Meet the new boss, same as the old boss. Well, almost. Mourinho is certainly more like Ferguson than Moyes or van Gaal were. Even taking into account that Moyes is from Glasgow he had little else in common with Ferguson.
Some of the press have been reporting an interview given by Lord Ferg to BBC Sport during which he mentioned how Mourinho has now calmed down on the touchline, pointing out that it was his Latin temperament which was to blame for the occasional outbursts. (more…)
Manchester City and Manchester United are probably the two richest clubs in the Premier League. They have the two most successful and, arguably, best managers. They have the best squads and some of the world’s most expensive players.
The only club which comes anywhere near them in these respects is Chelsea, also with great wealth, a big squad and expensive players. Their manager, however, is an unknown quantity at this level. I suppose it could be argued that Pep Guardiola is in the same situation, but he has won far more domestic honours than Antonio Conte. (more…)
For a short period of time, a couple of years ago, Brendan Rodgers looked as though he may win the Premier League title with Liverpool. He certainly came closer than they have done for many a year and all the stupid cliches came babbling forth from the experts and the press. My favourite is, “they will never have a better chance of winning it than they did that year“.
That, of course, is complete nonsense as, under JĂĽrgen Klopp, they may very well have their best chance of winning it, although it is yet to come. (more…)
What continually drives people like JosĂ© Mourinho to succeed? It isn’t money. Alright, in the early days of their career it IS money but, after the initial successes have eliminated the need to ever work again, what becomes the motivating factor?
It is a question asked of many of the world’s richest people and, in a lot of cases, it is STILL money. The quest to be the richest in the world, the additional power that even more money brings with it. These are forces which have been known to propel the wealthy to even greater things.
Generally not, however, where top football managers are concerned. (more…)
When José Mourinho was sacked by Roman Abramovich a year ago, many people thought he had lost the plot and had reached the stage where managing a top flight football club was no longer the challenge he required.
He was well into his second coming at the club and had won the Premier League title in the previous season. So what happened?
Did he lose the players? It is an overused expression nowadays but it may have been true in this case, almost certainly with some of them. (more…)
Wayne Rooney, depending upon which newspaper you choose to believe, is paid anything form ÂŁ200k – ÂŁ300k per week.
He is proud of his achievements in the game. That is fine, but what has he actually achieved that nobody else has?
He is captain of Manchester United because there was nobody else at the time but, most people would agree, he should not be captain of United.
He is captain of England because he is captain of Manchester United and, again, most people would agree, it is not a position he should be holding. (more…)
JosĂ© Mourinho appears to handle failure in the same way as he handles success. The success is well known and has been demonstrated on several occasions. It is usually a sullen look, a half smirk of “I knew we would win it” followed by a disappearing act leaving his players to enjoy the limelight while he sneaks off home to be with his family.
For failure take the same sequence but leave out the half smirk. He has yet to perfect a unique reaction to failure because it is still a relatively new experience for him. (more…)
This is the latest incarnation in a fairly long history of the José Mourinho persecution complex. Nothing is his fault and the whole world is out to get him.
In truth this attitude helped to develop a siege mentality during his successful years at Chelsea and Real Madrid . He managed to convince his players that they were universally hated and nobody, except their own fans, wished them well.
It is not dissimilar to the way Sir Alex Ferguson used to motivate his teams. Proving to be the best was always, in his opinion, the only way to show those doubters and haters how wrong they were. (more…)
(JosĂ© Mourinho has a few things to think about before Sunday’s game with Swansea)
Manchester United have gone from being challengers to strugglers in a few short weeks.
Whether it is more surprising that they actually played well at the start of the season, or that they returned to their abject selves after a very short while is debatable.
What seems to have been missed by Moyes, van Gaal and now Mourinho, is that the United players appear to find it virtually impossible to pass the ball to each other. The amount of times a pass goes straight to an opposition player is now too numerous to be put down to bad luck or just erratic passing. (more…)
In the 1960’s Chelsea, for some reason, were always better away from home than they were at home. Could it have had anything to do with the crowd being so far from the pitch, seemingly a current problem for West Ham United?
The days of Peter Osgood, Charlie Cooke, Peter Bonetti, Ron and Alan Harris et al produced far superior returns on the road than any other team. In fact, if Chelsea could have corrected their home form during this period they wouldn’t have had to wait quite as long as they did to win the title. (more…)
WHY SAY ANYTHING? 