THE KINGMAKER NEEDS TO GO TO WORK

Ed Woodward sharing a joke with Mourinho

Ed Woodward is the reason behind Man United current collapse, but there’s a feeling that this could have been avoided. If anything, Jose Mourinho should have learned from what happened at his former team and Antonio Conte.

There is a feeling that every interview that Jose has been involved in during preseason had a feeling of a man who had given up. This situation has happened before to different managers. Jurgen Klopp had this problem at Liverpool but he never complained. He never blamed anyone or made players feel like they are not good enough. He worked with the players he had and added players in positions that needed strengthening. Antonio Conte won the Premier League with Chelsea on his first season but because of lack of investment the next season, he started complaining and that made his players start believing that they are not good enough. Chelsea defence never got off to a good start; it never got off at all.  This was a good manager who allowed investments off other teams like Man City, Liverpool and Man United made him feel like he's not getting assistance from the team management, truth be told, he wasn’t getting the help.
 

Conte and Pogba

Conte background is that of a manager who knows how to set-up an average team to be good. From the time he started coaching in 2006, he has purchased 69 players at £8 951 850 per player, compared to Pep Guardiola who has signed 55 players at £19 991 852 per player and Jose Mourinho's 100 players signed went for £13 783 448. This shows that Conte was never a manager who goes and spends money on top names, but he knew how to make average to good players become superstars. He took an ageing Italian national team with no hope of making it through the group, let alone, to compete with against the defending Euro champions, Spain. He not only took them to the quarterfinals, but they beat Spain along the way.

From the time he was at Juventus, Conte never felt like he was given the players he wanted but he worked with what he got, he won Serie A several times but failed to be successful in Champions League. This, he said later, was down to lack of improvements in his squad. When he got to Chelsea, he inherited a team that was thought to be misfits after the “Special One” failed to defend the league title with the same players he won with 3 months earlier. Antonio performed miracles. His defending of the league became nothing more than a battle between him and team management, he distancing himself from any transfers being made by the team, this led to speculations players’ unhappiness and he eventually got fired.

Life in Madrid

Getting back to Jose, he also came from a background of not going on a spending spree, he has been able to create players and build them into superstars. But if you get to join teams like Inter Milan, Real Madrid and Manchester United, it’s expected that you spend the money available. With Chinese and Arab money, the market has changed in that an average player will around 60-90 million. Jose has fell into this trap because of the teams he has coached and the possibilities of the amount that might be made available. For a team like United, if you come 2^nd in the league, smart money would be on you going on a spending spree the next season to try to close 19 points gap.

The unsung hero

But, as it is, no investments were done and Jose decided to go at it the wrong way, imagine Pochettino at Tottenham, he didn’t do business this past transfer window but he never gave his players a feeling of not being good enough. He got to work and the season looks good. Even if he’s been fighting with his bosses, we are unable to sense that because the players are being told to prove to everyone that, lack of new signing is not the end and the fact that they still have all their players is more like signing new players in itself.

Yes Mourinho didn’t get the players he wanted, yes he had injuries to deal with, but modern football asks for one to come up with solutions. We’ve seen it before, he has done it before. He is The Kingmaker, he made so many kings, this is an opportunity to do it again. This guy was known as the special one for a long time, and this was because he was outplaying the best managers in the world. Where Man United is, this situation asks for Mourinho to get to work and make things happen, to remind us why he called himself “the Special One”. And remembering that his record has shown that his 3^rd season always ends with him getting fired, the way this season has started, he’s not doing himself any favours.