Jose wants to spread the LOVE at Reds

JOSE Mourinho has revealed that his No.1 priority at United was to bring happiness back to the Reds support.

The Old Trafford manager had immediately identified the discord between the United fans and the side when he was installed as Louis van Gaal’s successor last summer.

Since Sir Alex Ferguson’s 2013 retirement, United’s fans had become disenchanted with the playing style of David Moyes and, in particular, Van Gaal. Mourinho’s plan to restore United’s glory days started with addressing the issue of getting back in touch with the support and reconnecting.

“All the stages of the process are important. The first was to put the fans in harmony with the team, which was not the case in the last two years,” Mourinho said.

“They were not happy with the way in which the team was playing, the approach, the style of play, and they would leave the stadium ten minutes before the end.

“They needed to come back in our direction. It was difficult, because we had to coincide the team’s style with results.

“Even when we had our fourmatch run of draws at home, that was the case. Against Burnley, we beat the record for the amount of shots in a Premier League match (37). That means that we were restoring the attacking style of Manchester United. What the fans wanted to have.

“However, that was not necessarily what people were expecting from me, because people say that my teams are more pragmatic, realistic.”

“At the moment, I see a lot of defensive teams, but who win matches without being boring.

“But that is not the problem. What I am trying to say is when I arrived at Manchester United, I knew that I needed to go in a certain direction, and that is what I did.

“To be attacking, to be dominant, to have the ball, chances, to not be fearful of conceding goals, to bring intensity, not to play with five defenders, or two attacking midfielders – to at least try to play positively.” The Reds boss’s managerial philosophy was key to changing United around. “You need to know how to adapt to the reality of the club, what it needs, what it demands. That is called being intelligent,” he added. “When I arrived at Real Madrid, they had not got past the last 16 of the Champions League for ten years. A player as notable as Sergio Ramos did not even know what a quarter-final was. Barcelona were a dominant force on the continent. “How to beat them? When I arrived at Inter, they had been the champions of Italy for several years. How to take them further and win the Champions’ League? I came back to Chelsea, who had not won the Premier League for four years. How to make that happen again? “The priority is to establish relationships founded on peace and love in the squad, to create stability.”

You need to know how to adapt to the reality of the club, what it needs, what it demands Jose Mourinho