Manchester United boss Jose Mourinho has set just one target for the players at the club. Not a top four finish, not qualifying for the Champions League but win the Premier League title. The Portuguese boss was very clear on his targets ahead of the season’s curtain raiser against Leicester City in the Community Shield at Wembley on Sunday.
After taking over from Louis van Gaal’s uninspiring two-year reign, the former Chelsea manager has already set out to chart the club back into familiar territory of winning titles as they did under legendary manager Sir Alex Ferguson.
The last time the Red Devils won the Premier League was back in 2013 – Ferguson’s final season. Since then the club finished seventh under David Moyes, saw a mini resurgence in Van Gaal’s first season when they finished fourth and finished a disappointing fifth in the Dutchman’s second season. Even an FA Cup title was not enough to save his job as fans and pundits alike criticised his “philosophy”.
Mourinho’s arrival has already seen a cloud of trepidation lifted at Old Trafford and the players are reportedly more at ease in a less stifling atmosphere that Van Gaal had created. And the 53-year-old has already told the players what he expects this season.
Unrealistic targets push players to unexpected levels: Mourinho
“I like to create that expectation and I like the players to feel it,” Mourinho said ahead of the Community Shield.
“Sometimes, during my career, I created some unrealistic targets. By doing that, you push the team to unexpected levels,” he explained. “To win the Champions League with Porto and Inter is unexpected. Those were very risky objectives and targets.
Mourinho had won the Champions League with Porto when they were nowhere close to being favourites that season. He repeated that feat in 2010 with Inter Milan when the club won a treble. Inter had famously beaten Barcelona in the semi-finals on aggregate before beating Bayern Munich in the final.
“To win championships in the first season is a bit of the same, but I like that,” the Portuguese boss continued. “People analyse it as arrogance and so on but that’s not a problem for me.
“The reality is that I always feel that targets like this can only help players, managers, clubs and this kind of establishment.”
Mourinho has a winning mentality and will want trophies: Ferdinand
Former United defender Rio Ferdinand also expected Mourinho to go all out to win trophies, especially since they had completed the signings of some world class players. Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Henrikh Mkhitaryan joined Eric Bailly at the club as this summer’s new signings while Paul Pogba’s medical has been confirmed by the club.
“If they get a good start, they’ll be a hard train to stop,” Ferdinand told Manchester Evening News.
“United should be aiming to win the league; simple as that. With the players that we’ve signed, I’m sure the players in the changing room will be thinking the same.
“Mourinho is not going there thinking that, hopefully, we’ll be back in the Champions League. No chance. His mentality is not like that – he's a winner. He’s going to want trophies.”
