Turmoil has surrounded the training grounds around Old Trafford, most of which comes down to the manager, Jose Mourinho. Jose has been behind his fair share of locker room drama, as he was ousted by the coup by the Chelsea players. Recently, he has said that he would not "pay to watch the team's preseason games", he has been embroiled in arguments with the staff and players and has avoided taking the blame for the team's slow start. With his last two stints with Chelsea, he has started his first two seasons strong, winning 2 to 3 of the team's opening games, whilst in the third year, never getting more than four points, and getting sacked or quitting by Christmas.
Despite the team finishing second last season, with 82 points, they still fell far short of winning the title, and fans were unhappy with Mourinho and his coaching and playing style. Coming into the current season many fans were asking for him to get the Axe, as he has hindered the growth and development of incredible talents such as Anthony Martial, Marcus Rashford, and Paul Pogba. His incredibly defensive playing style does not work his the players he has, and as the season has gone on, it has been shown to be a hindrance, especially against lower teams, as United lost to all three of the newly promoted teams last year.
Paul Pogba's agent, Mino Raiola, has been trying to force the player to move to a different club.
This Year: United squeaked out a narrow victory over a sub-par Leicester City squad, as a dodgy handball in the box and a wonder goal by Luke Shaw put them ahead of the late goal by Jamie Vardy, which no one really tried to stop including the goalkeeper, David De Gea.
Following that, United were embarrassed in Brighton as the gulls put 3 past them in the first half, and a 95th-minute penalty was not enough for United, who fell 3-2. This was a bad look for United, especially for defenders Victor Lindelof and Eric Bailly. David De Gea also appeared to still be on summer vacation. Anthony Martial had the ball on the dribble once in the first half and did well with it, but it was not enough to make the score sheet, and he was subbed off at halftime. Luke Shaw had a decent showing again, assisting the first goal.
In the same vein of embarrassment, on Monday night, United lost 3-0 AT HOME, to Tottenham. A truly embarrassing result especially at home. That is not to say United were just terrible in the game, as they had many attacks and many shots but nothing to show for it. Jesse Lingard looked good but that is about the only bright spot. Victor Lindelof got so shredded by Tottenham's attack in the second half that it led to a United Legend Gary Neville saying that he felt bad for him because he was so overmatched playing the Premier league and that he should not be playing at such a high level based on his skill. The slim bright spot came from Jesse Lingard, who looked good in his first start was a forward, creating chances and taking shots. After such a humbling loss you would normally expect the manager to take responsibility for the loss and say something along the lines of "it was not good enough... I have to do better as a manager and the players need to step up... we will learn from this and move forward from here" but Mourinho does nothing of the sort. Instead, he does this:
Just now, Jose walks out on post match press conference with this... https://t.co/Cb5C9DWYeB— Kyle Martino (@Kyle Martino) 1535405461.0
He puts his ego and his personal accomplishments ahead of the club and his team. It is truly unbecoming of a manager to act like that but he has a track record of doing such things.
Here is how Manchester United should move forward from here:
- Give Mourinho an ultimatum. Reportedly if they lose to Burnley on the weekend he is guaranteed to be sacked, but apart from that, tell him that if he does not start taking responsibility for some of these losses then he's gone, if he does not repair his relationship with his players in a meaningful way, he's gone, etc.
- Advise Pogba to drop Mino Raiola as his agent. Raiola is a toxic and greedy agent who knows that the more his players move money, the more chances of making more money he has. He is a poor influence on Pogba and his constant meddling in bad. But if he demands a move to Real Madrid or Barcelona, then get a good deal for him, if he demands a move then be compliant and don't let it get out to the media. If his demands being more private, United could possibly get an incredible deal from him. But his ego should not overshadow the club.
- Keep Martial. He is an incredible talent and given the proper system, will be a superstar.
- Keep Bailly, ship off Lindelof. Eric Bailly is a beast of a defender, and his few poor moments should not overshadow our overall ability. Lindelof, on the other hand, is a weak defender and has shown to not be up to the quality of the League or the Club.
- Play the Youth. Scott McTominay, Luke Shaw, Marcus Rashford, Anthony Martial, and Jesse Lingard should all be getting regular and quality minutes.
- Hire a new Manager. To say the least, Jose was never the manager United needed, he was another manager in the long line of patch managers since Sir Alex Ferguson retired. Zidane is the best currently available and his balanced playstyle would suit the club perfectly.
- Make more signings. United's transfer windows have been very poor recently and need to do more to have a more competitive team.
In my opinion, these changes would be the best options for the club to do going forward and would bolster the club for the future.