Jose Mourinho should’ve been sacked on the spot after his press conference on Friday.
Despite previously instructing the United-loving world that they were allowed just 24 hours to dwell on the Sevilla defeat, the manager – yes, the actual f**king manager – doubled down on his criticism of the history of his own club with a genuinely astonishing 12-minute attack of everything that was and is underwhelming about Manchester United.
Basically, in a nutshell, Jose Mourinho – nearly two full seasons into his time in charge – came out in defence of himself by explaining that United were shit before he took over them and, well, he can’t be expected to improve them.
It was a weird defence.
https://twitter.com/utdxtra/status/974658532179095553
A few months ago, when he had the cringeworthy audacity to complain about how much money Man City got to spend and how he needs even more, he basically came out and admitted that his coaching and his managing counts for sweet damn all.
He got a new contract.
This week, he’s more or less washed his hands off being able to do anything himself to actually help the team in any way. But he’s using his time instead to break Manchester United and the whole club’s mentality all around the entire world down into its into an infinitesimal state, with the hope that people might one day think the manager is overachieving.
“Since 2011,” Jose Mourinho took the opportunity to run through United’s performances in the last few seasons to justify his own shortcomings.
“2012, out in the group phase, the group was almost the same group we had this season, Benfica, Basel and Galati from Romania. Out in the group phase.
“In 2013, out at Old Trafford in the last 16, I was on the other bench. In 2014, out in the quarter-final. In 2015, no European football.
“In 2016, comes back to European football, out in the group phase, goes to Europa League and, on the second knockout, out of the Europa League.
“In 2017, play Europa League, win Europa League with me and goes back to Champions League.
“In 2018, win the group phase with 15 points out of a possible 18 and loses at home in the last 16.
“So in seven years, with four different managers, once not qualify for Europe, twice out in the group phase and the best was a quarter-final. This is football heritage.
“And if you want to go to the Premier League, the last victory was 2012/13 and in the four consecutive seasons United finish fourth, fifth, sixth and seventh.
“So in the last four years the best was fourth. This is football heritage. Means that when you start the process you are here, you are there or you are there, is heritage.
“And if the fans – that I will always respect, always respect – if the fans, and many of them are the ones you speak with, many of them are the ones I speak with, and I am very lucky but the ones who speak with you are very disappointed and the ones I speak with know what is football heritage, what is a process and when I arrived.”
After talking down the history and size and expectation of Manchester United with actual applause from some fans, he then had the absolute affront to proceed to talk up Sevilla’s stature in comparison to United’s.
Because, for Jose Mourinho, Sevilla is a team with serious experience in European football – seemingly far superior to United. They’re a team with players he’d have in his side (obviously he must not have been able to afford them though). They’re a team who knocked out Atletico Madrid before and they’re even a team who get to play against the like of Barcelona, Real Madrid and Valencia every year.
So what on earth do United fans expect? They’re Sevilla and you’re only Manchester United.
https://twitter.com/utdxtra/status/974794396389568514
Mourinho seems to be forgetting that he was the man brought in to stop the underperformance of the past he is now clinging to. He was the one who was supposed to change it all.
Instead, he’s talking about Sevilla in a Spanish Cup final as if that’s something United fans should respect when they get their arses handed to them. Well, he inherited an FA Cup winning side but that doesn’t suit the argument.
He also inherited some other things when he came in:
- The best goalkeeper in the world.
- The best right back in the league.
- He bought to centre backs.
- He had Shaw, Rojo, Blind, Young and Darmian for left back.
- Club player of the season Ander Herrera.
- He bought two more central midfielders.
- The two most exciting young players in Europe in Martial and Rashford.
- He had Mata.
- He bought Mkhitaryan, Ibrahimovic, Lukaku and Alexis Sanchez.
And he has the balls to tell people he’s still rebuilding. What’s worse is that people have the desperation to buy it.
It’s one thing playing fearful football which isn’t logical with the quality team that you have, it’s another bemoaning the team you have when you’re being given a fortune to improve it but still conclude that Sevilla’s players are better. But Mourinho’s admissions of late are appalling and any right-thinking United fan should be disgusted by them.
With all these press conferences and whinges that he has, what he’s actually saying is that his famous management skills mean nothing, his €10m-a-year contract is pointless and he can’t be expected to make United any better – even when, by his own sentiments, they’re apparently starting at rock bottom.
All he’s saying is that Ed Woodward is the only one that matters. All he’s doing is assembling some of the finest players and making them work hard so they might finish ahead of Arsenal and Liverpool in the league and fans might point to it as a success.
When you get down to the crux of it, a lot of United fans are afraid to let Mourinho go because they don’t see the alternative. He’s a massive name who has had massive success in the past and there aren’t many managers in that peer group out there to replace him. But Mourinho isn’t even in that peer group anymore. When the argument is ‘who else is there’ – the response is that, at the minute with the way Mourinho is going, anyone else is out there. He’s not exactly operating at this level that anyone else couldn’t come and do the same thing. Besides, he’s absolved of all his shortcomings anyway so the new manager could take no responsibility for any failures too, if you like.
Wrote something the other day on Mourinho and why maybe the last thing to go is the toxicity – https://t.co/fcUPspEEDs via @JOE_co_uk
— Dion Fanning (@dionfanning) March 16, 2018
If Mourinho wants to complete the comparison with the last four years he takes such great pleasure in criticising, he should be reminded that the last two managers were sacked for their underperformance and he was the one tasked with stopping the club from that same underperformance.
But everyone who has spent the whole season bemoaning the poor performance of players who they know are brilliant but they refuse to acknowledge the common denominator is Jose Mourinho, they’re letting him away with everything he wants let away with. Everything he should be held accountable for.
They’re letting him away with trying to turn Manchester United into a small club, in action, in mind and now in speech.
And shame on anyone who allows that to happen.
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