The day Jose Mourinho was sacked from Manchester United will be a day that I will remember for a while.
My brother yelled only three words to my father and me: “Check BBC Sport”. My heart sank when I heard those words because I knew what they meant. Reading the headline announcing Jose Moutinho’s inevitable sacking, I honestly did not know how to feel.
Mourinho is a world-class manager and I don’t buy into some of the criticisms launched his way in the days after the news broke. The players themselves must take some of the blame for the team’s atrocious play. They are all exceptional players and their conduct – especially that Paul Pogba with that disgraceful Twitter post, reading “Caption this” beneath a photo of him smirking – has been appalling.
It is not a question of whether they have the talent or skill to play; they needed to have performed better.
The reason Mourinho’s sacking made me feel so numb was that I honestly do not think this will solve all of the team’s problems. Who could honestly say that, given the circumstances, any available manager would do a better job than Mourinho?
I have supported Mourinho in the past and every article I have written about him so far has been spammed in the comments section calling for ‘a brave attacking coach’. These commentators all say Manchester United need someone like Jurgen Klopp or Pep Guardiola. I seriously question whether they are actually contributing to the discussion or just trolling, but the fact remains is that we can’t say with certainty that any available manager could do a better job.
Let’s run through the candidates we can reasonably see Manchester United attaining in the long term. The first is Zinedine Zidane, who won three straight Champions League titles with Real Madrid. It’s an impressive achievement, but Real Madrid was a ready-made side for him. Sure, there were going through a rough patch under Rafa Benitez, but I don’t think it is unreasonable to say that even a Real Madrid side playing ‘average’ football would still be stronger than a vulnerable Manchester United side.
So Zidane has not been really challenged, and should he come to Manchester United, he would need to rebuild, and this is where the main problems start.
Mourinho was not backed in the market. “But Luke, hasn’t he spent more than £300 million during his time at Manchester United?”, I know I will inevitably be asked, and yes, obviously Mourinho was given money. But on every occasion he was backed it was never enough.
When he wanted Ivan Persic the board said no. When he wanted Harry Maguire the board said no. When he wanted Diego Godin, Alex Sandro, Jerome Boateng, Jan Vertogen and numerous others in this window he was not given investment.
So Zidane would not be given nearly enough money to rebuild Manchester United, and of the money he would be given, there is no proof he would spend it any better than Mourinho or Van Gaal, because he has never had a reason to do so in his three seasons at Madrid.
(Mike Hewitt/Getty Images)
We can look at Maurcio Pochetino from Spurs. He presents his own kind of problems too, albeit on a smaller scale. Pochetino has shown to be able to work within a budget, but what does that look like exactly? By working within a budget he was able to earn a couple of top-four finishes, but in a season during which Manchester United, Manchester City, Liverpool, Arsenal and Chelsea all performed below expectations he conceded the title to Leicester City.
Maybe I am being too harsh on Pochettino. Certainly he has the ability to win trophies with Tottenham if given the investment, and I think he could do a reasonable job at Manchester United too. But then there is the matter of convincing him to leave Tottenham.
If I were in his position, I would be very tempted to stay at Spurs. They are playing better than Manchester United at the moment and they are moving into a new stadium. The only real doubt is the finance that he will have to work with, but Manchester United aren’t exactly going to be that open to another spending spree either.
But this could all be irrelevant if Pochettino is able to get the best out of the players already at his disposal. With the exception of a somewhat average defence, the rest of the squad should be playing a lot better than they are at the moment.
However, if he can do this and if he wants to leave, then how much money will Manchester United be willing to spend to take him out of his contract at Spurs? This is a commercially orientated club, and Mourinho and Zidane are more marketable than Pochettino thanks to their past glories. Would Manchester United be open to spending upwards of £40 million for a manager?
Do I think Pochettino would do a better job than Mourinho? It is a possibility because while Mourinho was able to boast his trophies with Manchester United, there is a stark feeling that he underachieved. In contrast, while Pochettino has not won as much, he has come agonisingly close to winning with Spurs, playing a hell of a lot better than United in the process as well.
(Michael Regan/Getty Images)
Right now Manchester United have made the smart decision to appoint an interim manager in Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, which allows them to advertise their club to Pochettino. If United are going to have any hope in returning to past glories, then getting Pochettino as Mourinho’s replacement is the bare minimum – but even then there are still glaring problems that must be addressed.
The first is Manchester United’s inability from a board perspective to focus on footballing matters. The rumoured appointment of a director of football is a step in the right direction, as over the past few years it is clear that recruitment cannot be made absolutely by one person at the club.
All managers will fail in the transfer market at some stage, but their power should be regulated to get the best out of the current squad. I look at Manchester City’s approach with Guardiola – while there is a director of football who will help drive recruitment based on Guardiola’s suggestions, you get the feeling that there is a shared interest to see a vision being implemented.
At Manchester United you had Ed Woodward dictating this role with Mourinho. Gary Neville summed the issue with this perfectly in October when he rhetorically asked, “Who in that football club is qualified to tell Jose Mourinho he cannot sign a centre back?”. Woodward is a former investment banker, and while on the commercial side he has made Manchester United successful, the same cannot be said for footballing matters.
There must be more football people on the board of Manchester United. Paul Mitchell is the man United are rumoured to be after as a director of football. Assuming Pochettino is appointed manager, this would be a successful decision.
Seeing as the two have shown previous success at Southampton together, it would not be unreasonable to assume that future success could follow. This shows that there is a shared vision for the club between these two, similar to that of Guardiola and Tixi Begiristain.
The second issue is a lack of investment comparable to others in Europe. Yes, Manchester United have spent money, but in comparison to the rest of the clubs in the world, their investment so far has not been smart, to say the least. United need to spend more money, and a revamp of their defence is a minimum. How can it be that United are still relying on Phill Jones, Chris Smalling, Ashley Young and Antonio Valencia after all these years?
Again I can see a similarity between this and Manchester City. In Guardiola’s first season, there were similar issues with older players not making the grade. The difference between City and United here is that when Guardiola identified that he needed better players than Willy Caballero, Joe Hart, Gael Clichy and Aleksandar Kolarov, the board was open to replacing them.
When a mistake was made, such as signing Claudio Bravo, the board backed him again to sign a replacement in Ederson Santana de Moraes. Again, the same thing can be said of Liverpool, replacing Simon Mignolet with Loris Karius and then with Alisson Becker.
The investment must continue, and the old guard of United needs replacement. United clearly have money, and I don’t understand why they refuse to spend more. Managers make mistakes, even Guardiola and Klopp make mistakes. So no matter who the manager is, whether it is Pochettino or Zidane, they must be backed and given time to correct mistakes.
(Marc Atkins/Getty Images)
Another critical problem that needs addressing is the creation of a modern style of play in line with the rest of the league. This was one of the problems plaguing Jose Mourinho’s United. The speed of the play needs to be much greater, all teams, at least in the top six, press the opposition. However, United have shown a refusal to do this in recent games, preferring to play for draws. This is not only boring and dull to watch, but it is also highly ineffective.
Manchester United have problems and it is going to take more than a managerial change to rectify some of them. It is going to take the right manager to transform the club. United must go all out for Pochettino, but to do this means changing things at the boardroom level.
Money must be spent on football matters with football reasons, not simply because of commercial value. It must be spent wisely, and time must be given for the manager to rectify mistakes, even if multiple dips into the transfer market are necessary, as this will allow the manager to fully implement their tactical style.
United clearly have the funds to do all of this, but I seriously question if Ed Woodward will be able to make the right decisions and investments from a footballing perspective rather than a marketing perspective – and that needs to change.
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