Why Mourinho needs to learn that football should be fun as well as business
YOU do not expect him to tell gags every other minute but surely it is about time Jose Mourinho lightened up.
Even Arsene Wenger can still muster a smile and the odd quip while in the process of being hung, drawn and quartered.
No doubt Mourinho is full of charm and is his usual engaging, happy self away from the media glare and there is absolutely no reason to disbelieve him when he says he is loving the challenge of managing Manchester United.
It is an intense business with intense pressure, supporters will admire his refusal to appear satisfied despite a trophy in the cabinet, a top-four place still possible and a European competition there for the taking.
He is telling it as it is, after all, and United are underachieving.
There was was a time, though, when it looked a lot more fun for Jose.
In his first stint at Chelsea, mischief was never far away and, while it was easier to be fresher and funnier when winning, the same was true second time around – there were pranks in press conferences, theatrically walking out as his press officer walked in. There have been lighter moments at Old Trafford and players tell of a good atmosphere in training.
How long that will continue if Mourinho continues to dig certain players out is anybody’s guess.
Following the draw at Anderlecht, Mourinho trained his sights on his strikers again.
“Put the performance of two or three of our attacking players together and you squeeze not much juice out of it. Marcus Rashford, Jesse Lingard, Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Anthony Martial – they were very similar.
“If I was a Manchester United defender, I would be very upset with the attacking players.”
Nothing wrong with that.
He has attacked his strikers before, along with young full- back Luke Shaw. Mourinho demands high standards.but right now, how well is Jose selling Manchester United to the likes of Antoine Griezmann? To a large extent, such a great club sells itself. To play for such a worldrenowned institution is a privilege in itself. Oh, and they pay top dollar. Mourinho had not been officially appointed United manager when Portugal’s European Championship -winning teenager Renato Sanches signed for Bayern Munich. Sanches is in the same agency stable as compatriot Jose, so his preference for Germany rather than Old Trafford was significant. The midfielder (left) spoke recently about the prospect of not only learning from worldclass players such as Arturo Vidal, Thiago Alcantara and Xabi Alonso, but of how important Carlo Ancelotti was in making up his mind. There are other significant factors involved in attracting talent, one of the main ones being Champions League football.
It was not for Paul Pogba, but for some it is a game-decider.
It probably will be for Griezmann with his agent Eric Olhats hinting as much earlier this month. For the first half-hour against Leicester, Griezmann looked every inch the superstar with a £85million release clause. As Olhats also remarked, that figure limits the number of clubs in the mix for Griezmann if – and it is by no means a given – he actually wants to leave Atletico Madrid.
Antonio Conte’s Chelsea would be in that mix, make no mistake.
If it did come down to a choice between Chelsea and United, the crucial considerations would obviously be Champions League football, money, commercial opportunities, club stature, history even.
But another might simply be who it looks more satisfying and more fun to play football under. Mourinho or Conte? Right now, there is only one answer.