The European Leagues & Competitions Thread V2

[Jase 43,479]

  Mourinho

[Sir Mikel OBE 4,920]

Mourinho's tactics, or lack thereof, have simply become outdated.

[Special Juan 27,439]

He chatted shite before hand about not wanting to be in the competition and he got what he deserved the one dimensional bastard.

Richly deserved and glad to see 89M worth of one player doing fuck all again, and again and again

[Sir Mikel OBE 4,920]

5 minutes ago, Special Juan said:

He chatted shite before hand about not wanting to be in the competition and he got what he deserved the one dimensional bastard.

Richly deserved and glad to see 89M worth of one player doing fuck all again, and again and again

He did the same thing when he took over here again. Talking about how it was an embarrassment for us to even be in that tournament. He left us not having even qualified for it.

 

His arrogance is catching up to him big time.

[xPetrCechx 13,563]

[Darogba 112]

Poor utd. Just goes to show what an incredible genius Alex Ferguson was. To me he's the greatest manager the game has ever seen, period.

[xPetrCechx 13,563]

Beer Sheva 

[cosmicway 1,333]

Mourinho made MU look like wood cutters from the mountains.
Betcha they 're going to finish the season under a new manager.

[KevinAshburner 1,270]

9 hours ago, cosmicway said:

Mourinho made MU look like wood cutters from the mountains.
Betcha they 're going to finish the season under a new manager.

 

it's to expensive to sack Jose because they paid Jose a lot of money to be their manager. 

no manager will be stupid enough to be the next man utd manager after Jose gets Sacked.

 

the only managers out there they can get at the moment are these managers. they wouldn't have to pay them a lot.

Diego Simeone

Andre Villas Boas.

[The Mak 4,459]

He needs to find some new tricks...fast.

[Fernando 6,488]

I'm still amazed that we played good futbol with Mourinho two seasons ago. And then to add to that with Real Madrid as well. 

But amazingly both was second season, seems like Mourinho best season always comes second season and then everything falls apart. 

Weather that's the same here we shall see, but United has a lot of money to just throw some cash to fix the problems. 

[BlueLyon 9,359]

Depay is doing a Balotelli faster than Balotelli himself.

[Special Juan 27,439]

I remember when Depay signed some said better than Hazard

[johnnythefirst 1,076]

Jesus Christ, this is just embarrassing. They should be able to beat Feyenoord with their worst possible team. It's not even a top team in Holland anymore and their league is now worse than our Belgian one (they're 14th in Europe...).
They'd probably play better without a manager. 

[Special Juan 27,439]

Paul Scholes saying Pogba needs someone of much higher quality next to him to flourish What the fuck....Spend 90M on him and then need more money to get the best out of him? Fuck off

[DYC. 7,542]

3 hours ago, Special Juan said:

Paul Scholes saying Pogba needs someone of much higher quality next to him to flourish What the fuck....Spend 90M on him and then need more money to get the best out of him? Fuck off

Quote

Scholes added Mourinho should consider signing a controlling midfielder to benefit Pogba but suggested Michael Carrick as an interim alternative.

"Mourinho needs to find the right partner or partners," Scholes explained. "I'd have liked to see Michael Carrick tonight.

"I think he [Pogba] needs, I think he's shown at Juventus, he needs a controlling midfielder next to him and I think Michael's got that controlled ability on the ball. Schneiderlin, especially, that was his job tonight.

"He was too far back for me, he kept picking the ball up in the middle of defence. In that position it is your duty to get the team to play football, you go and get the ball, you pass it forward, you link the team together. Schneiderlin is more concerned about his defensive role rather than being the playmaker in the team, whereas at Juventus he had Pirlo, one of the best playmakers in the world.

"And I think he [Mourinho] needs to go in the transfer market for somebody like that. Michael's capable of it but I still think they need a controlling midfielder, who can control where Paul goes and can control a game of football.

"I know he's happy with his four players [signed in the transfer window] but I still think they need that type of player. A Luka Modric or a Toni Kroos, and I think these players are available. Paul Pogba would be a lot better playing alongside these types of players.

"[Bastian] Schweinsteiger could have been a good partner, his legs aren't great, don't get me wrong."

That's not what he said. There's actually a lot of sense in what he said. He's specifically talking about a certain type of player. When Pogba signed, I immediately questioned how he was going to fit in Mourinho's system. And in his current role, I'm not surprised by him looking out of place.

Paying whatever silly amount of money on a player doesn't mean that player should be capable of doing everything. If a team were to buy let's say Diego Costa for 70 mil and then asked him to drop deep in midfield and exchange short passes like a false 9, I ask you, who is failing? Diego for playing a role that does not suit him or the team that bought a finisher to turn him into Franceso Totti?

Pogba is a midfielder in the ilk of Lampard and Gerrard. They possess some fantastic qualities but they are anything but tactically astute. Play Lamps in any other role than that of a #8 and he looks like a (much) lesser player, which was proven in his performances for England and his performances for Chelsea when different systems were deployed. Same for Gerrard at Liverpool. Benitez even had to play him on the wing for a time to fit him in his team. They can only truly excel in a certain role, more specifically playing with certain amount of positional freedom. Pogba is a #8. He's now playing the #6 position. He won't be (nearly) as good in that role. Simple as. You can fault him for that but then you have to do the same with Lampard and Gerrard, both considered bonafide legends.

Pogba isn't the superstar midfielder who would come in and save Utd, regardless of the money it took to get him, which is not his fault or problem btw. He isn't even a genuine world-class player. But he definitely possesses the talent to become one. But even if he was world-class, he'd still need a proper system and team to excel. You're always depedent on those around you in a team sport.

[cosmicway 1,333]

I did n't like Mourinho's slow build up tactics in the championship year either.
Recall also what happened against PSG.
It became so easy to win that championship because there was no strong opposition.
The year before, the first Mourinho year, there was strong opposition, City and L'pool, but we failed through lack of stamina. In 2013-14, the old guard Eto-Torres-Ramirez were still going strong though and the effects of the Mourinho system could not be seen.
The alleged "parking of the bus" was not really what he was doing and when he did it for once in the Vincente Calderon against Atletico it was actually brilliant. What he did wrong was the passing game, no imagination, nothing could be produced. And he did not have a Messi either who can dribble twentyfive opponents at a time.

 

[Special Juan 27,439]

Dortmund v Real Madrid will be the only game on in my house tonight