Pizy

It's wishful thinking from posters who dislike him. People that blamed Mouirnho and Mourinho alone for our downfall. Everyone saying (hoping) that it'll go the same way it always has for him at United and that he'll be gone in 2-3 seasons after imploding are wrong in my opinion. There are loads of differences between his previous two employers and United. At Real Madrid and Chelsea he wasn't "The Man." He had to answer to the owner/president and could be told "no." He isn't the most important person at Chelsea or RM. At United he'll be treated like the messiah or savior. He's now surrounded by yes men like Woodward and who is just as obsessed with Galactico's as Mou is. He's got limitless funds and just about any player he can name their chairman will get him. He won't have Emenalo or whoever getting him the budget versions anymore. Mourinho will be on the longest leash he's ever been on and it'll take something outrageous to get him sacked. I think he'll be there for quite a while. If things start to stagnate a bit and he goes a season without wining the title they'll simply throw £200m at the problem and go again.

I think the whole "he's past his best and is going downhill" narrative being pushed by a few here will come back to bite you. He may not dominate the league or walk it but I'd still be shocked if he doesn't win a title there within 2 years. Pep and Conte are new to the league and will take time to adapt and learn. Mou is in charge of the richest club and knows the football in England better than anyone else. He's the ultimate pragmatist and knows exactly how to win here. Even if his ability has deteriorated slightly, with players like Zlatan, Pogba, Mkhitaryan, Martial etc he'll still be able to challenge for the title.

I used to love the banter like this when he was our manager. I can already start to see how grating it'll be as time goes on. Only a matter of time before he starts on Pep. Not sure he'll want a piece of Conte, though!

Of course I wake up to a Twitter timeline packed with about 200 Mourinho quotes I tried to avoid... Having read some of them, I'm now convinced they'll indeed be signing Pogba. Can't see them being anything other than clear favorites for the title in his first bloody season.

Don't know if they need another CB. Smalling is one starter and this dude they just bought is supposedly gonna be good. Rojo, Blind, and Phil Jones as cover. Carrick can play there if necessary. They're stacked in midfield already and if they get Pogba I think they'll need to sell someone. Herrera, Schweinsteiger, Schneiderlin, Carrick and Fellaini looks super crowded. Maybe even Rooney. Add Pogba and at least a couple of those would never see the pitch.

Yeah.. Hopefully we'll have some nice signings ourselves to cancel out all the shit we're going to here from Mourinho and United. While they're out chasing and signing Galacticos like Zlatan and Pogba we can quietly sign the likes of Kante and Koulibaly. I'd be delighted for us to not be under so much pressure from the get go and to be able to sneak in off the radar while City and United get all the attention.

I'm one of the biggest Mou fanboys here and I'm not going to watch any interview he does before the season starts and will try my hardest to avoid any quotes these journalists tweet. It'll all only serve to infuriate me. Im sure the inevitable pop at Chelsea is only a matter of days away. It'll probably start with the signing of Pogba. He'll say something like "I've wanted Pogba for a few years now but only a big club like Man United could get him for me."

He's going there, isn't he? With basically no competition as well it seems like. I was holding out hope that Real Madrid would come in and that's that. Mourinho will promise him the moon and the stars. And £300k a week. Zlatan, Pogba, Mkhitaryan, and Martial in their attack. Absolutely mad.

Pretty crazy that we may sell Matic whilst Mikel will still remain here. At his best, Matic is still a great player and can start many games for us this coming season. Mikel at his best is nothing more than a 4th choice midfielder or an injury emergency type. I guess it's because we can actually get a nice sum for him as opposed to Mikel.

Please be true! While we're at it, I hear Matuidi may move from PSG. Let's get ourselves a nice French duo next week!

We simply cannot effectively play with 2 in the middle with Fabregas. He struggles too much in there. We got away with it and blew sides away in his first half season before opponents started to figure him out and because Matic was in world class form. Even with Kante next to him you can't ask another DM to do the work of 2 men in midfield. Cesc would be a passenger and would be targeted. Could you imagine lining up with a 2 man midfield against Mourinho who knows first hand Fabregas's frailty? He'd salivate. Having more than one CM next to him is mandatory.

And even worse, Cahill and Ivanovic still starting. If either of these things happen we're in trouble.

Don't think one affects the other here. Signing Koulibaly and Kante would massively improve our brittle defense. Does seem starnge that the strongest links and rumors so far for us are with attacking players and our first signing was a striker considering the overwhelming weakness last season was at the back. You would've thoguth that as soon as the season ended we'd go all out signing midfielders and defenders.

The Telegraph are saying we'll go after Pellé if we can't sign Morata. They say we very much still want him to pair with Diego. What an insane group of forwards we'd have if we signed Morata...

Story changes every week! He's desperate to leave and hates England one week and is happy to stay the next. The media haven't got a clue in other words.

All hinges on what happens with Costa. If Pelle is brought in as anything other than a 3rd option then no thanks. If we're planning on partly replacing Costa with Pelle and having him be the main man to partner Batshuayi it would be terrible business. He reminds me of Andy Carroll. When he's in top form he's almost unplayable due to his size and hold up play but he can also look totally shit for long stretches.

Seems like all the other big clubs are going after "sexier" names instead. Arsenal got Xhaka, City got Gündogan, PSG who seemed most likely for Kante got Krychowiak, and United are after Pogba. Everything is kind of falling in our favor to be favorites for him. Would be a huge shame and gutting if we miss out.

This is why it's important to be quick. He's the perfect Mou midfielder and he'd love nothing more than to pull one over on us if he misses out on Pogba.

I just wonde if Conte will use him as a nailed on, 100% certain starter like he has been or will rotate him. While I'm a person who wants him to stay and thinks he'll be an important player for us still, he does present somewhat of a selection/formation headache. Like BlueLyon just said, Cesc is woeful in certain aspects like defending and pace. Have to wonder how long Conte will put up with that.

Kante sitting just in front of Koulibaly and Zouma.... Damn!

Not sure I'd trust Cuadrado to defend against the better wide players in the league. The likes of Martial and Sanchez would destroy him.

Says he'll take a week off before starting here.

Indeed. Though, we still wouldn't have a right wingback and would need another midfield signing.

Hopefully he's like José and has that maniacal desire to get to work straight away. Take a couple of days off and then start making those phone calls to transfer targets.

Best in the world. Such a classy, composed CB.