Here’s a little fact that you might not remember from Mourinho’s time at Man U: he never bought a house and instead rented a hotel room.
On one level living in a hotel room every night is a logical choice. You have a cleaning service, you have room service for meals, there’s a gym, the appointments (bedding, linen, couches, etc) are absolutely top quality. And if you were never going to buy a house, and were going to live in a rental anyway, it was probably cheaper to just stay at a luxury hotel.
On a human level it’s a weird disconnect from his community. He wouldn’t have any neighbors. His family would live wherever they lived and he would either have to go visit them or they would have to visit him. It’s a weird, solitary confinement-like existence.
Another thing some of us have forgotten is how hilarious his press conferences were at Man U. One of the best ones was toward the end, when his team were neither playing well nor winning games. After losing to Tottenham 3-0 he held up three fingers and told a reporter to respect him because he’s won 3 Premier League Titles, which (at the time was) more than all of the other 19 managers.
It’s an especially important line in the context of Arsenal because he had to wait until Wenger left the club in order to deliver it! And that’s another thing that some folks might have forgotten, or maybe they haven’t, maybe that’s something that some Arsenal supporters like about Mourinho.
He was the manager who when he first appeared on the scene immediately and very nearly weekly had some spat with Arsene Wenger. He called Wenger a “voyeur” during his first tenure at Chelsea and a “specialist in failure” during his second tenure. He tapped up Ashley Cole, taking Arsenal’s academy product and one of the best right backs in the League.
And let’s not forget that he signed Cesc Fabregas.
His brand of football was also heavily criticized toward the end of his tenure at Man U. “Checkbook Tony Pulis” was the nickname many gave him for his overly conservative style of football. His football philosophy can be summed up by his own quote: “keep your shape, don’t make a mistake, and capitalize on their errors.”
I wrote about his lack of tactical nous in 2016, when his United side were overrun by Guardiola’s City. That match had everything that you could possibly want from a Mourinho-coached team: two banks of four counter attacking, lumping it long to Fellaini, and after the game, when they lose, throwing his players under the bus.
To be fair to Mourinho, his teams didn’t always play super conservative. During his first tenure at Chelsea they were often adventurous going forward against small teams and conservative against big ones. It probably eats away at his insides that his first Premier League title will always be his best and that they missed out on being Invincibles because of a single 1-0 loss to Man City – a loss because they gave away a penalty.
It’s not that Mourinho wasn’t a great manager. He was well loved at Inter and Porto and I would even say that his coaching style became an identity at Chelsea. So much so that they hounded a great coach, Maurizio Sarri, out of his job because he had the temerity to actually want to play football rather than just play Stokeball.
And he did win things. He has won two Champions League titles, a Europa League title, three Premier League titles (THREE, THREE), two Portuguese League titles, two Serie A titles, and a Real Madrid league title. Though it does look like his powers are on the wane. His best finish was 2nd at Man U, and that was a bit of a fugazi because their defensive record that season relied heavily on a world class season from De Gea. According to my xG formula, they were expected to allow 49 goals that season, they only conceded 28. Even Understat which is WAY more conservative than I am had an xGA of 44 for them that season. Put another way, that season the overperformed expected points by almost 19 points. They finished 2nd but there was what I would call “a lot of luck involved”.
Basically, his United team didn’t take a lot of shots and conceded a lot of shots, while playing defense first football. Hmmm…
And finally, there is the small problem that Mourinho absolutely is a checkbook manager. Since leaving Porto he’s never been frugal with the transfers.
£450m in transfers at Manchester United. The list of players purchased in descending order of cost:
- Paul Pogba (World Cup winner)
- Lukaku – considered a failure in England, plays in Italy
- Fred – doesn’t play
- Matic – doesn’t play
- Mkhitaryan – didn’t play at United, traded to Arsenal for Sanchez, currently scoring goals in Rome
- Eric Bailly – doesn’t play
- Lindelof – plays!
- Alexis Sanchez – massive failure, shipped to Inter
- Dalot – plays!
- Lee Grant – doesn’t play, third choice backup keeper, unfair to hold this transfer against Mourinho
Mourinho has a very long and odd history of getting rid of world class players or at least players who turn out to be very good or that he ends up buying back: Kevin de Bruyne, Matic (bought back twice), Lukaku, Mo Salah, and one could argue that he’s found a way to almost ruin Paul Pogba.
That’s some heavy-duty anti-mojo there!
If this was 10 years ago I might actually be down with getting Mourinho in at Arsenal. His tired schtick of being angry with everyone around him, blaming the players, blaming the press, etc. wasn’t as tired back then. He even still had a bit of an eye for players back then. And the players used to listen to him. But I think that Mourinho’s managerial career has basically run its course. It happens with all managers. Some sooner than others.
If we just want a manager to come in and organize this Arsenal side, we could pick from dozens of young guys out there who are plying their trade in Germany, Italy, and Spain. We don’t need an angry old man living on past glories to come in and make Arsenal into George Graham Mk 2.
Waiting for the replies arguing we should sign him.
Even if he were currently better than Pep, I dislike him enough as a person that if we hired him, I’d take a sabbatical from club soccer entirely until he was gone.
My first choice to replace Wenger was Allegri and he is still my first choice to replace Emery – assuming that’s the genesis of this article. Mourinho can go do one.
Exactly the type of manager we need. After Wenger left we needed a total change of philosophy, Simeone was my first choice followed by Mourinho and then Benitez. Also, I`m fed up with the football snobbery of some of our fanbase. There are many ways to play football and I couldn’t careless how my team is set up so long as it produces winning results. Some of these snobby little whingers should research the history of our great club, until Wenger arrived we always had a reputation as a hard nosed, well drilled defensive unit who were horrible to play against. The neutral hated us and I tell you what, it was great. I loved it, you rarely left a ground feeling totally embarrassed at a George Graham team. They may not have been the most technically gifted sides or the easiest on the eye but you had to scrape them off the pitch to beat them. When I see a capitulation like Sunday at Watford or a Europa League Final mauling against the chavs, I feel nothing but shame. So you just carry on demanding “stylish” football and we`ll continue to turn into Tottenham, a club and a set of supporters we older fans used to laugh at.
It’s not “snobbery” it’s that defensive football doesn’t reliably produce results anymore outside of the cups where you can get lucky in a few games. Come on, dude.
I actually watched one of those supposedly hard-nose old George Graham games. 1-0 win over Parma. We were awful. Time wasting, pretending to be injured, cramps, but yes, we won the cup winner’s cup. That season, we finished 4th. The season before, we finished 10th. The season after, 12th.
We were not a good football club after the Premier League was formed in 1992. Graham was fired for “bungs” but that was just a convenient excuse. We played crap football. Graham went on to continue to be a crap manager after he left. It’s not a surprise he only ever went on to win the League cup and never managed another club after Spurs.
Absolute nonsense. I was in Copenhagen and it was one of the great nights in our history. And that game should have filled every Arsenal supporters heart with pride. You ask any of the 25,000 Arsenal fans there that day and they`ll all say the same thing. We were up against a far more technically gifted outfit and one of Europe`s best teams but we refused to be beaten. This current Arsenal team would have been hit for 4 or 5 against that Parma outfit. We`ve turned into a gutless team with a yellow streak running right through the club and it needs urgent action. As for Graham`s later years, yes, he lost the plot and targeted the big one off cup games at the expense of our League form. I didn’t agree with it because the League is your bread and butter but those were the days before 4 teams qualified for the European Cup. And I`ll continue to maintain that watching that Arsenal team from 92 – 95 was better than watching the current shambles roll over and have their tummies tickled every time they are seriously challenged. Do you not find it humiliating?
What you’re describing, at the absolute pinnacle of achievement, might make watching the Table more interesting. But nobody would want to see it on the pitch. That’s if one somehow believes that the ‘boring, boring’ Arsenal would take the Prem by storm (or 1-nil) and we could all party like it’s 1987. And cross our fingers the likes of Luton Town isn’t waiting around the corner.
Certainly, Wenger’s beautiful football got a little ugly as it got into the second decade. But Emery-ball is hardly pretty and the results aren’t looking much better. If the word ‘style’ offends you replace it with quality. And if ugly football is such a sound strategy, where the hell is Bolton these days?
George Graham`s early Arsenal sides (86 -92) were great to watch and scored plenty of goals. 1-0 to The Arsenal came later during our run to the Cup Winners Cup. And you are mistaken if you think that I am somehow demanding that we “take the Prem by storm”. However, I am demanding (as should every supporter) that the players give total commitment to the cause and show a bit of backbone when they come under pressure. We will concede another 50+ league goals this season and nothing is being done to address it. In fact, I think its actually getting worse. We are more open now than we were under Wenger in his last few years. Emery must have taken charge of at least 70 games now and I still cant see any game plan or style of play forming. By the way, you might want to find a better example of “ugly” football than Bolton. After all, their fall from grace coincided with their attempts to try to play “nice pretty” football instead. Good football is winning football in my opinion, no matter what level you play at. Fat Sam`s Bolton played to their strengths and for a club of their size were very successful doing it. Good luck to teams like that.
You’re trolling. Nobody wants Mourinho. He’s a spent force. One of my best friends is a rabid Real Madrid supporter and he has seizures when he hears rumours they want to bring Mourinho back.
What I would like to see is Mourinho and Guardiola do a Benitez for their next acts and take a lower division team and get them promoted with a limited budget. That would prove true managerial chops. Just spending billions on the best players in the world only proves so much.
Never. Honestly, I’d seriously consider being done with Arsenal if they brought him in. I’d sooner have Big Sam.
Eddie Howe’s name was mentioned often when Wenger was on the outs. What do you think of him? Also, is Arteta still a possibility? What about the guy at Hoffenheim?
We clearly need a coach to address the defensive frailties but I’d be very disappointed if it came at the cost of the identity that Wenger forged as a fluid attacking team.
george graham was a fantastic manager in the eighties, you cannot look at those games and compare it to todays football.
there was a restriction on foreign players, no european football .
he was the best in the english game back then.
all the best players joined man u or liverpool and george did it with youth and a few canny buys from stoke and wimbledon.
he just got the midfield totally wrong towards the end.
Spot on about Graham, he was tactically brilliant and his teams would run through a brick wall for him. Cant understand your stance on Mourinho though.
george graham was a class act even the arsenal dress code.
and ruthless what he did to rocky.
but maureen is tasteless, classless mocked arsenal when he was financially doped.
that’s just principles.
I also think he is a spent force in management and clubs like man u who were out if touch are the only ones who would seek his services.
he would come in on twice emerys wages we would fail then have to pay 3 years compensation to him and his back room staff setting us back a further five years.
I reckon Mourinho would walk on his hands and knees to take the Arsenal job. I always saw his little pops at us as a compliment. At Chelsea, he knew that they could never be as big a club as The Arse and that we were London`s number 1 club no matter how many trophies he managed to win. He loves London and I think he`d take a drop in wages to get back in the Premier League with us. He was never cut out to manage a club like Utd, they have always had an identity and a certain style of play that isn’t suited to him. We are different, until Wenger arrived we always had a more conservative identity and all we`d be doing by employing Mourinho is returning to our roots in that respect. I do take your point about class though. We are a club steeped in it and some of Mourinho`s antics might not sit too well.
Funny you should mention “dress code”. I remember a pre season friendly with Watford when Michael Thomas came on as sub with his shirt not tucked in. Graham yanked hime straight off again!
oh and no way jose…
50 years a gooner and I’ll have to prorogue my support for the jose period.
Mourinho will never manage Arsenal. I’m pretty sure he’d need to wear a bullet proof vest if he did. Literally. Not metaphorically. 90% of the fan base HATE him.
He has one more club left to destroy – PSG. Tuchel will be out this year.
This is surprising for me, but I don’t particularly care. I don’t want him. I want Freddie or Arteta, or anyone who gets Arsenal. But I’m also of the feeling that that Arsenal is dead. That we’re basically a Mourinhoesque club except with a coach who isn’t as good.
Fair point that Jose isn’t as good any more either. So yeah. I hope it’s not Mourinho, but it would just be the logical result of the direction we opted to take as a club and I guess I’m prepared now.
Emery meanwhile continues to annoy. Mostly senior squad travels because of the Watford debacle, if we’re being charitable. But Ozil is ‘rested’, the guy who’s played the least minutes. Also, he’s delayed the announcement of the captaincy group yet again. Why even bother at this point? It’s 5 weeks into the season proper.
Anyone honestly think that Raul Sanllehi would spend one-firing-synaptic-impulse regarding hiring Jose Mourinho?
I got a tower in London I’d like to sell you.
I agree with Shard here. Emery will continue to confound and confuse, we’ll go no where in the Premier League and we’ll be also-rans in the Europa League. We are so far off Champions League quality in terms of organization and tactical nous that I’m glad we’re not embarrassing ourselves in that competition.
I have not watched a match live other than Liverpool and I may not watch Frankfurt tomorrow unless my local gets its DAZN subscription straightened out. And I don’t particularly care. I want to but I just don’t.
At least gorgeous George was a gooner.
Irrespective of his managerial merits, or not (and I’m firmly on the not side), Mourinho is an arse, pure and simple.
No humility, no humour, no wisdom, just the constant egomaniacal cry of “me, me, me”.
I can’t believe we’d be bonkers enough to go for him but, if ever we did, I’d take a sabbatical.
No humility, no humour, no wisdom, just the constant egomaniacal cry of “me, me, me”.
I’m amazed he isn’t standing for US president. Sounds like the perfect match.
I cannot imagine supporting a Mourinho-led team. He is reprehensible. And as many above have said, past it in terms of effectiveness.
No Mou, but almost anyone else!
Mou is just an experienced, expensive, smarter Emery, and a “jerk” (restraining myself) to boot.
Of the big names, Rafa! Character, organizer, and calm. A young one might work, but who, specifically … mid season?
Gotta say, if it is a mid season replacement I think I would go for Rafa. He is available and would seem to be a solid choice to right a ship. Whether he would agree to a 1 year deal with a 1 or 2 year option is up for debate.
On another matter, I recently watched an Arsenal-Tottenham game from 2003-4, and was absolutely blown away by the tempo of that Arsenal team. Everyone seemed to be sprinting all the time. That is the Arsenal that I want back. Whether we have the players to play that way is also up for debate.
While Rafa would probably jump at the chance to be closer to his (England-based, last I heard) family, he’s not exactly available – he left Newcastle for a high-paying job in China.
No Jose please…George Graham did not conduct himself like a [insert 4 letter word of choice]…we can do better and I think the executives can get someone better. If they want to lead Jose on before stiffing him at the end though….I’m all for that!
There are certain rules to follow in life. Do Not Hire Jose Mourinho at Arsenal is right up there with Never Start a Land War in Asia.
That this rumor exists is risible enough for a club with the class I thought we had/have.
I’d prefer a young manager of promise (for now, until he’s got his feet wet at a club of promise but underachievement, not the mythical, professionally risk-averse Arteta). Jose of a decade ago, yes. Jose of today, no. He’s clearly a manager in decline. And his temperament is wrong. He can start a fight in a phone booth. Think Emery’s ostracisation of Ozil was bad? You haven’t met Mourinho.
I don’t think we properly know who we want. We should have picked up Klopp when he was on a sabbatical. In 96, we looked to Japan and a bright young French manager who was forward-thinking and smart as f***. Can lighting strike twice? But no, no Mourinho.
Johnno upthread makes a great point, and no Jack, he’s not trolling. The point of course being we need a manager who makes us tough organisationally, defensively. Unfortunately, Johnno, that man isnt Mourinho. He didnt exactly make Man U a defensive fortress, and instead was stopped from buying his way to a solution.
Sorry to be a pedant, but Ashley Cole was a LEFT back
No! That’s totally fair. Weird because I can see him in my mind playing on the left but I still wrote “right”.
George Graham’s Arsenal were fabulous to watch between 1988-91, overpowering teams,scoring lots of goals, the artistry of Anders Limpar.Peaking in the 90/91 season where they only lost one game all season, away to Chelsea, and they had key players out that day.
He spent the first couple of years sorting out the defence.
He wasn’t the same after 91(he fell out with Limpar for one) But what he did between 86-91 shouldn’t be forgotten.
Sure, never forget the wonderful two seasons he gave but let’s also not pretend that the 1992+ seasons never happened. If this Arsenal team finish 10th this season, I suspect people will be in the streets baying for blood. Basically the football world changed and he didn’t.