20 Jan 2019 21:53:52
It seems the knives are still out for our last manager, however, whilst it is popular to criticise him there is a point people keep ignoring.

Yesterday the Chelsea manager Sarri, said of his players, 'This defeat was due to our mentality. this group of players are extremely difficult to motivate'. This is a group who have shown they play when they want to, the club puts them before the manager. It is like a wave pattern, manager comes in and they do well, manager asks them to do something they don't like they down tools and the manager is eventually sacked.

Everyone is glowing in Ole's seven wins but is forgetting our own players started in this cycle and we are just as vulnerable to it as Chelsea. Right now players are "happy", but what happens when they are not. SAF said the power should be with the manager and I hope Woodward sees that, whoever is our long term option. We have players who clearly down tooled whilst Mourinho was manager and it could easily happen again. We need to think whether we want a turnover of managers like Chelsea, so instead of just criticising our last manager we should realise there is a lurking issue still to be resolved that formed part but not all the reason why he was sacked. Whoever becomes the next permanent manager will need absolute commitment at board level or we will see the wave pattern at United.

1.) 20 Jan 2019
20 Jan 2019 22:30:34
It's a terrible trend in football sadly and it's been going on for quite some time. It was only because Sir Alex was unsackable that we weren't accustomed to it but player power has been around a long time.

Jose likes his senior players because their mentality isn't as fragile as a younger player. I always loved seeing the inside of a dressing room when a manager is going mental at a team. I'm not sure it happens anymore? It's not to say that his way is right or wrong it's just slowly being outdated.

Jose failed the players and the players failed the manager and both failed the club.

Everything is rosie in the garden now but what happens when Lukaku isn't happy about being on the bench and his mate Pogba starts stirring crap. The dissent from the players was completely unprofessional at the end of Joses tenure.

Is Ole the man that could survive the dressing room if and when they sour? Our players have shown they're shrinking violets. We need a lot of work, is he the man that can handle it or will he be so happy he's the boss that he let's the bigger players dictate the club?

2.) 20 Jan 2019
20 Jan 2019 22:41:26
Red man, I completely agree. There are other issues that need sorting. Woodward is still just as clueless, the club still don't have a clear identity or vision moving forward, and the "problem" players are still at the club.

However, I do feel the only reason anyone is still mentioning the previous manager is because that manager has come out talking about the club in the press over the last couple of days. Thus it is all dug up again.

I am happy to put the whole Mourinho era down to a bad decision by all involved. I am happy to thank Jose for the cups he won with us, and the hard work he put in. I wish him well and success in his future endeavours.

I still feel that he was the architect of his own downfall at our club, but am prepared to admit there were several mitigating circumstances that certainly didn't help him.

Time to move on. We have Ole now, at least for the time being. And he is doing better than any of us expected. Let's enjoy it.

3.) 20 Jan 2019
20 Jan 2019 23:08:32
He's gone. He has nothing whatsoever to do with our club any more. Let's put him out of our minds, give thanks for actually enjoying watching our team play again, and leave him to blame whoever he likes. Nobody is saying there aren't other issues, or that we should just give Olé the job now, but one person was mainly responsible for José failing, and that was José. Olé is just showing that it's not rocket science, when you have talented players in your squad.

4.) 21 Jan 2019
21 Jan 2019 00:17:35
For a manager to admit they are struggling, does that not show they are incapable of doing their job?

5.) 21 Jan 2019
21 Jan 2019 03:57:50
Redman I have to completely disagree with you on Chelsea, watching the arsenal Chelsea game felt like watching a lvg game. Chelsea had possession but most of it was pointless, sarri seems to not understand how to use kante, jorginho looks more like blind than xavi in the role he has been given, add to that they don't have a striker, it looked more to me that a manager messing up tactically than players doing anything wrong.

6.) 21 Jan 2019
21 Jan 2019 06:27:11
But Mourinho is right about the lack of structure. We are not organized as Man City and do not have a clear vision to move forward.

7.) 21 Jan 2019
21 Jan 2019 06:30:19
CSM
I agree on Chelsea tactical set up against Arsenal but their very new manager is flagging the same failing that keeps costing managers their jobs. If they don’t like what they are being asked they don’t put 100% in and the downhill path to the manager being sacked starts, repeat. That is what I don’t want to see at United and we still have the same bunch of players.

8.) 21 Jan 2019
21 Jan 2019 08:23:22
We do have the same bunch of players. Yet was it ever likely that we would sell all or even any of the trouble makers in January?

Chelsea's troubles started when the owner started getting too friendly with the players and they felt they had the ear of the owner.

9.) 21 Jan 2019
21 Jan 2019 08:52:02
Red Man, you make a good point, I think it's starting to happen more and more. Was it Argentina in the World up who pretty much decided to ignore the manager completely?

I don't knoww what the answer is but I suspect very good motivational and man management skills would help.

Chelsea is is fascinating as he has chosen to call them out, it will be interesting to see how they react.

10.) 21 Jan 2019
21 Jan 2019 08:53:32
Redman got me sarri is using an old excuse save himself in Chelsea's case, about our problems with player power, have we actually seen anything to suggest players deliberately under performing.

When the first Mourinho sacking rumors came out, it was martial, shaw and pogba who were our best performers, post his virus rant pogba was on the bench and martial and shaw were still playing pretty well it wasn't on any of them that our results were bad, if you look at players whose performance have gone up dramatically since the sacking only 1 name comes to mind that's matic, pogba went through a bad spell but before and after that he has been ok, nothing special but he is scoring goals because the manager is allowing everyone to attack.

If you look at all our managers only under moyes can I say players clearly downed tools and most of those aren't here anymore. Under lvg it was a tactical failing, under Mourinho it was bad tactics and clearly demotivated team. In last 7 games whose performances have seriously improved so much for Mourinho or anyone else to suggest that players downed their tools?

11.) 21 Jan 2019
21 Jan 2019 10:14:32
CSM, you make a good point. Did the players truly down tools?

I suppose that depends on what it means to "down tools". Surely the most obvious meaning is exactly as it sounds you down your tools and refuse to work. So how many players refused to play football for Jose Mourinho? I would argue none. None refused to pull on the shirt and go out and play. So in the true sense no players downed tools.

However, I think what most consider "downing tools" is in fact not giving 100% effort. Which in itself is a very grey area. For example there have been many days at work where I will admit I didn't give it 100% effort, maybe I was hungover, or had a cold, or had an argument with the misses, or was distracted by things in my private life or even things on a global scale. I have also managed people and I can say that even highly motivated people don't put in 100% effort all the time.

So with that in mind how many of us can categorically say that any perceived lack of effort was definitely down to the players refusing to work for the manager?

Is it simply the players putting more effort in now which has seen an up turn in results?

I disagree, we have a poor defence, one which will give our opponents chances. So it doesn't make sense to invite pressure on that defence and make them do more defending than absolutely necessary. Yet That was exactly the tactics Mourinho employed. Ole has gone the other way and asked our side to spend more time attacking than defending and suddenly when our better players have the ball more and our weaker players are relied on less we look a better side. That has nothing to do with motivation or effort, just common sense and good tactics.

First rule of team sports, play to your strengths. Ours isn't defending so setting our side up to defend is setting them up to fail.

I do believe the players could have worked harder under Mourinho, yet I don't believe in dictatorships. So a leader has to lead by inspiration. You inspire those around you to work hard, to follow you and to adopt your vision. Did Mourinho inspire his players? No, they looked demotivated because of his actions. So was the fault the players or the managers? I would say both, but mostly the managers as it is a huge part of his remit to motivate the players. Jose failed on that front and that played a large role in him losing his job. The other issue was his insistence on playing a certain way that didn't play to his players strengths but exposed their weaknesses.

All in all it was poor management, yet no one has covered themselves in glory. The board, Ed Woodward, the manager and the players. That is why that despite how well some of our players are playing Ole is getting all the credit. Because he is the one thing that is different so he gets the credit for the up turn in performance. The buck starts and stops with the manager. Ole gets the credit for the team performing well as Jose took the blame for them performing badly.

12.) 21 Jan 2019
21 Jan 2019 10:44:04
I have no clue how it became got me, it should be to me.

13.) 21 Jan 2019
21 Jan 2019 12:09:32
A professional will go out and do their job, even with a poor man-manager in charge. But run through a brick wall for them? Hardly.

14.) 21 Jan 2019
21 Jan 2019 14:45:56
Lets just be glad he has gone and we are now playing some decent footy with some positive tactics .

15.) 22 Jan 2019
22 Jan 2019 04:33:00
You could argue that it was Mourinho who created this situation at Chelsea and United by his mismanagement of players. That’s only one of his failings.