Posts Tagged ‘Jose Mourinho’

 

imageAccording to Wayne Rooney he is extra motivated by the fact that Jose Mourinho is now the manager of Manchester United.

This means, by definition, that he didn’t give 100% when Louis “the loser” van Gaal was in charge. Logically “extra motivation” can only take him to a maximum of 100% as nobody has more than that to give, despite all the pundits who think some players give 150% or more!

So, if he didn’t try as hard as he might have done under van Gaal, yet he was extra motivated by being given the captaincy, where does this put his level under Moyes and, previously, under Ferguson? Again, by a process of deduction, he was only giving about 50%. (more…)

 

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That doesn’t mean to say that he doesn’t intend to be there for a while, just that it doesn’t appear that way at present.

The signing of Ibrahimovic seems to be a very short term engagement and one which is more likely to gain United nothing more than extra shirt sales.

Ibrahimovic played for a poor Sweden side during the Euros and, although they exited at the end of the group stage, he didn’t manage to score one goal. He had a decent time at PSG where he came across second rate defenders for most of his stay thus enabling him to score quite a few goals. It very much remains to be seen whether or not he can achieve the same in the English Premier league. (more…)

 

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Let’s start at the beginning, number one. It would seem that David De Gea is among the top three or four goalkeepers in the world and, as second choice, Mourinho has the Argentina number one in Sergio Romero, so that position seems pretty safe at present.

Action required: None

Next is the right full/wing back position. It is hard to say who is the current number one for this role. Van Gaal brought in Matteo Darmian who was the first choice for Italy. He suffered a loss of form after a bright start and was replaced by Guillermo Varela, then Cameron Borthwick-Jackson and, eventually, Antonio Valencia. Varela’s defending was a little naive at times, BJ is still very young but looks a great prospect and Valencia cannot defend as he frequently proved last season, getting caught out of position on many occasions and failing to play the offside with the rest of the defence. (more…)

 

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It seems that Manchester United’s overworked scouts have again been collecting some overtime.

Having already unearthed a gem by scouting the little known French league and coming up with Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Jose Mourinho sent them back across the channel to see if there were any more hidden away.

Before long a report was winging it’s way to Old Trafford bearing news of a young player at a little club in Paris. His name: Paul Labile Pogba. According to the scouts he would be a snip at around ÂŁ90 million and would cost a mere ÂŁ300k per week. They had watched a couple of games and, although he had been pretty ineffective, the scouts had seen enough to convince them that a move should be made to sign him. (more…)

 

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A step in the right direction was certainly taken when Manchester United sacked Louis van Gaal and appointed Jose Mourinho.

Employing a world class manager, however, is not the end of the matter. Players need to be brought in and other players need to be shipped out.

At the time of writing, Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Eric Bailly have been confirmed and Henrikh Mhkitaryan, whilst not yet confirmed, has also joined. Rumours are rife about other potential arrivals.

As I have stated in a previous post, Ibrahimovic appears to have been signed to generate income more than anything else. His age, failure to score any goals in the Euros and being given a one year contract all point to this as the reason for his being there. Hopefully, as he has probably been promised a starting berth next season, he will chip in with a few goals. (more…)

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There now exists, more than ever before, a two-team competition in oneupmanship in Manchester. No sooner have Manchester City appointed Pep Guardiola then Manchester United are appointing Jose Mourinho.

City sign Ilkay Gundogan and United sign Henrikh Mhkitaryan, both from Borussia Dortmund and neither of whom will have the fans singing their names for a while, certainly not if they have to learn to spell them first!

United are reportedly looking to sign Paul Pogba so City are immediately linked with Luis Suarez.

United will break the world transfer record, but only if City don’t! (more…)

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He may be Manchester United’s longest serving player. He may be perceived as part of the furniture. He may have scored some great goals over the years. He may also have slept with his brother’s wife and changed his name from Wilson to Giggs because he preferred his mother to his father.

Over the many years Giggs was turning out for United he achieved a great deal. He did lots of things, some positive and some negative. When all of this is taken into account, from where does he get the impression, (if indeed he has the impression), that he should be the next Manchester United manager, whether that was following Ferguson, Moyes or van Gaal?

Where is the experience at lower league level? In fact, where is the managerial experience at ANY level? (more…)

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Who’s idea was it to employ David Moyes as a successor to Sir Alex Ferguson?

If we are to believe the press then it was Sir Alex himself. This is debatable because, although he retired at the height of his powers, it would be churlish to think that one man decides the future direction of a club the size of United. I think he may have been given the casting vote, but that is all and, in itself, shows the power he had at the time.

We are also expected to believe that Moyes was chosen over Jose Mourinho. This is pushing the realms of fantasy a little too far as well. David Moyes, with his record of winning absolutely nothing, was given the United job before the most successful manager, after Fergie, who had won titles in three different countries.

Either Ed Woodward is even more incompetent than people think he is or the stories simply aren’t true. Perish the thought that the great British press may have been telling a few porkies. (more…)

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The jury is out on this one!

There are obvious reasons to expect that Pep will be successful at City, not
least given that he is working with people he knows well at the club. This is an obvious advantage from when he took over at Bayern Munich where he knew nobody really well in the beginning.

He also doesn’t have to win much next season to be rated a success. Manuel Pellegrini left having won only the Capital One Cup in his final year.

At Bayern the odds were against him even replicating what Jupp Heynckes had achieved, never mind bettering it. A treble of the Bundesliga, German Cup and Champion’s League was always going to be a tall order. As it turned out he found winning the Bundesliga and German Cup relatively easy and only the Champion’s League proved elusive. (more…)

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Starting with Zlatan Ibrahimovic, who looks pretty nailed on to arrive at Old Trafford in the very near future. His purchase will sell a lot of shirts and will certainly please some sponsors but is it a good deal? Judging by the way he has totally underwhelmed at the Euros the answer has to be “No”. Also, at 34, he is not in the age group of players a club like United should be signing.

Scoring a lot of goals in the French league is not too difficult a task for a decent striker. Defences are not even Championship level and the margin by which PSG won the title should warn any potential suitors of players that they may not be as good as the league makes them look.

Chances of being a success at United: 4/10 (more…)