Jose Mourinho has been linked with the Manchester United job, had you heard?!
After leading Chelsea to their worst start to the top flight season in longer than most of their fans have been alive, the Portuguese boss has managed to retain his reputation and is one of the most talked about names in football.
A man with an ego the size of a small city tends to be in the limelight and, as much he loves it himself, Louis van Gaal is rather irked by his former protege being linked with his job at one of Europe’s biggest clubs. The two of them have become embroiled in some sort of big brother-little brother rivalry and it looks as though the next twist will be the self-proclaimed ‘Special One’ nicking his complacent older brother’s job from under his nose.
Mourinho’s Chelsea finished 17 points clear of Van Gaal’s Manchester United last season, as the Blues won the title at a canter and only registered three defeats. However, when Mourinho was sacked on December 17th, the Blues boss has driven his side down to 16th in the Premier League table and only won four of their 16 league games – leaving them 14 points behind Van Gaal’s Manchester United.
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Obviously you must look further back than just this season, but you can see why Van Gaal would be annoyed with a manager who had failed so dramatically being linked with his job. Mourinho is one of the best in the business, he is a brutal man manager and a tactician who makes his moves before the other manager has even had time to tell his substitutes to warm up.
Look at the impact Mourinho had at Chelsea when he arrived in 2013/14. Rafa Benitez had done well to guide Chelsea to third in 2012/13, but the fell 14 points short of the title and only just squeaked into the top four. The next season, with minimal tweaks to the squad, Mourinho should have really won the league. The Blues had been favourites for the title until they choked at home to Sunderland and dropped points that left the door open for Liverpool and Manchester City.
Chelsea, with Torres and Ba leading the line, finished four points off the Premier League summit and Mourinho was ready to seize control in the next campaign. Manchester United’s squad is not poor, it has weaknesses, yes, but it is not too weak to be in the top four. Mourinho would immediately tighten up the side and play to the strengths of the squad, rather than an out-dated philosophy Van Gaal obsesses over.
It would take sizeable investment – as that is the price you pay with Mourinho – but he would immediately instil a winning mentality, a granite-hard core through the side and a never-say-die attitude that isn’t usually found outside of Tony Pulis’ hard-nosed half-time team talks.
Look at Memphis Depay. Last season the Dutchman was one of the hottest properties in Europe and was firing shots from all angles into the top corner of the net, but his attitude is now being questioned. Mourinho, in his own harsh manner, would either discard him or chisel him into a Ronaldo lookalike goal scoring athlete. The Special One performed a similar trick on Joe Cole over a decade ago and Depay has all the ability to make him into one of Europe’s best and Mourinho would single him out as one of the stars of the new Manchester United.
Defensively, Mourinho would sure things up with placing faith in Morgan Schneiderlin. Where Van Gaal has rotated his midfield with odd regularity, Mourinho would find his ideal pairing and stick with it. Schneiderlin is the sort of physical unit that Mourinho adores, a brick wall in front of his two centre-halves and he would form the basis to allow Martial, Rooney and Memphis to wreak havoc in the final third.
Naturally, Mourinho would change a lot at Old Trafford. Younger players wouldn’t stand much of a chance of developing, Carrick would likely be moved on and the club would risk the regular media assault that comes with Mourinho. Underlying this all, Mourinho, until this season particularly, can make his players push themselves the extra yard. If they believe in him, he will make them winners and, although it is just a short-term fix, it will give the United fans something to believe they have a club that can compete at the top once more.
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