23 Oct 2017 20:14:33
Ed001,

I hope all is well with you.

Do you think Uniteds recent results are anything to worry about.

{Ed001's Note - not really, every team has a blip, it is a bit early to start worrying. The only real worry is Jose, if you ask me. If he is up for it, really wants to make it work in Manchester, then the team will respond in the next few games and results will improve. If he is in a sulk, then yes, the results will become a problem. Right now it is just 3 games with 1 draw, 1 win, 1 loss, so hardly worrying.

Performances though, well that is what you expect from Jose's team, so you just have to suck it up when it happens. His teams always go through these spells, usually they sneak 1 or 2 nil wins anyway and it is those that win him titles.}

1.) 24 Oct 2017
24 Oct 2017 08:42:02
Ed001; the thing is I don't think he really does want to make it work in Manchester. Living in a hotel, talking about PSG, short term contract, poor player attitudes etc. it all says he's not bothered.

I find bizarre because he is at the pinnicle of everything you could possibly want as a professional football manager. Biggest club in the world with a rich history and lots of money. Moreover, it's an underperforming team which means he has a challenge and the opportunity to demonstrate just what a good manager he is. It's ripe for him to build a legacy and anyone worth his salt would relish what Jose has.

Except I don't think he is a very good manager; at least not anymore. I think his approach and tactics are dated so he's being found out. I also think his lack of committment and has spread to the players. It's difficult for them to be motivated if they can see the manager isn't bothered. Furthermore, he's shown that he doesn't have much confidence in his players so we can't be surprised if they lack a little confidence in themselves.

He would have been the ideal appointment straight after Fergie. He has the ego not to have wilted under that kind of pressure like Moyes did and to be fair he's a lot better manager than Moyes. Three years under Mourinho then a manager more suited to Utd for the long term would have been ideal.

At the start of this season he looked happy, relaxed and up for it. Now, I can't wait for him to go and it's not even November. Ta ra Jose.

2.) 24 Oct 2017
24 Oct 2017 09:36:39
Ah thanks ed,

I hope its just a blip like you said and the players pick themselves up and start performing.

3.) 24 Oct 2017
24 Oct 2017 09:59:55
I think the fact his family are not living with him shows how deep his longer term commitment is or rather is not. If he really saw himself being at Utd for 5 or more years no way would he be living apart from them in a hotel.

4.) 24 Oct 2017
24 Oct 2017 10:09:04
I think too much is being made of Jose living in the Lowry.

His career history suggests he isn't going to be here in the long term. He has never stayed anywhere for more than three years maximum.

He has kids who are finally settled in London. These kids have had to endure moves from Portugal to England, then to Italy then Spain now back to London.

His children have never had a settled life due to his work. Now his children are at important ages from an educational view point making them change schools again just isn't the right thing to do as a parent.

So if his kids have to stay in London then his options are either rent a house/ apartment and rattle around it alone all week or stay in a hotel where it would probably be easier to socialise.

As for the fluttering his eyelashes towards PSG. That is classic Mourinho. First off he was being interviewed in France, they were highly likely to ask him about whether he would want to work with the biggest club currently in France. Secondly he is coming up to halfway through his current contract, at the time the team was playing well and had some very good results. So in Jose's mind it was the perfect time to put a little pressure on Woodward to secure himself a contract extension.

Contract starting to run down, team playing well and getting results, other top teams maybe showing an interest.

The downturn in recent performances I feel is down to injuries exposing the flaws in our squad. Yaz, on the others page has written a great post on our recent drop off in performance level. Without Pogba playing through balls early we lack quick penetration. Our lack of quality wide players is being highlighted. This is exasperated by our recent injuries in defence upsetting our previously stable defence and Lukaku carrying a knock and not quite looking as fresh as he did in the early games this season.
Our injuries are right through the spine of our team which is our strength, we are now relying on our weaker areas to pick up the slack and they are failing. A lack of quality wide players is our undoing atm.

5.) 24 Oct 2017
24 Oct 2017 12:00:27
Shappy, are you part of Mourinho's PR team or something?

No one's expecting Jose to move his family if they are settled in London or Paris or the moon or wherever but living in a hotel for three years is not OK. Firstly because it affects his state of mind and he has already said he hates life in Manchester. Well no bloody wonder if you're living in a crap hotel Jose!

Secondly, it tells the players that he doesn't plan on being around very long. Remember what happened when Fergie prematurely announced his retirement?

As for his flirtation with PSG, are you suggesting that because it's just "classic Mourinho" that it's OK? £15 million a year not good enough? It's far from OK and he should have been sacked for it. Also, why would he want a contract extension if he's not planning on staying?

Yes, the downturn is partly due to injuries but then it's up to the manager to whow what he can do with what he has left. Showing some confidence in those players would be a good start.

Honestly, Shappy, please stop excusing the guy; he's taking the michael out of all of us.

6.) 24 Oct 2017
24 Oct 2017 12:42:29
Wow so shappy makes some very valid points but because mancman has his Jose out agenda there all bs. we've had a great start to the season n played good attacking football (which must kill u) but then injuries kicked in to a few vital players n then the players who r meant to replace the injured players get injured. In that time we've played 3 poor games lost one drawn one n won one hardly sackable results. To be calling for his head is stupid and infantile n shooting someone down for answering your posts points shows your only agenda is Jose out. Who do u want to replace him that's gettable?

7.) 24 Oct 2017
24 Oct 2017 13:16:37
Shappy, the PSG flirtation disappointed me. He may be trying to twist the board's arm over finance, but I'm not going to support him playing his petty, ego-driven games at our club. We're Man Utd, one of the biggest clubs in the world, not a little play-thing for José to manipulate for his own self-interest.

8.) 24 Oct 2017
24 Oct 2017 13:28:33
Mancman, if your not going to live with your family then why is living in a hotel suite worse than living in an apartment?

If he had is own apartment he would have to clean it, change the bedding ect or hire a maid. But in a hotel all that is done for him. The only advantage having your own apartment would have would be the ability to cook for yourself. Jose has never proclaimed himself to be a fantastic amateur chef. If he would rather order a take away or go out for dinner rather than cook food for himself then having a hotel room over an apartment just means no kitchen to clean or weekly visits to ASDA to fill up the fridge.

I really don't see why you have a bee in your bonnet over it.

Hell it's the same hotel the ENTIRE team stay in the night before home games. So it's hardly a poor place to stay.

He is unhappy living in Manchester because he misses his family. The are two solutions to this problem, he either uproots his family and disrupts his children's education, or the club moves to London. Neither are really acceptable options so Jose will have to either continue to live in Manchester without his family or quit as manager of Manchester united. Neither are things he wants to do.

I guarantee you the moment Jose no longer wants to be our manager we'll know about it.

I wasn't excusing Mourinho for flirting with PSG. Only stating it is something all managers/ players do when their contracts are running down and they want a renewal. If we sacked/ sold every manager/ player who does it we would struggle to field eleven players in any given match.

Hell most fans felt Fellaini's injury played a big part in us not getting the desired result at Anfield. Yet he has rejected a contract renewal and is unhappy the club refused him the transfer he wanted in the summer. Yet we the fans still want him to play for us.

I don't like it, but then there's many things I have to put up with which I don't like. That's just the way the world is. I've been brought up to never complain about anything I'm not actively trying to change. Which I think is a good way to look at things. If your not trying to fix the problem then clearly you don't care enough about it.

As for being able to get get the team to perform when key players are out injured. Jose has managed to win one lose one and draw one. Hardly awful results. Performances weren't great but they never are for any team when key personnel are missing. If you can get any old player to play like a world class player then no one would chase the world class players. There is a weakness in the squad that has been exposed by multiple injuries, especially those to key players. Any top manager will tell you when that happens results are the only thing that counts. Managers get sacked for poor results not poor performances. You always need to result, if you can put on a performance as well then great. But if all your big performance players are out injured then you go for the result.

If Jose had tried to go for style over substance against Liverpool, Benfica and Huddersfield and we had three losses then you would slate him for not being pragmatic and being foolish to believe he can play that way with some many key injuries.

I was never a fan of having Jose as our manager. I felt he wasn't the right sort of fit for our club. And I still do. But to be fair to the man, he won two trophies in his first season and he has us second only to the highflying high scoring Man City. We have seen 6 games out of 14 where we have scored 4 goals. So let's get off his back and stop this nonsense about sacking a manager 9 games into the league campaign because we are only second place. In any other season we would be clear at the top of the league. Let's give him a chance shall we.

9.) 24 Oct 2017
24 Oct 2017 13:30:03
United99, it's fun to have an argument about football. Everyone has an opinion and no one is wrong.

I was delighted at the start of this season with what seemed like a happy relaxed Jose and some decent results, although I'm not sure I would describe it as particularly attacking football.

Then we had a few injuries and the old Jose came back both with his tactics and his demeanour. Then he said he wanted to work somewhere else. Then he told his team they aren't very good. Then we saw the discord and lack of confidence spread throughout the team.

When we had Moyes and LvG, we let it fester in the hope that things would change and they didn't; they got worse because they were the wrong managers for Manchester Utd. The same is true of Jose - he is the wrong manager for Manchester Utd.

To directly answer your question, that nice Mr Ancelotti is out of work.

10.) 24 Oct 2017
24 Oct 2017 13:38:08
Stevie, I'm not happy about it. But that is the way football is now. Footballers do it, and managers do it. It's hardly a new thing either Roy Keane did it years ago. Players are employees, as such they will look after their own interest. How many of us can say if a rival company was going to offer us more money for doing the same job we wouldn't at least entertain the idea?

I was disappointed with Mourinho's comments, but we need to put them in context. He was being interviewed in France, and was asked directly if he would want to work with PSG. He gave an honest answer. He was probably too honest and he was probably aware that his words would be put in the public domain and that would put pressure on the club to offer him a new contract.

It's not ideal but nearly every other manager out there would do the same. As long as his actions don't adversely affect the club, and he is doing a good job then so be it.

Because we aren't going to find a manager who will get better results than Jose while treating the club as a fan would. It's not going to happen, the sooner we stop judging managers and players by what we believe our standards would be with our club the sooner we will be at peace with life.

11.) 24 Oct 2017
24 Oct 2017 14:48:01
A simple, 'I don't agree', would have sufficed, Shaps 😀.

12.) 24 Oct 2017
24 Oct 2017 16:38:56
You know me Stevie, why use three words when I can use a five hundred. Lol.

13.) 24 Oct 2017
24 Oct 2017 17:30:55
MancMan is Beastesque in his style but I tend to afpgree and made similar posts yesterday. How committed is he, how happy is he, how focused is he, why are we here, who moved my cheese. Sorry, got sidetracked there.

Shappy, your posts about the hotel are very valid but I think it sends a crappy message out and smacks of short termism. We're not talking about a 6 month stay we are talking 3 years living out of a hotel. Don't know about any of you but I hate hotels and it's not as if he is short of a bob or 2 to buy a rent a nice place that might feel like'home' whilst he is here.

My biggest worry is that he has been overtaken by more dynamic forward thinking coaches, we shall see if he has been found out. Hopefully he will rise Phoenix like and smite all before him.

14.) 24 Oct 2017
24 Oct 2017 18:41:26
Fair do's mancman and I suppose we all share the love for Utd n want the same thing. I just felt/ feel that the people who didn't want him in the 1st place have used this blip to sound off but it just seems premature to me. As for confidence in the team the managers job is to instil that but also to question players efforts n pull them up on it when there off it. Saturday was the worse I've felt since city pipped us to the prem. it was mainly down to effort that I got annoyed so joses right to call them out n there big boys they should deal with it. Fergie used to go nuts he even sliced becks head open but the players had a respect/ fear of fergie n the way ex players talk abt Jose he has the same vibe. He's a big part of the reason 3-4 of our new signings are here. (Which is not right I'd play for Utd wiv a goldfish in charge) I just think there are mitigating circumstances for our current slump ask the bin dippers if they'd swap our predicament for there's.