In sport, winning cures almost everything. If you’re top of the table, everything in the dressing room is harmonious. There are no egos and everyone wants to have a barbecue with the coach.
String a few losses together, however, and there’s resentment in the camp. The star players eat lunch at separate tables while the board sizes up the coaching market.
Very little of this is true, of course, but the pressure felt by teams who aren’t performing – particularly teams with budgets engineered to perform at the highest level – is very real.
That’s perhaps why Jose Mourinho, two games into his third year at Manchester United and with no league title, FA Cup or Champions League to show for it, is beginning his now mandatory third-year slide into paranoid irrelevance. His side’s 3-2 Premier League loss to minnows Brighton over the weekend followed months of blame-filled ranting from a coach who is making a habit of tearing down his clubs somewhere around the third year mark.
After his three years at Porto netted two Primeira Liga and one Champions League title, he moved to Chelsea where he spent four years and won two Premier League titles, before being escorted briskly out the door.
He was at Inter Milan for three years, winning two Serie A titles and a Champions League, before a move to Real Madrid for – you guessed it – three years. His time at Madrid netted a sole La Liga title and a Spanish Cup, before he headed back to Chelsea for another three-year stint, winning one Premier League title before leaving in his third season with the club in the bottom half of the ladder.
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Many of the clubs he left – the last stint at Chelsea being a notable exception – took years to get back to their previous heights.
If you’re not looking to build anything or develop young players but want trophies fast, Mo’ is your man.
That was what Manchester United were looking for when they hired him to get them back to the top of the Premier League. And for the first time in his coaching career, it seems to be something that Jose has been unable to provide.
This season the malaise has crept in even earlier, with Mo attacking his club on and off the field. While being nice doesn’t get you trophies, being an obtuse wanker doesn’t guarantee you any either.
Coaches don’t have to be nice to be good. Every league – indeed, every sport – has a couple of “nobody likes us and we don’t care” clubs, who relish operating under a cloud of paranoia and resentment. This has been Mo’s M.O. for much of his career, tainting his underdog Champions League win with Porto by wild accusations and transforming Chelsea from an underachieving London club with a sweet name to the oligarchic emblem of what’s wrong with modern football.
But generally speaking, an us-against-them mentality requires the us to be against the them, thereby creating team spirit, brotherhood and all that other non-quantifiable stuff that wins championships and keeps Tony Robbins in business.
If you’re a ten-man sniper team and the opposition army’s got you surrounded, it’s probably best not to spend your energy criticising your colleagues’ chewing habits and lamenting the tightness of the uniforms.
Mo, however, did the opposite.
Before the season even began his focus wasn’t on attacking the them – although he did do plenty of that – but on tearing members of his own unit down. He berated United chairman Ed Woodward for not buying him the players that he wanted, sounding every bit like a disappointed child looking over the fence on Christmas morning.
From calling defender Luke Shaw “fat” during his return from a broken leg to criticising Anthony Martial for the sheer nerve of wanting to see his newborn child during the off season, Mourinho’s targets always seemed a little too close to home to build any kind of continuity within the side. And if you can’t build continuity, you’ll certainly have trouble building a siege mentality.
It is, of course, a long season and one loss to a relegation-favoured side does not undo Man Utd’s title run, but if his record is anything to go by, Mourinho is unlikely to be the man to restore Man U to where they feel they rightly belong.
(Photo by Mike Hewitt/Getty Images)
On the continent…
The Italian and Spanish leagues joined the French and English in kicking off, with all eyes on Juve’s new recruit Cristiano Ronaldo. While Ronaldo didn’t make it on the scoresheet – he had an excellent curling effort turned away at the far post – his side prevailed 3-2 in the final minute of injury time, showing familiar resolve and pretty much guaranteeing that another scudetto is headed for Turin.
In Spain, both Barca and Real got off to strong starts with 3-0 and 2-0 wins respectively, while the match of the round – Atletico at Valencia – took place early Tuesday morning Australia time. It’s a long season, but with Ronaldo and Zidane leaving Madrid – and Lionel Messi being made captain for the first time ever – it’s Barcelona’s title to lose in Spain.
As for France, Neymar and Kylian Mbappe got on the scoresheet for a victorious PSG, while Monaco’s draw means they’ll be playing catchup until the inevitable moment that Paris seal the deal.
Buddy
Guest
Personally I don’t buy into the general narrative concerning the second or third season. It is too simplistic and like many aspects of recent history there is a tendency to look back and create a story around a bunch of events and establish it all as the actual facts. IMO the real issue at MU is one of legacy and succession planning - or lack of it. Back in 2012, United won the title with just about their poorest squad and at the end of it all came the news that Sir Alex was retiring. That also coincided with the retirement of the last of the class of 92 ( or close to it) - the players who had elevated the club at least domestically to become the dominant force in the EPL. What we have witnessed since is that no matter how good they were, that is yesterdays news and to stay at the top requires good planning and for the organization to be working as one for the same goals. Recruitment is about finding the right talent and people that fit into the ethos of the club and help bring about success through their collective efforts. Individual talent and a few spectacular buys rarely cut it in the long term. Liverpool have been in similar circumstances after the heady days of Paisley and Fagan and before anyone starts screaming about Bill Shankly..... it was what he put in place that bore the fruit. His succesors enjoyed far greater success in terms of trophies but he put the building blocks in place and after that era, the club forgot exactly what it took and how and why they had dominated in the 80’s. With the changing landscape, rich owners and the ability to buy top shelf players, naturally the competition has changed and evolved. With the changes comes a host of other issues and subjects to debate and much of it leaves older fans with a certain distaste but meanwhile MU are trying to recapture their former glories and domination but they clearly lack a cohesive plan. A succession of big name coaches with little time to arrest the situation but plenty of money to throw at the situation has created a hotch potch team that undoubtedly has plenty of talent but leaves enormous question marks as far as being a team is concerned. The latest short term solution is to employ a coach with a reputation for creating a winning mentality and delivers trophies inside a couple of seasons. It requires a siege mentality and players that are committed to the coach and a coach that is committed to the players. Just as importantly is the need for the owners to be part of this plan and to give it full support. If the team wins, most fans will takethe wins and trophies and forget about how they achieved it (not all, but most) and there you have short term success. Meanwhile down the road, across town and along the M62 are a couple of clubs that are planning their own successes, have money to spend and have alternative strategies. Then there are a few clubs in the south with similar aspirations and financial clout, all making it slightly more difficult for the club to return to the top and dominate once more. It has been five years since they won the title. My question is what have they learnt during that time?
punter
Guest
Mourinho has had Man U playing very boring football, but lets get some facts here. 3rd season at Porto wins the treble, Portuguese premiership, Portuguese super cup & of course champions league & wins a contract to coach a Chelsea side with lots of money little trophies. 3rd season at Chelsea 1st time, wins FA cup, Wins League cup, Premiership runners up, after winning premiership for previous 2 seasons & Champions league semis. Leaves because Abramovich wanted to pick the players, 3rd season Inter, Leaves Inter to join Real Madrid, after leading them to Serie A championship, Coppa Italian cup & Champions league. Who knocks back Real Madrid. 3rd season Real Madrid 2nd to the all conquering Barcelona in La Liga, champions league semi finalist Coppa del rey finalist. In his 3 years in Real Madrid, he was up against Barcelona, what many regard as the greatest club side in history. 3rd season Chelsea, first sign of his decline, after leading Chelsea to premiership in 2nd season, lost the players & staff & the fans at Chelsea. This is where the myth started. 3rd season at Man U, the decline continues, Man U despite getting best result since Sir Alex retired with runners up the previous season, they are playing poor defensive football.
Vas Venkatramani
Roar Guru
As a Liverpool fan, it's been a pleasure to witness this unfold. That aside, the malaise inside United is at the feet of both Mourinho and Woodward, who both have different strategies. Mourinho's is that he should have a limitless budget to work with until he gets it right, like he previously had at Chelsea. Woodward's is one of financial prudence, where he doesn't mind spending money, and also is rightly asking the manager to make the most of the investment already made. Remember, Lindelof and Bailly are Mourinho's own signings. Finally, there is a general distaste among the United supporter base for the football being played. It's not ideal for United base to be gazing towards the other half of Manchester or the red of Merseyside on the football there. The results haven't been terrible, but the rise of City and Liverpool, plus the ongoing threats of Spurs and Chelsea, and the prospect of a renewed Arsenal should worry United supporters. Only way this gets resolved is if Mourinho gets the punt and is replaced by someone who will play attractive football and gets some decent results. Right now, there is a cultural mismatch between Mourinho and United. The issue for Mourinho is there is no bigger job available than United - he's done Spain, Italy and England. No German club will tolerate Mourinho's persona - PSG is an option if Tuchel doesn't fit.
Kurt
Guest
Mourinho out.
Kangas
Roar Rookie
Mourinho has damaged so many people in recent years . I can’t even watch anymore. His ego and narcissism has destroyed the confidence of the players. They have lost their joy to play football. They might bounce back temporarily but he either gets a grip on his ego or preferably zidane gets the call at Old Trafford