comment by Virtue is sufficient for happiness (U17054)
posted 1 minute ago
We took a risk with Moyes, and something of one with LVG, and we went backwards, then nowhere.

Now we are actually progressing.

I can't see any other managers about who are available who would have us competing with City, or even comfortably above these Liverpool and Spurs sides.

If people want him sacked based on the kind of football we are playing, I have no problem with that. But they'll have to accept that we will slide back again results-wise.

And again, if people are happy with that, then I'm not arguing with them.
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As Mike alluded to earlier, I think the drop in results is inevitable at whichever point Jose leaves. Simply because the board will be pretty much forced to hire an "anti-Jose" due to the negative press we've had under him. (Again, this goes back to the DoF argument.)

Results or not, his mindset in games like today will never be to go out and get the game won. He will not change now.

There are plenty of managers who with the exact same bunch of players we have, would have them set up differently and could have put the tie to bed in the first leg away.

We had no intention of even trying to do that, that’s what winds me up the most. The fact that was never in our plan. It was simply to bring the game home and keep it tight, which we did, and even then we approached the home game in a similar cautious fashion worrying more about not losing to a side like Seville rather than letting them worry about us.

Inarguably.

I'm not sure it actually frustrates me any more, because I know it is going to happen before the game.

I still think we'll finish second and have every chance in the FA Cup though.

“I still think we'll finish second and have every chance in the FA Cup though.“

Sounds good on the face of it doesn’t it?

But ask yourself how much you’ve enjoyed yourself watching us this year.

I'm a happy-go-lucky kinda guy Mike

No, it hasn't always been great in terms of the style of football. But for me, on balance it has been better than last season and better than it often was under LVG.

Can anyone tell me in this day and age of football, who the feck succeeds with the negative/pragmatic tactics Jose employs? Simeone is probably the only one I can think of, and even he's gone a bit backwards now since he won the league.

The game has passed Jose by and now he's just not a unique manager anymore, he's been worked out for years now and he's like any other bog standard coach. I've said this for ages, his methods are outdated and his inability to coach an attack is catching him up. He has not adapted one bit. He's losing/drawing more games now too.

comment by Big Shaq (U11781)
posted 43 seconds ago
Can anyone tell me in this day and age of football, who the feck succeeds with the negative/pragmatic tactics Jose employs? Simeone is probably the only one I can think of, and even he's gone a bit backwards now since he won the league.

The game has passed Jose by and now he's just not a unique manager anymore, he's been worked out for years now and he's like any other bog standard coach. I've said this for ages, his methods are outdated and his inability to coach an attack is catching him up. He has not adapted one bit. He's losing/drawing more games now too.
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He's not been found out by Klopp, Conte or Wenger, and his results are by most standards still pretty excellent.

Have a go at him based on his approach, not his results.

Klopp and Conte are in the top 5 of worst win ratios Jose has against an opposition manager. His win ratio against Klopp before Saturday was 16%.

As for Wenger, seriously Rosso?

I still think we'll finish second and have every chance in the FA Cup though.
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Maybe. This is the thing though. It's got to the point where it's really not about this for me.

Liverpool could end up below us in the league and trophyless, with less progression (position-wise) in the league compared to last season.

Yet their fans in general are overwhelmingly more content with their side than we are with ours. That's simply because they enjoy watching their team. Much as is pains me to say, I don't enjoy watching mine that often anymore.

If people are willing to accept that for a 2nd place finish and an FA Cup, fair enough, I can't argue with that. But I just find performances (not even the result) like today and the 1st leg too hard to swallow.

Mourinho has already lost 18 matches at United and he's not even reached two years yet at the club. When did Jose ever lost that many games in that amount of time between 2002-2015?

Why does it have to be accepted the results will slide? We’ve managed to stay second all season despite many of our attackers failing to fulfill their potential and the side being pretty unbalanced. A manager that pays more attention to coaching attacking patterns of play and having a more postivie approach could potentially improve results. But the main thing would be watching enjoyable football.

The style is why I didn’t want Mourinho to begin with. But the results and way the side has been built under him have underwhelmed me given how highly I rate Mourinho as a manager. He just doesn’t fit with the players and expectation we have at the club, in my opinion.

He’s stabilised us somewhat and looks like qualifying us for the CL again, something we’ve failed to do two years running since Fergie left, which given the mess we’ve been in for years is progress. But I don’t think he’ll progress to where we want to be playing the football we want to see.

Taking over Manchester United is a huge task and isn’t as easy as is made out, just because we have money, but there must be a coach out there that is a better fit for us.

Sadly Mourinho will get another season at least and we’ll likely be having more of the same conversations about what we see on the pitch, albeit I can still see improved results as our squad does still need some work that we’ll be looked at in the summer.

But the results and way the side has been built under him have underwhelmed me given how highly I rate Mourinho as a manager.

Darren people think I love to moan about everything with the manager, but I'm up front and the reason I'm always underwhelmed is because of the standards I have for Mourinho. He's someone who wants to be the best, but that's not something he's remotely displayed at the club.

comment by Big Shaq (U11781)
posted 3 minutes ago
Klopp and Conte are in the top 5 of worst win ratios Jose has against an opposition manager. His win ratio against Klopp before Saturday was 16%.

As for Wenger, seriously Rosso?
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Mourinho's record against Klopp is improving. If anything he's found Klopp out.

How about his record against Pochettino then? Even his record against Pep the Messiah?

Honestly, compare Jose's record with United against Moyes's or LVG's. Then if you really want to scare yourself, compare it with Fergie's.

Mourinho had only beaten Klopp once before Saturday in 8 attempts, that is shocking for a manager of his standards.

He's got a terrible record against Pep too, think he's just beaten him four times in 15 odd attempts. Pep, Klopp, Conte and Koeman are the managers he's failed to beat consistently.

Again, have a crack at his style of play. If that's why you don't want him at the club then fine. I don't have a problem with that.

But I would, and probably will, bet any amount of money that we will see a reversal in terms of the progress we have made with our results when Jose's replacement eventually comes in.

Jose has just said in his press conference we need to spend more this summer as well

comment by Big Shaq (U11781)
posted 1 minute ago
Mourinho had only beaten Klopp once before Saturday in 8 attempts, that is shocking for a manager of his standards.

He's got a terrible record against Pep too, think he's just beaten him four times in 15 odd attempts. Pep, Klopp, Conte and Koeman are the managers he's failed to beat consistently.
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That isn't a terrible record against Pep. It's probably the best in the world

Conte I think he's only faced as United boss hasn't he?

It depends on who it is, Rosso. But we won’t know until it happens. And we won’t know how theymd progress from this season given Mourinho will still be here next season anyway.

Mourinho is right that we need to spend more in the summer. Are you honestly telling me you’dbe happy going into next season with our midfield and back four?

Nope, they faced each other in Serie A too.

comment by Alexis The King Sanchez (U10026)
posted 1 minute ago
It depends on who it is, Rosso. But we won’t know until it happens. And we won’t know how theymd progress from this season given Mourinho will still be here next season anyway.

Mourinho is right that we need to spend more in the summer. Are you honestly telling me you’dbe happy going into next season with our midfield and back four?
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You are the richest club in the world. Get whoever you want. Mou's no good for you.

I do agree we need to spend, I just don't trust him to spend the money wisely.

comment by Alexis The King Sanchez (U10026)
posted 4 minutes ago
It depends on who it is, Rosso. But we won’t know until it happens. And we won’t know how theymd progress from this season given Mourinho will still be here next season anyway.

Mourinho is right that we need to spend more in the summer. Are you honestly telling me you’dbe happy going into next season with our midfield and back four?
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I think the back four could come together. With Valencia, TFM, Bailly, Jones, Smalling, Tuanzebe, Rojo, Shaw and Young we could - could - have enough. A lot depends on keeping Jones fit and if Shaw can kick on at all.

The midfield still needs reinforcement with Carrick retiring and if Fellaini moves on. We need some grit in there.

Not as simple as getting whoever we want.

Only faced Conte once in Serie A, drew that game. Yeah whether he spends it wisely is a concern, but I do expdct a couple of improvements in certain positions at least.

Just gonna have to put up with this shiiiiiit for at least another year.

The back four still has a lot of issues, Rosso. Especially at full back.

We're playing two converted wingers at fullback, we are so poor in defence and Sevilla have exposed us tonight. Even Palace did.