MANCHESTER, ENGLAND - AUGUST 27: Jose Mourinho, manager of Manchester United in action during the Premier League match between Manchester United and Tottenham Hotspur at Old Trafford on August 27, 2018 in Manchester, United Kingdom. (Photo by Clive Mason/Getty Images)
Manchester United made right move in firing Jose Mourinho
Manchester United blinked first as they finally fire Jose Mourinho. However, the mess at the club is of their own doing.
It was only a matter of time before Manchester pulled the plug and fired Jose Mourinho. Under Mourinho, the club have suffered an even further fall from grace and currently find themselves in sixth place, 19 points behind Liverpool. However, the Portuguese manager was only a part of the problem. Manchester Unites share a significant part of the blame for the situation the club finds itself in.
The beginning of the end, so to speak, can be traced back to the departure of Sir Alex Ferguson. Ferguson can be credited with a lot of things but letting him name his successor, in hindsight, was a mistake. In choosing David Moyes, they chose a manager who was inexperienced at a big club and not prepared for the pressure and expectations set by club and fans alike.
From the offset, the way Moyes wanted to play did not fit in with how things were under Ferguson. There’s no clearer example than the signing of Marouane Fellaini. Fellaini is a good player but he sort of symbolizes what Manchester United has become. Moyes’ time at United was brief as he was sacked after ten months at the helm. Adding insult to injury, his contract has yet to run out.
After Moyes came in Louis van Gaal. As opposed to Moyes, the Dutchman did have prior experience at big clubs having managed the likes of Bayern Munich and Barcelona. He was also coming off a decent showing at the World Cup in 2014 with the Netherlands. While he had a better go of it than Moyes, his old-school style of management and lack of communication with players clashed leading to the departures of players like Memphis Depay, Javier Hernandez, and Rafael, to name a few.
Mourinho’s predecessors were evidence at the lack of direction from Manchester United. They were so sure that Moyes was the right guy especially after Ferguson asked for patience and support from the United faithful during his farewell speech.
Once it became obvious that Moyes was out of his depth, they had little clue of where to go to next. The rationale behind Van Gaal’s appointment was to get an experience manages in charge. But at his age, he was never meant to be a long-term solution. After Mourinho was fired by Chelsea and it was evident Van Gaal would not be back, a potential match was rumoured but somehow still unexpected because of how bad his tenure ended.
Manchester United should take some blame
They knew how his past managerial stints ended. They knew how he divided locker rooms at Chelsea and at Real Madrid. They knew his tendency to make things about him and his antics on the touchline.
Most of all, they knew how quickly his relationship with the board could disintegrate if he didn’t get the players he wanted and that’s exactly what happened. Manchester United was aware of the risks they took when they hired Mourinho but they believed that he had changed and took the risk anyway.
Mourinho is not blameless here
His first year at the club was a moderate success winning the EFL Cup and the Europa League. But everything went downhill fast after that. Despite Mourinho claiming that he was never given the players to succeed, Ed Woodward bought a lot of players that Mourinho wanted.
During his time as manager, they signed players like Lukaku, Alexis Sanchez, Fred, Matic, Lindelof, and Dalot. The fact of the matter is he was unable to get the best out of the players at his disposal. Buying world-class players is all well and good but you have to be able to coach them because the clubs around you are also buying some of the most talented players in the world. When Mourinho can’t get these players to perform, he begins to relegate these players to the bench and call them out publicly.
The aura should no longer be toxic
All this created a toxic environment with every little thing done by Mourinho becoming a story. His fights with Paul Pogba and his treatment of Luke Shaw are but two examples. His feud with Pogba reached exaggerated heights with the manager calling out Pogba in front of his teammates and allegedly calling the Frenchman a virus. It should come as no surprise that Pogba performs better when he’s with France than when he’s with Manchester United.
With his national team, he’s allowed to actually attack and they play an attacking style. Under Mourinho, they don’t seem to know what they’re playing. Their defense isn’t good enough to sit back because they’re so disorganized. In attack, Pogba rarely has teammates around him to lay the ball off too.
Manchester United has some very good players but their development and performances have all stagnated under Mourinho. Even in good performance such as the comeback against Newcastle, it had more to do with the players taking charge than anything Mourinho did.
All that being said, yes, the players also have a role to play. But it’s bad enough having to deal with the pressure of playing at Manchester United without also having to worry about being benched or out of the squad if you make one mistake. He’s done that with Fred, Andreas Pereira, and Eric Bailly – all players that he asked for.
Ole Gunner Solskjaer is reportedly set to be named as interim manager for the rest of the season. We’ll see if there is any sort of improvement. At the very least, the environment surrounding Old Trafford will be lighter.
For Manchester United, this represents an opportunity to right the ship. Under Pep Guardiola, Manchester City look set to compete for the title and for the Champions League for the foreseeable future. If United still want Manchester to be red, they need to find someone who comes in with a sensible project to turn things around. Could Solskjaer be that? Well, we’ll find out.
As for Mourinho, perhaps it’s best if he took some time off to re-evaluate things. The whole siege mentality and “us vs them” mentality doesn’t work when you’re at Manchester United or when you apply that mentality within your own locker room. The only question for Mourinho if he comes back now is which club is willing to take a chance on him.
