José Mourinho
Flickr photo by Jaguar MENA shared under a Creative Commons (BY 2.0) license.

José Mourinho: ‘The Special One’ on the brink of an exit

Mustafa Ismail·
Manchester United
·1 Comment·

With Manchester United’s underwhelming performances this season and the bust-ups within the team, José Mourinho’s days as manager seem to be numbered…

When Sir Alex Ferguson retired, the footballing world knew that one of the greatest, if not the greatest, managers of all time was stepping down. We all understood that Ferguson’s successor would struggle to replicate his achievements, but not even the Scotsman himself would’ve imagined the state the club is in right now. Five years on, Manchester United are battling to break the Premier League’s top half. It may still be early days, but just the way United have been playing under José Mourinho is appalling. The club are scrambling to compete with lower-ranked teams, let alone the likes of Liverpool and Manchester City.

The problem arguably started before the start of the season, when Mourinho was upset with the board for not investing in high-quality defenders to strengthen the squad. To be fair to the board, they had given Mourinho enough cash to splash in his last two seasons – which he in turn spent on the wrong players. Centre-backs are an issue for United this season, but it was Mourinho who purchased both Eric Bailly and Lindelof.

They duo are now being benched in favour of out-of-position midfielders. Similarly, it was baffling to buy Alexis Sanchez and pay him the highest wages in the league when defenders were a priority. Sanchez has not performed to expectations since his arrival at Old Trafford, and despite scoring a late winner against Newcastle on the weekend, he has a lot to do to justify his purchase.

José Mourinho’s biggest failure has arguably been the confusion between his style of play and the ‘United’ style established by Sir Alex Ferguson. Mourinho is a defensive coach who sets his team up to counter-attack the opposition, and has done this successfully with the likes of Chelsea, Real Madrid, and Inter Milan. However, the difference at Manchester United is that Mourinho does not have the solidity at the back to play his way.

The porous defence exists largely due to high investments in luxury attacking players like Pogba, Sanchez, and Lukaku. After buying such players, you must afford them to freedom to play in a creative manner. It’s unreasonable to cage them and make them play the José Mourinho way because it just won’t come naturally to them. That is exactly what has happened and it has led to conflict between the likes of Mourinho and Pogba, which has clearly had a negative effect on team’s performances on the field.

Who takes the blame?

That being said, José Mourinho is not the only one to blame for the team’s lacklustre performances. The players also have to take responsibility because it’s evident that they’re not giving 100% on the pitch. As a professional, no matter what is going on behind closed doors, it is your job to perform and give your best. The fans are bleeding the most in this situation and the club should understand the need for changes. If they fail to act, they will lose the support of so many people who have been spending their time and money to support the club they love.

It’s impossible to replace a squad of players immediately so the best solution for now is to sack José Mourinho and bring in a manager who can attempt to tame this crisis. Zinedine Zidane is currently available and would be a great replacement – but the Frenchman will have a lot on his plate if he’s to get this team to start winning consistently again. Old Trafford is known as the “Theatre of Dreams”, but every away team is picking up points and scoring for fun as the fortress falls apart. This is probably the toughest time the club and fans have faced in recent memory, and plenty of hard work is needed to turn the ship around and set it back on course.