Why should Mourinho change his mentality or his tactics?

[roonster09]

not convinvced that this league campaign is very poor. Football wise it is consistent with what he has done over a long career. Results wise it is on the lower end of his performances but we are still the second best team in the league, second to arguably the best ever team

Yeah results wise we are fine, said it few times. There isn't much to complain on that front.

 

[Sky1981]

Poch would love to be outdated if he can win 2 cl cup and 8 league titles

 

[Treble]

Poch would love to be outdated if he can win 2 cl cup and 8 league titles

That's true. But success in the past does not guarantee success in the future. A great manager could lose his winning touch. Many examples of that. I'd say that even Fergie wasn't at his best after 2008.

 

[breakout67]

I think Mourinho should absolutely change his mentality.

Mourinho of old would have gotten rid of the deadwood, and not persisted with below par players.

It feels like he is not as ruthless as he was before. From the looks of things, the Sevilla result has lit a fire under him to get rid of some players that have let him down over and over.

 

[Treble]

Fans would accept tumescent football against the best teams if it brings success. tumescent football against underdogs and without success is depressing, let's be clear about that.

 

[torrent]

Everyone is lying to themselves, who believe that Mourinho would change his mentality or tactics. Better to get right manager, not to wait till someone walks over his ego. The same for Mourinho - he need to go to the underdogs, who would be happy to park the bus for 3 points

 

[Zlatattack]

Why should the manager change his methods,his tactics or his mentality?Why will he change at the age of 55,after achieving the kind of success that 99.99 percent of managers around the world can only dream of?8 league titles in 4 different leagues,2 CL titles,countless other trophies....Lets be clear,Klopp,Conte,Pochettino,Tuchel etc etc will most probably never experience this kind of success in their careers.

He's not a random upstart,he's not a rookie or an average joe(Ala Moyes) who will change his methods to please the supporters of a particular club.Hes one of the greatest managers of the modern era,why will/should he change now?

For the record,I DO NOT like the football that we are playing right now,even though I can clearly see us progressing as a team.But we as a club knew exactly what we were going to get under Jose,so why exactly is everybody enraged now?Did people not see the kind of football that Chelsea played in Mourinhos last title winning season?So Jose was bought for a specific purpose,and that was to re-establish us as a top premier league club.He has already established us a CL club again,he has won a few trophies so far and now it's all about taking the final step and launching a title challenge next season...

Everything has gone to plan so far,except the fact that nobody expected City to put together such a ridiculous run this season.I"m sure that most City fans are also stunned to see the kind of results that they have got this season...So we just have to improve our squad in the summer and we have to go all out to compete with them next season...Mourinho was bought for a specific purpose(to win the league) and he can only do that if he implements methods and tactics that he's comfortable with....

You're right. If we want a better quality of football, we need to change the manager. The man is who he is, he isn't willing to change from what he knows, we don't like that style, so if the supporters really want to force a change in style, we need to force a change in manager.

 

[Adisa]

Because football players are human beings, they are not robots, they are not computers that you program. A big part of coaching should actually been labelled as teaching and like we all know not everyone learns the same way. In sports you want to get everyone on the same page and to do that you need to adapt your teaching/coaching methods to the audience.

I like that quote from Sparano an NFL coach:

Very important point.
You often hear Henry say Pep was always at pain to explain why he wants his need to play the way they do.
Could explain why almost all the players that have played under him seem enchanted by his methods.

 

[roonster09]

I think Mourinho should absolutely change his mentality.

Mourinho of old would have gotten rid of the deadwood, and not persisted with below par players.

It feels like he is not as ruthless as he was before. From the looks of things, the Sevilla result has lit a fire under him to get rid of some players that have let him down over and over.

Yeah, solution for all the problem is transfers. Who cares about coaching and building a team when you can just sell and buy players.

Is coaching and improving players is completely thing of past now?

Only at ManUtd Jose can survive this and even have backing from fans. Clubs like Madrid, Barca, Bayern would have sent him packing already.

 

[Murray3007]

He's a short term manager and always has been, the 2nd season is were his most of his success has came, it wont be coming this season at united, and rather then take any of the blame he seems to be blaming it on everyone else. lost the dressing room for me, and when that goes its a long way back, with Jose next season here expect the same as what has happened at chelsea this season.

 

[JPRouve]

Very important point.
You often hear Henry say Pep was always at pain to explain why he wants his need to play the way they do.
Could explain why almost all the players that have played under him seem enchanted by his methods.

One thing I noticed about Guardiola during live training sessions was how much he would interact with players individually. He watches the drills and then calls some players and talk with them for a lengthy period of time, his interactions seem to work. Though to be fair to Mourinho, players generally love his training sessions because he mixes things up and always try to make them interesting, so Mourinho is not a dinosaur or a rigid/boring coach.

 

[shaky]

If Mourinho is not going to stay beyond next season, irrespective of whether he wins the league or not, we should not be stupid enough to let him overhaul our complete squad without keeping an eye on the future. We don't want to be Inter 2.0. What if Mourinho wants to bin Pogba and Martial? Would you be fine with it because that's how Jose has always operated and it's got to be his way right down to a tee?

Mourinho had Inter and Porto punching above their levels and must have left Madrid and Chelsea in pretty good nick considering they both went on and won league titles and CLs not long after he left, with mostly the same players. When he does leave here, I don't have any concerns that the next manager will be inheriting a team of duffers from his predecessor like Jose did here.

 

[breakout67]

Yeah, solution for all the problem is transfers. Who cares about coaching and building a team when you can just sell and buy players.

Is coaching and improving players is completely thing of past now?

Only at ManUtd Jose can survive this and even have backing from fans. Clubs like Madrid, Barca, Bayern would have sent him packing already.

I'm not 'backing' Jose. He is here to get results, if he fails to win the league or CL in his first 3 years then I'd want him gone. That is why he got the 3 year initial contract in the first place, to win us the big trophies.

Bayern, Barca, Real are the dominant team in their league. Guardiola said himself that he would have been sacked at these clubs if he finished 4th and without trophies like he did last year.

We have been coached and improved, we've gone from struggling to get into the top 4, to being very good at closing out games. Last season we had many draws that shouldn't have been, but we've fixed that issue.

 

[spiriticon]

Because it's fecking boring us all to death and it's not getting us anywhere in the major competitions.

 

[roonster09]

I'm not 'backing' Jose. He is here to get results, if he fails to win the league or CL in his first 3 years then I'd want him gone. That is why he got the 3 year initial contract in the first place, to win us the big trophies.

Bayern, Barca, Real are the dominant team in their league. Guardiola said himself that he would have been sacked at these clubs if he finished 4th and without trophies like he did last year.

We have been coached and improved, we've gone from struggling to get into the top 4, to being very good at closing out games. Last season we had many draws that shouldn't have been, but we've fixed that issue.

There is a clear improvement in results, there are no arguments on that at least from my side. Still the play is same, it's dull, unadventurous and passive.

Not sure how much the team is trained when Jose says he trained the team to play quick transition for 2 days when that should be normal for any big team or any team.

 

[breakout67]

There is a clear improvement in results, there are no arguments on that at least from my side. Still the play is same, it's dull, unadventurous and passive.

Not sure how much the team is trained when Jose says he trained the team to play quick transition for 2 days when that should be normal for any big team or any team.

He's said that about our defense as well. For example he said after we lost to Spurs 2-0 that we trained specifically for this game and their 1st goal was something we prepared for.

He trained aggression and quick transition for 2 days, as an extra bit of training. It doesn't mean he doesn't train those at all.

 

[TheRedDevil'sAdvocate]

Nobody is asking him to suddenly take a U-turn and completely change his beliefs. At least i don't. I won't complain about the low-block defence as many on here do, i won't moan about the reactive approach and the focus on the game without the ball and i won't tear my clothes off because we don't have all ten outfield players in the opposition box whenever we attack. After all, the same approach without Inter's resilience or Real Madrid's individual quality or Chelsea's ready-made solutions has him comfortably above teams whose managers are being constantly lauded by the press and the pundits on the island. In the end, i knew what we were getting in Mourinho and i'm certainly not afraid to admit that i find teams which are built around a rock-solid defence very enjoyable to watch.

But this doesn't mean that everything is fine and well. The manager can't be exempt from any criticism simply because we've made progress since the Moyes and LvG days. When you appoint a manager of Mourinho's calibre, you don't expect a pro-active coach who will turn any game into an end to end contest but, as far as reactive managers are concerned, you expect to get the cream of the crop. You don't expect to dominate games against possession-based sides but you demand a top-notch team in its own game. Has Mourinho been doing that lately at the highest level?

I'll use our latest woes in the CL as an example because they are the favourite topic of discussion lately. Mourinho seems to be one of the very few managers at the highest level who approach the first away leg of a European tie with the idea that grinding out a goalless draw is generally a fine result to take to the return leg at home. It's not something that hasn't recurred before with Mourinho. On the contrary, this has plagued him in the past and it's something that even reactive managers try to avoid. He had played for the 0-0 against Atletico in 2014 only to lose 1-3 at the Bridge. It happened to us this season. Among the eight first legs of the R16, only two visiting teams failed to score a goal: Besiktas because they couldn't and United because it wasn't their priority to do so. Secondly, there are very few managers who approach the return-leg at home with the same caution and negativity as Mourinho does. He paid the price against Atletico (2014), PSG (2015) and Sevilla (2018) and he almost paid the same price against Celta Vigo (2017). It is a recurrent theme that's on the verge of becoming annoyingly repetitive.

Mourinho's not at fault because he doesn't play pro-active football but he may be at fault because his brand of reactive football doesn't seem to make the cut at the highest level anymore. Or let me put it another way, other reactive managers seem to be doing much better than him with far fewer resources at their disposal. Most reactive sides nowadays apply press tactics, they acknowledge that football sides are becoming much better on the ball and they try to keep them away from their third in order to break their rhythm, they play with extreme intensity when they're defending behind the ball and, of course, when they regain possession. Mourinho's teams do none of these things or they do them sporadically and without great conviction. Mourinho's United seems rather passive: We like to defend deep with ten men behind the ball (always) and we like to keep the only play-maker we have on the bench to start Fellaini in a game we have to score but to what end? In Spain, De Gea made a total of 8 saves. Do you know when was the last time a United keeper was forced to make so many saves? It was the 2011 CL final against that Barcelona. And we managed a grand total of 4 shots on target in 180 minutes against a side that concedes goals with ease.

You'll find many teams that aim to defend deep and hit on the counter but you won't find any such team other than United having their goal-keeper as their most valuable player. You'll find many defensive-minded managers deploying a creative player in a deeper role in order to have passing skills against high pressing tactics (and i've defended Mourinho's initial idea) but Pogba being on only three goals (CL/PL) is definitely an issue.

Reactive, transition, counter-attacking football is not lesser football as some claim it to be on this forum. Throughout the years, there have been and still are football sides that managed to enforce their footballing philosophy on the opponent and emerge victoriously. Mourinho's Porto and Inter sides and to a lesser extent his RM one (considering their barren years before JM got there) played that type of football successfully. But during the last years, Mourinho's sides seem to be approaching the big games with fear rather than belief in themselves. And this is certainly a point of concern for all of us. It doesn't mean that he should be shown the door right here and right now but it doesn't mean that we can't expect more from him either.

 

[R'hllor]

He doesnt need to change but he should at least try to meet to us in middle or towards middle a bit, take our ethos or w/e you wanna call it. Why? Because he cant come to us and say "Judas is still number one", regardless of our problems post Fergie, will never see him as someone who is doing us a favor to be a United manager.

 

[roonster09]

He's said that about our defense as well. For example he said after we lost to Spurs 2-0 that we trained specifically for this game and their 1st goal was something we prepared for.

He trained aggression and quick transition for 2 days, as an extra bit of training. It doesn't mean he doesn't train those at all.

Not sure it sounded like that. He was talking about changing style or something like that.

 

[jackofalltrades]

Yesterday Leganés went 2-0 up against Sevilla. Sevilla got a consolation goal in the 90th minute. Or to put it another way - Mighty Heritage 2 - Low Quality 1

 

[Craig Ward]

Jose is showing signs that he is losing control.

Things aren't going right for him, he's had 3 or 4 transfer windows and not yet got the squad right. We are performing without desire and will be lucky to see the season out in style.

Jose typicly lasts 2 seasons then pours his way into getting the sack.

I'd be happy for a change of direction. Never a fan if his

 

[simplyared]

You introduce this interesting thread by making some interesting statements...

'...clearly see us progressing as a team....' and '...Everything has gone to plan so far...'

Really?? The guy is in meltdown, and has admitted that his current narrative re his players may have a detrimental impact on his relationship with the players. He's been dreadfully rude, and is, in my opinion, nothing but a bully.

In answer to the main question, I think that Mourinho needs to change his mentality because his current approach to management simply isn't bringing the best out of the squad... who could we say have become better players under Mourinho? I also would suggest his non-game-time activities and correspondence (via Press Conferences etc) need an assessment, because he has been creating a awfully toxic atmosphere around the views of the club, by his dimissive and rather disrespectiful comments about the crowd, the club's history, the players, other managers, pundits... it's ugly and lacks class.

With reference to his tactics, I would think he has to consider his attacking strategy.. it seems he feels we are a better attacking team without Paul Pogba and Alexis Sanchez, which says a great deal about both his man-management, adaptability, and his general view on tactics , resulting in an 'I will do things this way and I will not change...' mentality. I think this may need to change, as how will any attacking players truly flourish under his management? Why are flair players, match-winners, why are they going to join a team under his management? Why? Why? For massive wages??

What I DO admire, and fully respect Jose for, is the excellent defensive record... that should be commended, hugely. It's an enviable record.. but at what cost?

We are a couple of points ahead of Liverpool and Tottenham, so it isn't as if we are clearly the second or even third best team in the Premiership, we are battling to be a top four team at the moment.

Like this post!

 

[red_devil83]

Because we should fire him if he doesn't

 

[MacabbiUnited]

https://giphy.com/gifs/mourinho-I0l.../Articles.aspx?docID=275312&;showHeader=false

Just saw this gif of Mourihou. Just wish he had the same passion today.

 

[Camilo]

He should change because football is entertainment, nothing more. He's in charge of the most watched team in football, and we play awful football. Not Mourinho football, not defensive football, awful football.

At the end of the day, if you're not enjoying watching the actual games of football, what's the point? Winning? Rubbish. At no point in any walk of life is the end result the most gratifying part - getting there is 99.999% of everything, and if you can't enjoy that bit...

So yeah, he should change insofar as he should get this team playing proactive, fearless football, rather than building a minnows mindset of inferiority in the club.

 

[sunama]

Maybe football moves on and if you don't adapt you will be left behind? Not saying that's the case but asking why any manager should change his tactics or mentality when the manager's last 2 league campaigns are very poor is bit silly.

Last season we finished 6th because our focus was to win the 2 trophies (which we did).
This season we have finished 2nd behind a record breaking MCFC side. This season's league position is the best we have had since SAF left.
To say that the 2 league campaigns have been poor is a bit daft. Either that, or you are stuck in 2013, when we were league champions.

 

[stevoc]

2 defensive midfielders and a back four, and opponents walk through does not take a genius to know something is wrong.

Do you mean Matic and Fellaini vs Sevilla?

 

[AshRK]

JOSE has already changed his tactics but for the worse. This is not the original Jose who would tolerate mediocrity, who would use cowardly approach against every half decent side. I somehow feel the 2-0 victory he got at Anfield to deny liverpool the title is very close to Jose's heart and he started liking that approach. People always bring lazy assumptions of how his side was always boring and negative, no he was not. I still remember his side playing fearless football against strong sides. I remember his Chelsea 2.0 side going to Etihad in 2013-14 season and taking the game to them. Although it was only 1-0 to Chelsea but Chelsea should have won 3 or 4-0 , that's how good they were. He never used to defend against arsenal but just take on them but this season even though we won 3-1 but the way we just gave away possession was very unlike Mourinho side. I remember his inter side going to Stamford bridge in Cl and beating them under Ancelotti's Chelsea who were sublime going forward. So yes Jose has changed. He has become so pragmatic that he is no longer pragmatic.

 

[sunama]

He should change because football is entertainment, nothing more. He's in charge of the most watched team in football, and we play awful football. Not Mourinho football, not defensive football, awful football.

I will agree that this does apply to the 2nd half of the season.

At the end of the day, if you're not enjoying watching the actual games of football, what's the point? Winning? Rubbish. At no point in any walk of life is the end result the most gratifying part - getting there is 99.999% of everything, and if you can't enjoy that bit...

I don't agree with this.
The most noteworthy sports people and teams of all time, have been winners....not necessarily entertainers.
Lets take Rafa Nadal. One of the best tennis players of all time. He is pretty boring to watch. He slogs it out from the back of the court and uses (mental and physical) fitness to beat his opponent. Same for Djokovic. Same for S.Williams.
Let's look at F1. Michael Schumacher. He wasn't exciting. In fact, he was pretty boring. Like a machine. Many class him as the best F1 driver of all time.
Now lets look at a football team. MUFC. 1999. Why do we say that this was one of our best teams? Because we won the 3 biggest trophies available to us that season. No one ever mentions entertainment. Only that we won.
Our most entertaining side was probably in 2000, when we steam rolled the opposition, but won fewer trophies. Nobody mentions that 2000 side though. Hmmmm.....

I could go on about this, but it's the winning that counts; entertainment is a very distant 2nd.

 

[roonster09]

Last season we finished 6th because our focus was to win the 2 trophies (which we did).
This season we have finished 2nd behind a record breaking MCFC side. This season's league position is the best we have had since SAF left.
To say that the 2 league campaigns have been poor is a bit daft. Either that, or you are stuck in 2013, when we were league champions.

We focused on Europa when our league form was inconsistent. It was good decision.

Oh yeah we are doing so great in the league, some 18 points behind leaders. So surely Jose shouldn't adapt or change at all. Everything is fine. We shouldn't even consider the cowardly performance against Seville.

Anyways I have made follow up posts, not arsed to repeat the same thing again and again.

 

[AR87]

I believe his major issue is he doesn't have a defined best XI. It seems as if he chops and changes the team quite often based on the quality and attributes of the opposition instead of trusting our own quality and abilities.

Even though he's always been a pragmatic and reactive manager by nature, I've felt that previously at Chelsea, Porto, Inter and Real Jose always knew what his preferred XI and formation was. Even last season I think he knew what was the optimal setup for what he wanted to achieve with the squad at his disposal. This year he really doesn't and it changes constantly even after successful or good performances. The switch from the lineup that worked against Liverpool to the one he utilized against Sevilla is a perfect example of this.

Some of that can be put on the players failing to show their true quality or any character and determination in their performances. However Jose must take a significant portion of the blame for not allowing chemistry to build up with key partnerships and also what often feels like a failure to properly communicate his tactical instructions to the team which has resulted in shambolic first half performances of late which only improve after halftime.

 

[The Purley King]

Mourinho won't change and it appears that he is losing/has lost some of his players already.
Shaw & Pogba are obviously not happy. Rumours that some Utd players feel Jose is bullying Shaw (I'd agree based on the very limited info that us fans have). 3rd season syndrome has come early and if he calls it a day at the end of the season I wouldn't be too upset.
Was listening to 5live (think it was Jenas) who said that Pep takes great players and makes them even better. Jose buys them, but who can you honestly say he has improved? Maybe a couple of the back4, but for anyone further forward its been a disaster.

 

[harms]

Because he isn't as successful as he was in his peak years, and the decline is noticeable, even though he's still winning things here and there. Football has changed massively in the past decade, mainly because of Pep, and we see his ideas implemented and used by the likes of Nagelsmann and Sarri now.

The comparison with van Gaal is quite appropriate — van Gaal himself, like Jose, was a revolutionary (van Gaal's Ajax of the 90's/Mourinho's Chelsea of 04/05), but at some point his ideas became outdated, same is true for Jose, even though not as drastically.

 

[lammybam]

He isn't going to change in any way. When he was appointed I (and I assume many others) said he will improve us short term vs a low bar but there will be drama and that's what he brings. At Chelsea Hazard went from being in top 10 players in the world to rubbish. Pogba is heading same way (albeit temporary so far).

 

[AR87]

The comparison with van Gaal is quite appropriate — van Gaal himself, like Jose, was a revolutionary (van Gaal's Ajax of the 90's/Mourinho's Chelsea of 04/05), but at some point his ideas became outdated, same is true for Jose, even though not as drastically.

The main reason I'm okay with giving Jose another season is I do think in the grand scheme of things we've improved in both seasons he's been here albeit not as fast as we want or expect. Additionally I think Mou's issue may be that he's not the guy to maximize the squad he's building, but his squad building has a purpose and if he targets the areas we're rumored to be in for this summer then even if we come up short and we choose to move on from him this summer I think he'll leave a very strong squad in place for his successor.

I felt very different about LvG as a manager and squad builder after Year 2 than I do Jose. It's a good comparison, just wanted to point out reasons I have more faith in Jose at the same stage as LvG.

 

[Loublaze]

That was a bad period for the PL, the qualty was poor, the English teams did not fare well in Europe. It's not a coincidence that fecking Leicester won the PL after Chelsea. United and City were in decline, Spurs weren' ready to challenge and Arsenal were Arsenal.

Look at Cherlsea's exit from the CL in 2015. It was pathetic.

Several points in your post don't have the facts to back them. Just last season City finished with less points in the league than they did in the season Mourinho last won the title with Chelsea. 2015/16 when Leicester won the title was the single weakest season in the PL points wise for the top teams but the 'declining' City team still reached the semis of the CL that season. Leicester made the quarterfinals of the CL in the following season of their league title and were the only English team to do so.

 

[VP89]

Because he isn't as successful as he was in his peak years, and the decline is noticeable, even though he's still winning things here and there. Football has changed massively in the past decade, mainly because of Pep, and we see his ideas implemented and used by the likes of Nagelsmann and Sarri now.

The comparison with van Gaal is quite appropriate — van Gaal himself, like Jose, was a revolutionary (van Gaal's Ajax of the 90's/Mourinho's Chelsea of 04/05), but at some point his ideas became outdated, same is true for Jose, even though not as drastically.

Surely if he were outdated in his approach he'd not have triumphed in La Liga when Pep was managing an amazing Barcelona side..

 

[Roboc7]

He shouldn’t change his tactics because it is what he does and has always done, club knew that when he was appointed.

It’s how he deals with the players and a lot of what he says to media that he will have to change or he will fail. A lot of what he has said over last week doesn’t serve much purpose other than self preservation and is unlikely to generate any kind of positive response.

I don’t think he has the charisma he has in his first spell at Chelsea and he doesn’t seem to be able to bond with players in same way he could then.

Managers do peak and feels like he has already, we were spoilt with SAF who was able to evolve but Mourinho isn’t going to change.

 

[Nytram Shakes]

Its the same debate as to why Sam Allardcye or Tony Pulis should change their tactics, they have been very succesful at the levels they are at, but after a while fans get fed up watching their style of football.

The same thing happens with Mourinho, he comes in and generally brings a success, but after a while, fans who can spend around 180 mins a week watching a team of his play(not to mention alot of money) start to get fed of of the un exciting way his teams play football. Add to that the constant whining, complaining and blaming in press conferences and after a while he he just rubs so many people up the wrong way people(fans, players, the board the media....) get sick of him and want him to go.

Mourinho, like Allarddyce also knows that most people that most people don't like the way his team plays, and you can tell it gets on his nerves and he feels he doesn't get the credit he deserves for the success he has had becuase of it.

So why should Mourinho change his tactics and style? well the simple answer is if he ever wants to be at a club long term then he has to, but if he is happy going from club to club bringing them short term success then he shouldn't change a thing.

 

[Bestietom]

I know it is hard to admit, but playing football the way City, Liverpool, and to an extent Spurs and Chelsea play, comes easier to a professional footballer, than the way that we do it. Our players just don't seem to want to play Mourinho's way, so the club owners/hierarchy has to decide what is best way forward.