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As the infamous ‘Third Season Curse’ of Mourinho looms large over the Portuguese manager and the team itself, United fans are not too sure on how they should feel going into the new season.
Last season, Manchester United finished second, with 81 points last season which is miles ahead of any of their previous premier league outings since the Ferguson era.
However, this just wasn’t enough for Jose Mourinho to cement his position amidst the United faithful as the most successful club in England failed to win the Premier League or the Champions League for the fifth consecutive year.
Whilst the verdict on the manager’s time at the glorious club is a topic of debate amongst fans, it begs to ask the question has anything changed since the short-lived time of David Moyes?
#4 Style of play
The biggest criticism of the Red Devils in the post-Ferguson era has been the lack of flair in United’s play. The team that struck fear into opponents once upon a time is very different to the current team that has sometimes struggled to reap points at Old Trafford.
Yes, United are scoring goals, but are they scoring enough? Manchester City’s season last year answers that question with a resounding ‘NO’. United have the players but are simply unable to regain that killer edge that was characteristic of the famous United teams of the past.
Players with immense skill and promise have flattered to deceive with most of them failing to make a mark on the Premier League scene. Paul Pogba, Juan Mata, Marcos Rojo, Henrikh Mkhitaryan are some of the exhibits in this regard. While Eric Bailly, Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Nemanja Matic and David De Gea are exceptions to this point, it has simply failed to translate into telling success.
Under Moyes, the United team looked in tatters. It is hard to look back and find any bright spark from the United team of 2013-2014. During this period, United’s defence looked almost invisible in numerous games and was at times downright woeful. Players with pure pedigree such as Vidic, Ferdinand and Evra looked like schoolboys in a yard.
While Mourinho has worked hard towards building an air-tight defence, the fact still remains – its lacking. This is further validated by ‘The Special One’ laying down a strong emphasis on big-money signings to reinforce the United backline.
Bear in mind, United seem to be overstaffed in the department as of now with Jones, Smalling, Rojo, Lindelof, Shaw, Young and Bailly all fighting to save their spot. With Mourinho in charge, United, seeing its most impressive phase since the departure of Sir Alex, seems to be lacking the zing in attack, solidarity in defence and creativity in midfield.
Every player on the team sheet seems to possess amazing talent, but United are still looking like a good high school band rather than a symphonic orchestra.
#3 Emphasis on youngsters
Right from Ryan Giggs, Paul Scholes, David Beckham to the present day Pogba, Rashford and Lingard, the Manchester United Academy has led the way for a bright and hopeful future on the red side of Manchester and for the game at large.
It is no secret that the academy is one of the most promising recruitment grounds for the team hence validating how it is one of the best in the world. David Moyes’ time at United saw an ocean of criticism on several aspects which could be the former United boss’ justification to a lack of attention given to the youth academy.
However, Moyes was never known to be a manager to nurture talent, unlike his immediate predecessor. He faced immense criticism even after leaving Everton for an odd indifference to the youth system of the Toffees.
This practically translated itself even during his spell at United. Under Mourinho, much like the Moyes era, the development of youngsters has been limited to the matter of circumstance or lack of choice. The young blood of United have had a fair share of Mourinho’s attention no doubt, but whether he has aided in their growth and development, is debatable.
Take the current scenario into consideration. The present United boss has two of the most exciting young talents in the world in the form of Marcus Rashford and Anthony Martial. Although Mourinho hasn’t denied this fact, he simply doesn’t seem to trust the duo having started them rarely in the previous season.
This is only further corroborated by United’s urgency to sign a new winger to replace the French international. Martial (22) and Rashford (20) have shown great promise and the United boss’ argument pointing out their inconsistency can be redirected to his own inconsistency in strategy and starting 11 he has chosen.
#2 Transfer market strategy
David Moyes managed to sign only four players for United during his first and last transfer window with the club - Guillermo Varela, Marouane Fellaini, Saidy Janko and Juan Mata. Out of these, Fellaini and Mata are the only surviving players at the club up until the Mourinho era. Except for Juan Mata, the other signings have been absolute disappointments.
Fellaini though has turned out to be a favourite of Van Gaal and Mourinho thereafter, with the managers admitting the Belgian midfielder’s vitality to the team. All this aside, Moyes was said to have targeted four key signings during the window – Gareth Bale, Cristiano Ronaldo, Toni Kroos and Cesc Fabregas.
Needless to say, the Scot failed to secure these signings. It is widely understood that apart from lack of rationality in these potential recruits, the players didn’t have much trust in the philosophy or style of Moyes.
Cut to the present-day scenario and what has changed? Mourinho has made quite a few signings since taking charge at United. Pogba, Lukaku, Fred, Matic, Mkhitaryan – Sanchez (Swap Deal), Bailly, Lindelof, Ibrahimovic, Dalot, Lee Grant all bought in for a cumulative 432 Million Euros approx.
Over two years, that number for the most valuable football club in the world doesn’t seem like a big amount. However, the ability of these players to perform at the club has been questioned far too often and with good reason.
Whilst this isn’t the case with a majority of Mourinho’s transfers, two key players – Pogba and Mkhitaryan, haven’t necessarily justified their reputation at United. While the former seems to be caged in the strategic yet conservative style of play under Mourinho, the latter fell out of favour with the United manager before leaving the club.
This again is rumoured to be due to his inability to adapt to the Portuguese manager’s tactical instructions. However, what is worth taking note of, is the fact that there has also been resistance from some players to join the illustrious club due to a lack of trust in the United boss’ style of play and excessive defensive emphasis.
Rumour mills were churning thick and fast when Cristiano Ronaldo’s future at Real Madrid was doubtful, that the Portuguese star didn’t want to reunite with his old club due to his strained relationship with Mourinho.
This, many say, was cultivated during the Portuguese manager’s time at the helm of Los Blancos when the latter planted excessive defensive duties on CR7. Following this, Matteo Kovacic reportedly turned down the offer to move to Old Trafford citing similar reasons.
#1 Media presence
A United manager is expected to be a role model for the league and other clubs across the world. Such was the image portrayed by the likes of Sir Alex Ferguson and Sir Matt Busby, two of the most successful managers of all time at Old Trafford. However, under Moyes, the press conferences seemed as woeful as the team’s performance on the pitch.
Moyes almost never backed up his players and the press were seeing more negatives in Moyes’ speech than in his managerial style, both of which, only piled on to an already pathetic season.
Moyes was never known to be a manager who was a hit with the media unlike Klopp, Guardiola or even Mourinho for that matter, but the telling impact of the poor performances on the pitch was only validated by the then United manager’s mood in front of the cameras.
Mourinho is a legendary manager no doubt. One aspect that forms the building blocks for the legend of ‘The Special One’, is his tactful management of the media. He is known to call out players and issue something of an open challenge to them in the media in a bid to get the best out of them.
However, this isn’t necessarily working to his advantage off-late and is contributing to a dull mood at Carrington and Old Trafford. Maybe the ex-Chelsea boss’ media tactics are finally wearing out, maybe he is seeing positive responses from his players by his own scale or maybe its plain frustration.
The fact remains, this is painfully similar, in whatever measure, to the short-lived era of David Moyes.
In conclusion, let’s not forget that we are talking about Jose Mourinho here. One of the most admired, successful and unique managers of our time. This is a man who won the 2004 UEFA Champions League with Porto, with all due respect.
He has had many feats that are a testimony to his managerial style, success rate and strong people skills to get the best out of his players. He is a thoroughbred manager if there ever was one. However, this doesn’t necessarily mean that he would be an instant success at the biggest club in the world.
What the season of 2018-19 holds for United is still unclear with the club making as few as three transfers so far, BUT, this is The Special One we are talking about. He won the Champions League with Porto where they shouldn’t have had a prayer. Will he turn things around at United or will the curse have the final say?
