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***Official*** English Football Season 2018-19
- Thread starter GIMH
- Start date
flibbertyjibber
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Should have spent another £200m on duds. 
Tangles
International Vice-Captain
Thing is neither Dalot or Fred seem like Mourinho picks. Dalot is young and inexperienced and Fred is small. Didn't realize it till preseason when I saw him next to Periera and Hererra. He is smaller than both and Jose loves players sized like Pogba, Matic and Fellaini. Not sure how either fit into a Mourinho team.
sledger
Spanish_Vicente
Across his career Mourinho has signed loads of players of a similar height to Fred.
dontcloseyoureyes
BARNES OUT
This Mourinho & Ed Woodward combo is really the gift that keeps on giving. Ed keeps on trying to steal City transfer targets and Mourinho's got no idea what to do with them. What a time to be alive.
Uppercut
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Woodward not signing anyone then briefing the press that Mourinho doesn’t know what he’s doing really leaves us waiting impatiently for the inevitable sacking. Seems like all the players are too. What’s he waiting for? Maybe getting the DoF in place first? Or am I attributing him with too much sense...
vic_orthdox
Global Moderator
I witnessed it in person. Ugh.
Don't know why Hamer's in goal over Lossl. When Mooy and Hogg were out, just gave us no chance of putting any pressure on before the box - not that there was that much there.
Desperately need some sort of result next week against Cardiff just to get our heads up.
sledger
Spanish_Vicente
Probably just waiting for the supposed "acceptable" number of games to pass before pulling the trigger I suspect. Seems to be one of those footballing tropes that you can't sack a bloke (even if it self-evidently appears to be the right thing to do) unless they have been given upwards of 5 or so matches. It really does seem only a matter of time at this point though.
Uppercut
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What's strange is that they gave him a big new contract in January and the situation hadn't changed at all by the summer. It's not like they gave him a big new contract when we were top of the league then promptly bombed and finished 9th. Woodward has essentially binned the cost of a long-term Mourinho contract by changing his mind on a whim after a few months. Maybe the reason he isn't sacking Mourinho straight away is that shareholders could consider it serious financial mismanagement.
sledger
Spanish_Vicente
Yeah, my instinct is that there is some arse-covering going on tbh. If he fires him now it will look like he ****ed up, whereas if Mourinho and the team continue on their downward spiral he can shift the blame onto the "special one", citing the latter's divisive approach and alienation of the players/fans etc.
Uppercut
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Blame-shifting might work a bit better than it should. Mourinho makes a great scapegoat, because being a knob means nobody is ever shy of sticking the boot into him.
As much as I want him sacked and don't like him, his tenure will probably end up being sort of underrated. The results in the first two seasons were close to as good as could have been expected, albeit with serious stylistic issues, interpersonal problems likely to cost us our best young players, and question marks over the sustainability of results. Then in the summer before his third season, his boss pulls the rug from under him. I mean I fully expected him to fail but they haven't really given him a chance.
sledger
Spanish_Vicente
Yeah Mourino's relationship with the press is not what it was. They've already created the narrative that he's ballsed everything up, and he has previous, so once the trigger is pulled I doubt there will be many crying about it, especially if an exciting replacement is lined up. Though I have no idea who that might be. Wenger lol.
Cabinet96
Global Moderator
There's talk of Zidane but the job seems the perfect way for him to ruin his flawless reputation after his Madrid stint. Though I always assumed he'd be taking the French job and that's less likely after they won the World Cup.
United have obviously never been an elite attacking team since Fergie left, but they weren't even that good at grinding out games last season. They were really saved by a freakishly good (even for his standards) De Gea season. Not a shock they were linked with CBs all window. I'm not sure it gets enough attention that United's fullbacks are in their 30s and former wingers from the Fergie era either. It kind of gets talked about as an admirable thing, but no other big club is doing anything like that in the position.
United have obviously never been an elite attacking team since Fergie left, but they weren't even that good at grinding out games last season. They were really saved by a freakishly good (even for his standards) De Gea season. Not a shock they were linked with CBs all window. I'm not sure it gets enough attention that United's fullbacks are in their 30s and former wingers from the Fergie era either. It kind of gets talked about as an admirable thing, but no other big club is doing anything like that in the position.
vcs
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Their points to goals ratio must be one of the highest ever. They win every other game 1-0.
Niall
International Coach
To be fair I think the full backs have got plenty of criticism including here. Both are absurdly flawed, Valencia is okish defensively, but absolute toilet going forward, he rarely tries to beat the full back and when he does his "crosses" smash into defenders shins. Young offers more going forward obviously, but overall he is nothing special. Its remarkable that a team so reliant on a player like Lukaku seem oblivious to how much of a hindrance to him the gruesome twosome are. Compare either to Mendy and its LOL.
However they tick a box for Jose, both hard working, love tracking back and churn out constant 6/10 scores.
You could also point our out in Juan Mata they have an even worst right winger than Jacob Rees Mogg, no pace whatsoever and not even helpful from a defensive POV. Oddly enough when he was at a much higher level at Chelsea, Jose benched him but at United in a position that really isn't for him, he gets much more breathing space.
Uppercut
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Yeah I mean his "falling out" with Mata at Chelsea was ludicrously overhyped. What really happened was that Willian, Oscar, and Hazard forced him out of the team by being better players, then Moyes bid something silly for him.
He plays now because the other options are so poor. Jose's been trying to replace him for years but the board keep saying his targets are too old, then not coming up with any alternatives. His ongoing presence in the team is just another symptom of the whole club being utterly dysfunctional. Zidane would be a terrible choice, which makes me suspect that they'll do it.