José Mourinho’s dig at Antonio Conte has diverted attention from the FA Cup final’s pivotal confrontation in which Chelsea’s midfield could be overrun by Manchester United“I’m not,” José Mourinho said after Manchester United’s home win over Liverpool in March, “the kind of mechanic coach that says player A pass to player B, player B pass to player C and player C to player D. I’m much more a supporter of preparing the players to decide well and feel the game.”As so often with Mourinho, there was perhaps a coded jibe; this may have been (it’s very hard to know for sure with a man whose every utterance is subjected to intense scrutiny) another sortie in his protracted war of words...
The Manchester United manager has consistently managed to win things – even when he does not have the best teamAccording to José Mourinho, it took him “20 years to become an overnight success”. Having spent a few days this week on the final part of my Uefa pro licence coaching course, I am beginning to appreciate what he meant when he said that. Hours in the classroom and on the pitch, as well as giving presentations to fellow students, has made me more appreciative of the hard work that goes into qualifying to be able to do a job that I don’t even know if I will one day be lucky enough to get.Studying also gives an insight into the...
Manchester United manager pulls off a great escape to leave the champions elect, Manchester City, blushing after 3-2 home defeatThe ice melts sadly around the unopened champagne. The fireworks remain unfired, the streamers tightly furled. José Mourinho, perhaps the greatest wet blanket in football history, had done it again.Manchester City’s celebrations will come but they are deferred, and that was Mourinho’s primary objective. But he has offered further evidence of this City side’s curious vulnerability, inflicted a trauma that might yet resurface to significant effect in the future and, more even than that, shown that, however much Pep Guardiola wants to make football a game of three-dimensional chess, he can drag him into a bar fight, play the game on...
The Manchester United manager’s track record at the top end of the market is under scrutiny given the struggles of Pogba and Sánchez and with City aiming to clinch the title in Saturday’s derbyRegular readers of the Jeeves and Wooster stories will be familiar with the plot device which involves Bertie’s favourite aunt having to keep her rich husband sweet because she will shortly be asking him for a substantial sum of money to prop up Milady’s Boudoir, the perennially unprofitable women’s fashion magazine of which she is proprietor.“I thought you said Milady’s Boudoir had turned the corner,” Bertie observes on one occasion. “Yes,” Aunt Dahlia replies. “Until you have tried running a women’s magazine you don’t know what corners...
The 22-year-old is in no hurry to leave Manchester United despite public criticism by the manager, whose history does not guarantee he will be in the post for all of next seasonJosé Mourinho’s handling of Luke Shaw is a head-scratcher even for seasoned watchers of the Manchester United manager.Shaw should not be immune from criticism, as no footballer is. The point is that Mourinho, as a manager trying to get the best from players for the benefit of the side, can be over the top and counterproductive with his public assessments of the 22-year-old. Related: Luke Shaw unhappy at Mourinho criticism but will not be forced out Continue reading...