Can someone please tell grumpy Jose that football is fun again
IT seems Jose Mourinho did not get the memo. Football is fun again, the World Cup saw to that.
His Stateside grumpiness might be some sort of prolonged gimmick but, even if it is, it is wearing thin and the Premier League season is still a fortnight away.
The accepted wisdom has long been that winning is all that matters but perhaps that is not enough any more.
“Maybe this season, finally you will demand they win,” the Manchester United boss said of Liverpool when asked about their spending spree.
We will, Jose. We have. On these pages, certainly.
But the Liverpool fans? Sure, they will be desperate to win stuff but as long as they see their team playing some cracking, entertaining football and see a manager who looks like he is truly having the time of his life orchestrating it, they do not seem too bothered if trophy pursuits come up just a little short.
When asked if he felt he had a squad capable of challenging for the title this season, Mourinho refused to answer.
Even one along the lines of ‘I’m not sure but we are going to give it a right good would have done.
In this summer of footballing love, few are interested in the practical machinations of the transfer market. They get excited about players who sign and care little about those who don’t.
Mourinho has said he would like two more players but every manager would like two more players.
His is a squad that finished second in the Premier League, albeit a mile behind Manchester City, won at the Etihad, and reached the final of the FA Cup.
It needs improving, sure, but it is not too shabby.
And at its heart it has one of the star performers from Russia 2018, World Cup winner Paul Pogba.
Mourinho’s comments about Pogba’s form for France made a lot of sense. His comments often do make sense as few have as fierce a footballing intellect as Mourinho. He believes Pogba had extra motivation and more focus when he was embedded in his national team’s camp.
Fair enough, but the comments were couched in terms that suggested an end to the inconsistency Pogba go’ has suffered in his two years at Old Trafford is the player’s responsibility alone.
He managed to sound negative about the joyous positivity of Pogba’s summer.
Mourinho did not even sound overly happy about Anthony Martial heading to Paris to be at the birth of his second child. “...When a man is going to be a father... nobody has the right to stop him from going.”
I’m certain no Manchester United fan wants Mourinho to be some sort of happyclappy comedian or wistful idealist.
But he has signed Alexis Sanchez and Fred in 2018, will probably get Harry Maguire, and has a handful of players still feeding off the buzz of the World Cup.
Just check out the socialmedia timelines of the likes of Pogba, Marcus Rashford and Jesse Lingard.
They have been having happy times on their holidays, just as they had happy times at the World Cup.
It is up to Mourinho to ensure that continues in the colours of Manchester United.
Football is fun again... someone just needs to tell Jose.