money on Lukaku and Pogba to catch up in the first place. Jose couldnt just get rid of everyone at once and replace them. Pep had his Pogba and Lukaku in de bruyne and Aguero already at the club. He could then go and spend £130 million on fullbacks. Jose couldnt even get his man in Perisic.

We are behind City in terms of our squad period.

That argument is what is being used against him, if he knew there are number of holes to fix in the squad why spend such huge outlay on 2 players? I don't necessarily agree with that argument but you can see where they are coming from.

As far as quality is concerned, only the most deluded would argue our squad was at similar level. They'll harp on about how City only finished 1 point ahead of us but will conveniently forget they reached Semi-finals of CL only being knocked out by an OG whereas we failed to get out of a group containing likes of Basel and PSV. I don't want to go into details why they collapsed that badly in PL that season but a look at analysis of two squads would suggest the gulf in quality between the two especially in attacking sense.

I don't know why Perisic has been overrated on this forum.

Yes, he could have been a good signing, but that's a complete unknown.

You'd think we missed out on Neymar the way some people go about him.

He's definitely overrated but it's all about the dynamic which he would bring to the team, at the moment we lack width. None of our players can hold width compared to someone like Sane, all our options i.e. Martial, Mata, Mkhitaryan, Lingard, Rashford want to come inside and play through the middle which makes it easier for opposition to clog the midfield and force us to go wide.

Again, all these players if they are forced to stay wide cannot produce quality plays from those position or don't make correct decisions in correlation with the full backs. Having a proper winger would at least solve the very basic problem of helping us keep width and stretch play.

 

[Bojan11]

I don't know why Perisic has been overrated on this forum.

Yes, he could have been a good signing, but that's a complete unknown.

You'd think we missed out on Neymar the way some people go about him.

The issue is with Lukaku in the box. He’s the type of winger we are missing to get the best out of him. He would hog the touch line and whip a decent cross in unlike our current wingers. He’d also I hope be able to take a corner as we resorted to putting Luke Shaw on them.

Jose shouldn’t have buried all his eggs in one basket. I can understand waiting on Griezmann as he is 25. Where as Perisic is 29, so surely he should have had a plan b. This forum was laughing at Klopp for doing the same with Van Dijk.

 

[haram]

I don't know why Perisic has been overrated on this forum.

Yes, he could have been a good signing, but that's a complete unknown.

You'd think we missed out on Neymar the way some people go about him.

Besides the point. He is a good player and we missed out on a player which Mourinho deemed important. People wonder why there is a gap to City. Not every player is going to be Neymar. We need to build a squad and get rid of the crap.

 

[haram]

I think most of us want him to be more ruthless but like I said we don't know the reason why that isn't the case. Anyways, with the way City are setting the standards it'll leave us no choice but to clear the deadwood if we're to catch them.



That argument is what is being used against him, if he knew there are number of holes to fix in the squad why spend such huge outlay on 2 players? I don't necessarily agree with that argument but you can see where they are coming from.

As far as quality is concerned, only the most deluded would argue our squad was at similar level. They'll harp on about how City only finished 1 point ahead of us but will conveniently forget they reached Semi-finals of CL only being knocked out by an OG whereas we failed to get out of a group containing likes of Basel and PSV. I don't want to go into details why they collapsed that badly in PL that season but a look at analysis of two squads would suggest the gulf in quality between the two especially in attacking sense.

Because we had to. We had to sign Pogba. We had to sign a big striker. These are important components to the squad building. Cheaping out and signing inferior players will not get us anywhere near to City.

Imagine us trying to compete with City's de bruyne by cheaping out and not signing Pogba. We might as well not try.

 

[Eddy_JukeZ]

The issue is with Lukaku in the box. He’s the type of winger we are missing to get the best out of him. He would hog the touch line and whip a decent cross in unlike our current wingers. He’d also I hope be able to take a corner as we resorted to putting Luke Shaw on them.

Jose shouldn’t have buried all his eggs in one basket. I can understand waiting on Griezmann as he is 25. Where as Perisic is 29, so surely he should have had a plan b. This forum was laughing at Klopp for doing the same with Van Dijk.

Lukaku would have benefit from Perisic's arrival. Not disagreeing there.

Agree that Jose put all his eggs in Perisic and had no alternative. Though it was reported he had 3 alternatives for each target. So it's odd.

 

[Eddy_JukeZ]

Besides the point. He is a good player and we missed out on a player which Mourinho deemed important. People wonder why there is a gap to City. Not every player is going to be Neymar. We need to build a squad and get rid of the crap.

My point is that Perisic could have been successful. He could not have been.

And I reiterate again, Jose by all reports wanted to use him a wing-back role. Has Perisic ever played that prominently? I don't believe so.

 

[Cristiano Lell]

Why are you even mentioning Pep ? Please just explain it to me this as I am lost to this phenomenon of mentioning them and him on the caf on matters completely unrelated to them

It's a new trend on the caf. When you want to defend Mourinho use City's spending or Pep, when you want to have a dig at Mourinho bring City's playing style and Pep.

There are different reasons why Pep pops up.
First of all, in this particular instance the poster you're quoting answered a post by me, and since I support Bayern this obviously make me a well known worshipper of the "bald Messias".
But then of course this thread is about Mourinho's post match press conference statements, and it was Mourinho himself who brought City's spending up.

 

[Cadillac]

A lot of us (myself included) were laughing at guys like Sterling, Stones, Delph, Otamendi before this season. Now pep has transformed them into some of their most superior players. The club has brought into Pep's philosophy. Can the same be said for Jose?

Jose making excuses, particularly after drawing with Burnley is nothing short of embarrassing. Particularly when the club ha paid near £200M on two players with one of them in Lukaku looking like absolute garbage at times. We spent the money because we thought we were closer to city than what we actually are.

Even if Jose does spend more $ in January. What's this club done in recent years to prove that we will spend it wisely on blokes that will make us better? Are we going to be happy when we overpay for Danny Rose? At the moment the players we have seem to be going backwards in their development. (And I'm not putting all the blame on Jose)

 

[redNATION]

Also he had to spent big money on Lukaku and Pogba to catch up in the first place. Jose couldnt just get rid of everyone at once and replace them. Pep had his Pogba and Lukaku in de bruyne and Aguero already at the club. He could then go and spend £130 million on fullbacks. Jose couldnt even get his man in Perisic.

We are behind City in terms of our squad period.

Jose didnt rate De Bruyne when he was at Chelsea and got rid of him (like Salah and Lukaku incidentally), and Aguero wouldnt play as a CF in a Mourinho team - too small and 'weak'. Lets get real here - very few of City's players that were already there, the ones that people are saying Pep already had when he arrived, would get into a Jose team - De Bruyne, Aguero, Silva (too small/weak/slow). Pep is making the most of what he has, and Jose isnt.

 

[haram]

My point is that Perisic could have been successful. He could not have been.

And I reiterate again, Jose by all reports wanted to use him a wing-back role. Has Perisic ever played that prominently? I don't believe so.

If Young can do it Perisic can. We need quality players and we lost out on one. That's the problem here.

 

[Kush]

Jose didnt rate De Bruyne when he was at Chelsea and got rid of him (like Salah and Lukaku incidentally), and Aguero wouldnt play as a CF in a Mourinho team - too small and 'weak'. Lets get real here - very few of City's players that were already there, the ones that people are saying Pep already had when he arrived, would get into a Jose team - De Bruyne, Aguero, Silva (too small/weak/slow). Pep is making the most of what he has, and Jose isnt.

He wasn't going on about the players themselves, just their counterpart. De Bruyne is City's playmaker he was already there, Aguero is a 30 goal a season CF he was already there.

We didn't have any of these and hence had to buy them.

 

[Williams1960]

This thing about pep having a so called world class squad?

De bruyne and sterling have propelled a level under peps management. Neither were their current level.

He bought in players like sane, jesus and turned them in to world beaters. Two young players who will be at city for a decade.

He's solved their keeper issue with ederson who looks world class.

He has made players like stones and kyle walker who I most never rated that highly to now looking like top class players.

Even otamendi looks superb.

Fabian Delph is reborn in a new position.

Aguero and silva the two world class players he inherited. Aguero has been on the decline and he has replaced him brilliantly. Injuries are killing aguero.

Silva slots perfectly in to his side. We have our own in mata who was awesome at Chelsea. Just look at his numbers in terms of goals and assists. When moyes bought him, he was our best player. Now regressed heavily under mourinho.

Yahya toure who was one of cities main men does not get a game.

Kompany who was their star defender no longer needed. So was zabaletta.

To put it simply, pep has revolutionised city.

He has made a team that was relying on aguero, toure, kompany, Hart to a team that now is fresh, young with a real future and a style of play. The scary thing is city have bought for the future.

Our best player remains David de gea who Jose did not buy. De gea is the best keeper in the world who Jose inherited.

We look like a team that throws money but has no style. To use the so called lack of money excuse from Jose is an insult to the club.

Sure points wise we seem fine. But we got pretty lucky with winning a fair few of those points and it masks the problem.

As I said before, we have no real style of play and it's getting worrying.

 

[Litch]

Jose didnt rate De Bruyne when he was at Chelsea and got rid of him (like Salah and Lukaku incidentally), and Aguero wouldnt play as a CF in a Mourinho team - too small and 'weak'. Lets get real here - very few of City's players that were already there, the ones that people are saying Pep already had when he arrived, would get into a Jose team - De Bruyne, Aguero, Silva (too small/weak/slow). Pep is making the most of what he has, and Jose isnt.

Absolute rubbish....

 

[haram]

Jose didnt rate De Bruyne when he was at Chelsea and got rid of him (like Salah and Lukaku incidentally), and Aguero wouldnt play as a CF in a Mourinho team - too small and 'weak'. Lets get real here - very few of City's players that were already there, the ones that people are saying Pep already had when he arrived, would get into a Jose team - De Bruyne, Aguero, Silva (too small/weak/slow). Pep is making the most of what he has, and Jose isnt.

De bruyne was not the same player. Jose also went on to win the league. Mata plays so why wouldnt de bruyne and silva play now?

 

[sparta]

Our rise to becoming genuine contenders started with mourinhos appointment, moyes was a mistake, a huge mistake, imagine appointing a man to succeed sir alex who has won feck all to manage the biggest club in england, a mistake made by no other then sir alex himself, then we had van gaal who he himself spent alot of money on players to fit his 'philosophy', look how that turned out, cant recall a time been absolutely bored to tears watching that dire state of football.

And now into his second stint at united jose mourinho has united at there best start to a season since sir alex, not forgetting the first united manager to win a trophy in his first season, two in fact. At present we find ourselves second to what alot of people are regarding the best football team to have ever played the beautiful game, how do you compete with that, a team that is owned by a billionaire, throwing 100m at two left backs, this city team didnt emerge overnite, it was a process over a number of years.

Now to mourinho saying 300m is not enough, i seem to remember people criticizing van gaal on what he spent and how people said he spent a crazy amount, but what did we spend it on, can we say we would take depay back, schweinsteiger, schneiderlin? Is herrera, darmian, blind good enough? All inherited from previous manager. Fact is the PLAYERS we still have at this club are not good enough i feel to compete at the highest level yet, forget about how much we spend, its the the quality of the player we spend it on and some of our recruitment has been shambolic and i feel we need atleast another transfer window or two for us to truly compete again cos at the moment having to play two aging ferguson signings who are primarily wingers at right back it seems to me there is clearly more rebuilding to do.

 

[haram]

He wasn't going on about the players themselves, just their counterpart. De Bruyne is City's playmaker he was already there, Aguero is a 30 goal a season CF he was already there.

We didn't have any of these and hence had to buy them.

Exactly. Jose had to spend money on these players. Pep didn't. Even depsite that Pep still spent on top of that.

 

[Pogue Mahone]

No I'm not. Many go on to build their reputation. Which one of our signings since SAF has done this......?

They all start off as one of the very best players for their former clubs. Every one of them. That’s how they got their move. Some go on to become one of the best players at one of the biggest clubs in the world. But not all. Those that don’t are labelled flops.

Agree our post SAF signings have been generally poor. It’s not as though our signings during Fergie’s last 2 or 3 years were much cop either. This club is crying out for a DoF.

 

[DomesticTadpole]

They all start off as one of the very best players for their former clubs. Every one of them. That’s how they got their move. Some go on to become one of the best players at one of the biggest clubs in the world. But not all. Those that don’t are labelled flops.

Agree our post SAF signings have been generally poor. It’s not as though our signings during Fergie’s last 2 or 3 years were much cop either. This club is crying out for a DoF.

Yet some just won't have it. SAF didn't have one. Well football has changed so maybe it is about time we did.

 

[Cristiano Lell]

De bruyne was not the same player.

BS. De Bruyne joined Wolfsburg in January, mid season, played well instantly and was the best player in the league directly after that in his first full season at Wolsfburg. He then was bought right after that season. He also had been eye-catchingly terrific on loan to Bremen before returning to Chelsea.
It's a proven historical fact that Mourinho didn't know what to do with De Bruyne, and thus claiming Mourinho would do better at Utd if he had players at his disposal like City's De Bruyne is completely and utterly illogical.

 

[liamp]

They all start off as one of the very best players for their former clubs. Every one of them. That’s how they got their move. Some go on to become one of the best players at one of the biggest clubs in the world. But not all. Those that don’t are labelled flops.

Agree our post SAF signings have been generally poor. It’s not as though our signings during Fergie’s last 2 or 3 years were much cop either. This club is crying out for a DoF.

Would you accept letting Mourinho go in order to start anew with a DoF? That's a question I'd ask anyone, because I see very little chance a DoF is hired while Mourinho is still here (I'm not particularly confident one is hired even after he leaves).