Not so boring Jose Mourinho

I find myself in a strange place with the rumored hire of José Mourinho on the horizon. I have the utmost respect for his coaching record but I must admit that I am not a fan of the man. The simple fact is he is a former Chelsea manager (2 times over as a matter of fact). This is a man that has helped shaped Chelsea history and made them into a premier league force. I was always worried facing this team even with Sir Alec Ferguson at the helm.

I cannot argue that he is a winner though. He is exactly what Manchester United needs in my opinion. There has been an outcry this season about the boring nature of the football played under Louis van Gaal. While I agree that the football was uninspiring at time, I believe that the “boring football” was just used as another reason to sack van Gaal. Had van Gaal’s boring football produced a string of 1-0 victories that propelled the club to the title, “boring football” would be an afterthought. At the end of the day, results matter most. Louis van Gaal’s team did not produce results expected of a Manchester United outfit.

With the sacking of van Gaal, José Mourinho is in pole position to secure the job. Many fans and pundits alike have labelled Mourinho as boring as well. This is due to the fact the Mourinho is known to play a very defensive brand of football in the big games. I have no issues with this. Sir Alec Ferguson was very conservative in big games as well and fielded teams that reflected that approach (Park Ji-Sung and Darren Fletcher featured heavily in big Champions league games). Once again, results trump style here.

A further look into some basic statistics show that Mourinho led teams have shown a propensity to score goals. The 2015/16 version of Manchester United scored only 49 goals in 38 premier league games. They failed to threaten the opposing goal in too many games.

Check out this great article about José Mourinho from sky sports “Is Jose Mourinho really a defensive coach who doesn’t trust youth?“

Just to add to Adam Bate’s article here are some more numbers that show the scoring output  during the premier league season by Mourinho teams .

During José Mourinho’s first stint in the premier league from 2004-2007, Chelsea averaged 69 goals scored per campaign. Manchester United averaged 71 goals.

* José Mourinho’s left Chelsea on December 17th 2015.  Chelsea outscored Manchester United in both 2014/15 (Louis van Gaal’s first season in charge) and 2013/14 (David Moyes & Ryan Giggs).

For what it’s worth, I would have loved to see Mauricio Pochettino at the helm  of Manchester United.