JOSE: SUCCEED OR FAIL ON MY TERMS
Boss does it his way as he banks on power over artistry to stop the rot
JOSE MOURINHO has the same office that Sir Alex Ferguson once used at Manchester United’s Carrington training ground.
To get there, Fergie would walk through the main canteen to swap gossip and jokes with his players or try out a bit of pigeon French or Spanish to lighten the mood.
Mourinho’s access route is very different. Rather than take the opportunity to mingle, he chooses to walk around the back of the building and enter his private workplace in solitude.
It may seem a small point but it is significant nonetheless. Having said all the right things at his unveiling at Old Trafford in the summer and stressing he understood ‘the Manchester United way’, Mourinho has made a conscious decision to revert to type and either succeed or fail entirely on his terms.
There will be no concession to attacking football, youth development or touchy-feely man-management. Despite his experiences at Real Madrid and Chelsea, the 53year-old manager will do things his way — and face the consequences if they do not work, rather than compromise.
Hence, despite all the tributes being paid to the new breed of boss like Pep Guardiola, Jurgen Klopp and Mauricio Pochettino, Mourinho will not try to emulate them.
He will pack his team with power — Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Paul Pogba, Marcus Rashford, Eric Bailly, even Marouane Fellaini — and try to be the best in the two penalty areas regardless if others score more highly for artistic impression. Ball players like Henrikh Mkhitaryan will have to wait. Mourinho learned his lesson in the Premier League game against Manchester City in September when he named an unusually expansive line-up and found himself 2-0 down inside 36 minutes.
Since then, he has decided to stand or fall on the attributes that have made him uniquely successful in four different countries.
While Guardiola studies data with near-obsessive zeal, Mourinho will trust his eyes. If Klopp hugs his players every day, Mourinho will restrict his contact with them to the training field. Hence, no strolls through the canteen. No attempt to build one-on-one relationships with individuals.
It is a high-risk strategy. Results have not been good this season with United kicking off at Swansea City today outside the European places. Their only away win since August was at Northampton in the League Cup.
There is a sense of surprise and concern inside United that Mourinho has been so publicly critical of players. A number of them including Anthony Martial, Daley Blind and even captain Wayne Rooney were better under Louis van Gaal.
Yet there may be some comfort in Mourinho’s obstinate attitude. He will not mess around and pretend to be something he is not. This will either work, or the fall-out will be quick and spectacular.
New leaders are emerging. Juan Mata, unwanted by Mourinho at Chelsea, is a cheerleader for the Mourinho way and agrees that a sloppy start at the Liberty Stadium will be unacceptable after conceding early goals against Chelsea and Fenerbahce. ‘We need to be focused
from the first minute to the last,’ he said. ‘We have to be compact in defence, try to defend very well and obviously score more goals than we have been doing.
‘We need to show personality. Especially when we’re in a bad moment after a defeat. It’s always difficult then until the next game.’
Mourinho’s behaviour has been scrutinised of late. A rant at referee Mark Clattenburg in last weekend’s 0-0 draw against Burnley has earned him a touchline ban today. He changes from one match to the next, from praising his players to accusing them of treating games like ‘a pre-season friendly’.
He complained he has been forced to play two left-backs at centre-half because of injuries. Apart from sounding like Van Gaal, that view has been contradicted by one of them, Marcos Rojo, who said: ‘In the last two seasons I’ve often played at left-back but the truth is my natural position is in central defence.’
Maybe Mourinho is cracking up. Or perhaps these are the same tactics he used to win the Champions League with Porto and Inter Milan, or his many league titles, including three at Chelsea, but with decreasing effect.
Of his marquee signings, £89 million man Pogba has been dreadful and limped out of the last game with a dead leg. Ibrahimovic has scored just once in 11 matches.
Yet Dick Advocaat, whose Fenerbahce team defeated United 2-1 on Thursday, thinks Mourinho is still in control. ‘I have no doubts he will get it right,’ he said. ‘You can see how many prizes he has won in his life at different clubs, different countries. I will gladly make a bet with everybody that he will do it again at Manchester United.
‘It is always difficult because he has great players but he has to find the right balance. He will definitely do it, he just needs time.’
Others are not so sure. The ostracising of German World Cup winner Bastian Schweinsteiger has badly backfired, with the midfielder winning widespread support and he has now given his place back in the first-team training squad. Former Bayern Munich president Uli Hoeness, who saw Schweinsteiger win eight Bundesliga titles and the Champions League at Bayern, said: ‘To treat him like a leper and shove him onto the sidelines says a lot about the situation at United.’
Mourinho will not give that assessment a second thought given Hoeness was only released from prison earlier this year after being jailed for tax evasion.
Instead, he will continue to do things his way. It is a risky strategy that will resolve itself well before his four-year contract ends.