Manchester United have won two trophies in the two seasons with Jose Mourinho at the helm. He won the League Cup and Europa League in 2016-17 and failed to pick any kind of silverware in his second season at the club. The Portuguese has been at the club overseeing four transfer windows, yet this team still looks long way from completed.
If you look at any job Jose Mourinho had in his career since the days in Porto, he always did better in his first two seasons than he did now in Manchester. That is, of course, mostly due to the fact that he always won at least the league title in second season, but Manchester United cannot even be thinking about these two seasons as something purely positive. Yes, the team has improved, but in relation to the amount of money spent and more importantly, not as much as you expect from a club this big.
So, what if you put Jose Mourinho next to other managers from Premier League’s big six. Straight away, you could say he did a better job than Arsene Wenger did at Arsenal. With a single FA Cup and two outside-of-top-four finishes, Wenger is surely behind United’s manager. But is that all? Has he really done better than anyone else?
What About Poch And Klopp?
Mauricio Pochettino would be the one where the most arguments would be used. Looking at trophies, Mourinho did better and Pochettino still has a long way to go. Yet, looking at the Premier League, he managed finishes in 3rd and 2nd with a team that always has 6th best financial power.
United are way ahead of them financially and yet they failed to put together better team than Tottenham have. Looking at these two sides, it would be hard to say Manchester United have a team that is better settled and more balanced. United have problems at full-backs, centre-backs and in midfield, while the attack is not functioning well either. Yes, they finished second and ahead of Spurs, but that was most to the rigid defensive organization rather than an expansive style.
If it is hard to decide who did better, Mourinho or Pochettino, there is no place for the argument afterwards. Jurgen Klopp managed to get Liverpool into a Champions League final which is enough in itself and even more so when the amount of money he spent is not big at all, with one of his key players sold.
Conte And Guardiola Did Better
Antonio Conte managed to win the league when no one really expected him to do it ahead of Mourinho and Guardiola and then failed to win the Double just because of a loss to Arsenal. However, with all the problems he created and encountered in his second season, Conte at least managed to salvage something with an FA Cup win. That is still more than Mourinho.
And should we even start talking about Pep Guardiola?
After all, for all of those saying that Mourinho won Europa League, so did Sevilla, Shakhtar and Porto, but those are not the teams United want to measure themselves with. They want to be at the summit, to be a pure elite. Settling for Europa League is not enough.
Jose Mourinho must bring great results in his third season at the club.
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