When I hear the same old lazy recycled mantra of: - Mourinho can't/work with youth or within financial constraints - He is too short term - Every club he leaves is worse off I can't help but think people are being completely myopic. Porto have been in a stable condition since he left, with AVB leading them to the Europa League and an unbeaten season, Chelsea still won the double and the CL in between his 4 and a half year absence, along with a couple of other FA Cups and a Europa League cup... all WITH JOSE's TEAM/SPINE. Inter are worse off thanks to Benitez and financial austerity but still have a good youth set up and had players like Coutinho come through the ranks. At Real Madrid he tried to change the ethos of the club and rid them of the player power but due to faults that were by enlarge his own, he couldn't deliver what was required, nonetheless still overthrew Barca and left Real in a far better position than they were in. At least now, Barca winning La Liga is no longer a formality and Real can now beat them. I'm not saying we will go down the Inter route, but the fact Jose is keeping Lukaku and De Bruyne and involving them with the first team is very encouraging, we will see what becomes of Chalobah but now Jose is committed to the long term, we might see proper plans for the club come to fruition, with somebody that knows what they are doing and gets the club ethos.
Heard he has also recalled Kenneth Omeruo from ADO Den Haag after watching him mark Drogba very well in the African Nations cup, been banging on about Omeruo ever since that tournament, looks a fantastic defender. De Bruyne, Lukaku and Omeruo in the squad next year would be great, I believe Courtois will get one more year away then be back in the fold
He makes the best out of his resources. If kids are good enough aka Robben, Varane, they will get in the team. If a player is good enough to have a team and its tactics built around him aka Ronaldo, then he will adapt his tactics around that. If got team is full of powerful players aka Chelsea inter, he will adapt. The media love painting pictures of teams to suit their carefully constructed caricatures - it reinforces stereotypes in the weak minded and sells papers. Good news re De Bruyne and Lukaku. Exciting for next season, though slightly worried we may lack experience and leadership on the pitch even more than we have done so in the season just passed. Hope Jose will sort.
Spot on. These caricatures created by the media are why there is the common conception that: - Barca's success has been down to their academy and they are the best run club in the world - £400m spent in 5 years. Hundreds of millions in debt, classless tapping up of opposition players United have a great academy, they don't buy titles like City and Chelsea do - Phil Jones, Chris Smalling, Rafael et al all poached from other clubs for hefty fees. United spent most in Europe last season. Jose is an excellent coach and I've no doubt if we have a long term plan out youth will benefit and we will reap the rewards. De Bruyne's valuation has already doubled since we bought him, could treble if he has a good World Cup.
I have watched Joses' career with interest ever since he first joined us, and it is difficult to argue with the views of others on this thread. Except with one point. He doesn't PLAY the youngsters, except on extremely rare occasions. Beluga says if the kids are good enough ,they play, but until they play how do you know they're good enough ??? Robben for example, was bought as an already established player, because someone believed in him in Holland, and he played. it is all talk in the press and no action so far, but apart from Lukaku, seems not a single one of our other kids will get to play for us. On top of that still murmerings about selling David Luiz, and a list as long as your arm about new players. If that's how we intend to build on the core of our team, I don't get it. Seems to me as if Joses' history is repeating, and we are on the spend again, big time, and 4 of our very promising players will lose out to big name imports.
Those cheesy maggot ****ing journos really make my blood boil. Heard it on Talksport this morning, now heard it in the interview, how Mourinho was supposed to have been 'disappointed' about not having been offered job at United or City.... of course, all that assuming that i) he was actually looking for these jobs in the first instance and ii) that he would have taken up those jobs had he been offered. ****ing baseless supposition, crap journalism, suggesting/making up fantasy scenarios to try and create a cheesy story.
Anti-Chelsea media. Just as there was an agenda amongst journo's to keep Rafa at Chelsea, there was an agenda to make sure Mourinho wouldn't return to Chelsea hence the Emanelo rumours and implication Luiz hated him and so forth.
The oldest trick in the journalists bag is, if you haven't got the talent to sniff out a story, make one up.
That's probably the main crux of the Mourinho youth argument. He signs lots of young players, and has plenty of them in his squad, but they rarely get to play because, when push comes to shove, Mourinho will always prioritise the result of the match ahead of developing the career of a young player. That's not a criticism, it's just how Jose is. The 19+4 at Inter is a prime example of this. In his two years at Inter he had around eight or nine youth players in his squad, but only Balotelli and Santon actually played any games. Both of those were 21-22 when Mourinho arrived, and both of those have now left Inter so his impact on the long term value of Inter's youth team is questionable.