MOURINHO IN NEED OF A LITTLE MORE ASSERTIVENESS & BETTER STRATEGY

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   What will a poor performance against a mid-table team get Manchester United players from Mourinho after the game? Encouragement and a pat on the back apparently. Don’t misunderstand, Mourinho absolutely has every right to come out and praise his team for a valiant effort, the first three matches of the season ended in losses and most people who listened to the Manchester United's recent press conferences would have expected Mourinho to address the cause of Manchester United's first -two losses and how to solve the problem avoiding a repeat moving forward and then praise the players efforts in the games  But praising the players alone was exactly what Mourinho did after Manchester United had two first poor game to start the season. Yes, it’s true that Mourinho had a disappointed demeanor during his press conferences and you can be certain Manchester United fans were not expecting the Manchester United manager to appear in a press conference with negative words aimed at his players. Rather Mourinho might have chosen to use the sandwich method in his press conference (praise the players, criticize the mistakes that led to the loss, then pick out ways the players can get a better result in the future).  Manchester United started the new season with mediocre performances that lead to two straight losses against Brighton Hope Albion and an abysmal loss against Tottenham which had the fans asking questions on whether Mourinho had lost his winning touch as a manager or not?  


       Mourinho’s comments after the recent victory were absolutely contradictory this week to last weeks press conference. Mourinho was filled with positive comments for his players after the victory against Burnley last two weekends ago. Mourinho’s reaction and choice of words were completely deferent and positive this past week in comparison to his speech delivered after Manchester United's last two away losses loss these past few weeks against Tottenham and Brighton Hope Albion. “Participated“! Participated seems to be the right word to describe Manchester United's performance against Brighton. Yes, this is referring to the same Brighton Hope Albion who during the season before last season was playing second division football, a league directly beneath the Premier League. After the drama of finishing second to direct rivals Manchester City in last seasons Premier League Campaign, after Manchester United had put up a disappointing performance which got the popular Red Club from west Manchester knock out early, a good number of fans expected Manchester United to come into the first two games of this new Premier League season with so much passion, quality and intensity letting the other big clubs such Tottenham, Chelsea, Liverpool and  Manchester City that the Manchester United of this season is like a bull filled with knowledge of quality football that won stop till Manchester United claims the Premier League  Trophy. But quality football and convincing victories have rarely been shown to be listed in Manchester United's agenda at the beginning of this season. At least, not until the recent victory to Burnley where Manchester United showed the fans that playing bright, attacking football is still present in the team. In fact, if people were to put their verdicts on Manchester United so far this season, temptations of answering with statements such as playing poor quality football and scraping out victories might be the replies gotten from a good number of Manchester United fans and any person willing to say where Manchester United looks to be headed at the moment in the season.


      Did anyone actually watch the Brighton game a few days ago? Nothing short of abysmal for a team hoping to win, at least, the Premier League trophy this season. Manchester United fell short off of nine points, at least, behind last seasons eventual Champions Manchester City last season and the trend of Manchester United ending the season behind bitter rival Manchester City looks poised to return once again this season. The Manchester United fans took to any sought of social media outlet they could think of ( twitter, facebook, Instagram) and much more (youtube, facetime, tumbler) just to express their disappointment in watching a supposedly improved Manchester United team drop points against a Brighton team whom were expected to be fighting for nothing more than a point in the game. One thing that can be said for sure is that Manchester United, during the start of this new 2018/2019 Premier League campaign, have not shown the fans enough positivity in the football Manchester United team is playing for the fans to increase their level of positivity towards the team. Is it the style of play Mourinho is currently implementing in the team or is Manchester United destined to fall short of silverware this season once again just like last season? too early in the season to tell because no real sports fan and no intelligent sports fan will base the outcome of a season for any team on one bad result this early in the season but one fact remains, if Manchester United intend to win the Premier League this season, victories over teams such as Brighton, Leicester City, and any other mid-table teams must be guaranteed by Manchester United moving forward into the current season.


       What was Mourinho’s mood and tone during the post-match press conference after the Brighton and the Tottenham game the past few weeks? A little disappointed but surprisingly, much more encouraging even after a loss. Mourinho was right when he was asked about the teams prospects of winning the Premier League after Mondays results which Mourinho replied in a soft tone:  "I told you, I don’t know if you were there but I told you that November, end of November- December, that is when we will have an idea if we can compete for the league."(Jose Mourinho, August 2018). Mourinho is absolutely right on the subject of waiting till November to know if Manchester United will be able to know if Manchester United will be able to win a trophy but this has to be said that a teams ability to win the league can be established with the performance level the club starts the season. Has Manchester United started the season in a strong fashion? The Manchester United fans seem to be undecided at the moment because even judging from Mourinho’s post-match comments after each game this early in the season, even Mourinho himself seems unsure of where Manchester United's chances on winning the Premier League this season.   On the plus side, Manchester United looks to be turning the tide with their recent victory against bottom of the table team Burnley which saw Manchester United display some decent attacking football coming off the Red Devils recent back to back losses to Tottenham and Brighton Hope Albion.


       The main question that faces Manchester United heading into this weekends game against Watford is: which Manchester United team will the fans get to see this Saturday? Will Manchester United hide under their defensive shell afraid to attack the opponent and leave their defense open? Or will Mourinho throw caution into the wind and attack Watford with the same level of intensity Manchester United used against the last opponent Burnley FC? While the news about Jose Mourinho facing termination as Manchester United at the end of the current season still remains unconfirmed, one fact that still remains true is should Mourinho decide to stick with his defensive-minded approach, the other teams in the Premier League will not too long before coming up with a strategy to overcome Manchester United's all-out defense approach. Tottenham have already shown that is a way to not only overcome Manchester United's defensive style and while expecting Wolves to pull an upset against Manchester United at Vicarage might be Inconceivable, a loss for Manchester United this weekend will not be impossible if Mourinho refuses to let the Manchester United players play the level of quality attacking football Manchester United are capable of. 


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