Snak

Ja, vi har desværre ikke så mange med niveau til at spille på det engelske landshold. Selvom jeg forsvarer Lingard med næb og kløer her i tråden, så kan jeg sagtens forstå, at han ikke er med denne gang. Egentlig kan jeg heller ikke forstå, at Southgate har Smalling med, det er han jo altid. Luke Shaw udtrykker jeg jo jævnligt min tvivl omkring.

Jones og Rashford er dog helt berettiget, og Rashford har vel overhalet Sterling den indbyrdes konkurrence i de her kampe.

I øvrigt har Rashford spillet en del på højrekanten for England i denne samling. Han har afgjort været bedst til venstre, men det kan være, at det er dét, der skal til, for at vi kan få Rashford, Lukaku og Martial at se i samme opstilling. Jeg krydser i hvert fald fingre for, at det er fronttrioen på lørdag mod Stoke. Så må de for min skyld gerne ligge og bytte rundt på de indbyrdes positioner, men de har alle 3 utroligt meget fart og er dødbringende 1 vs. 1. Du kan ikke dobbeltgardere dig på dem alle sammen på én gang.

Interessant interview med Jose Mourinho i The Times her til morgenkaffen:
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/jose-mourinho-interview-romelu-lukaku-would-now-be-worth-150m-neymar-changed-everything-dqm3c5d06

On an antique sofa at the top of a sweeping staircase at Carlton House Terrace, in London’s most aristocratic neighbourhood, José Mourinho looks almost as regal as his surroundings. Manchester United are the early frontrunners in the Premier League and all, for once, appears calm in his kingdom. Too calm, he suggests with a devilish smile. “I don’t like the sea to be flat,” he says, and moments later he repeats it for good measure.
Mourinho feels there can be such a thing as too much tranquillity. “I like to put pressure on myself,” he says, “I like to take the watch and put it forward. At the moment it’s 2.30pm. If I have to be some place at 3pm, I tell myself it’s ten to three. In my job, too, I have done that. I accelerate the timings. I always think that a little bit of pressure is good. I don’t like the sea to be flat. I don’t like, for example, like now, for people to be speaking about my team the way they are speaking. I think it’s very premature. I don’t like it. I prefer the other way around. Put a little bit of pressure on it. Timings are a good way to put pressure on myself.”

There is a reason for these references to horology. Mourinho has agreed to this rare interview in part to promote his long-term commercial relationship with the watchmakers Hublot, who have chosen this suitably opulent venue for their latest photoshoot.

Indeed, so much of the Mourinho story feels like a race against time. So much talk in football these days is about long-term philosophies, about five-year plans, yet Mourinho’s approach, perhaps more than anyone else’s, revolves around the 90 minutes, each game a building brick in his season’s work, each season no less than a race to win as many trophies as possible.

Mourinho has long been characterised as short-termist. He gets results, he wins trophies — at Porto, at Chelsea, at Inter Milan, at Real Madrid, at Chelsea (again) and now at United — and he moves on. Sometimes (at Porto, at Inter) he has left on incredible highs. At other times, most starkly when a league title success at Chelsea was followed by an alarming nosedive the next autumn, he has left amid acrimony and turmoil. His suggestions of following in Sir Alex Ferguson’s footsteps, staying longer at United than at any of his previous clubs, have been met with scepticism — unfairly, he believes.

“If people say that because I win and leave, I have to accept that because in a certain period of my career I did that,” he says. “When I win the Champions League, at Porto, at Inter, I disappear. I left Real Madrid when the club wanted me to stay. The only place I was sacked was Chelsea, but always after winning the title. “If people say that because I move from club to club, they’re right, but I don’t think I am [short-termist]. I prepare clubs for success. I think I prepare clubs in a way where, when I leave, the new manager arrives at a top club. And that is not short-term even if you leave. If you’re in a club one or two years — or any job — if you leave a structure to be even more successful without you than with you, that’s not short-term. That’s long-term. That’s long-term.”

Is he talking about Real Madrid, who have won three Champions League trophies in four seasons since his departure? “I am, I am,” he says, “as an example. Short-term can be the guy that is at one club 20 years or 15 years or ten years and leaves the club in conditions for . . .”

He breaks off. “What is the opposite of success?” he asks. Failure. “Right, failure,” he says, uttering the word as if it leaves a sour taste on his lips. “One who leaves the club in conditions for failure. That is a short-term manager. You can be there ten or 20 years and when you leave the club, it’s ready for failure.”

This is an intriguing one. Is he talking about Arsène Wenger, whose legacy to his eventual successor at Arsenal looks less promising with every year that he stays, or even about Ferguson, whose glorious 26-year tenure at Old Trafford has been followed by four seasons of struggle? The latter seems highly unlikely; Mourinho’s biggest gripe, upon taking charge in 2016, was about decisions taken in the three years since Ferguson’s retirement, rather than the three years before.
Mourinho’s first season in charge of United was a gruelling one. They won the EFL Cup and the Europa League but finished a lowly sixth in the Premier League, scoring just 54 goals in 38 matches. The new campaign has started far more auspiciously — three wins out of three, ten goals scored and none conceded. Nemanja Matic has brought assurance to midfield, helping Paul Pogba to flourish. Romelu Lukaku has hit the ground running. Others, too, are showing signs of adjusting to Mourinho’s stringent demands.

There has even been speculative talk of an extension to the three-year contract that began at the start of last season. “I don’t think about it,” he says. “I don’t need a new contract to work to my limits. I don’t have a problem to arrive at the end of my contract and be free to decide what I want to do and the club free to decide what they want to do.
“In the past I always wanted to coach in different places. When I came to Chelsea in 2004 I never thought to stay for 20 years. Never. When I went to Italy I always had in mind I had to go to Spain. If in this moment now you ask me can I go to France or to Germany, I say, ‘Why not? Why not?’ But I’m in a different moment in my career now. I always had Spain and Italy [as places where he hoped to manage], but England is my passion and at this moment I can say I would like to stay many years.

“It’s about having the most challenging project that I can have. In this moment the United one is great because the club was and is living a new period — the post-Sir Alex period. Sir Alex, then David [Moyes], then Mr [Louis] Van Gaal and now me. Trying to find again success is a challenging period for the club and something that I’m enjoying.”
He is pleased by United’s work in the transfer market. Ideally he would like to have signed Gareth Bale or Ivan Perisic, an experienced player who could add speed and penetration from the wings, but he has more reason than several of his peers to reflect on the summer transfer window with satisfaction.

“I think we were very clever,” Mourinho says. “We thought that something could happen that could change the market forever. Normally the last part of the market is less expensive, but this season, after Neymar [left Barcelona for Paris Saint-Germain in a world-record £199 million deal], everything changed — and changed for the worse in terms of prices. I think Lukaku on August 31 would have been £150 million. Matic would have been £60 million or £70 million. Neymar changed everything. If the biggest transfer in history had still been Pogba, I think Philippe Coutinho [the Liverpool playmaker] would now be in Barcelona at £101 million.

“People look to the £200 million figure now. Now the players of £20 million became £40 million, the players of £40 million became £60 million and everything changed. Lukaku and Matic, now, would have cost us £200 million in total. But because we did it in the first part of the summer, it was much less. I think we did well in financial terms and well in preparation terms, getting them before the season started. That is not crucial but it is important.”

United made a similarly vibrant start to last season, winning their first three Premier League matches, only for talk of a title challenge to fizzle out over the course of an arduous autumn. They look more durable now, more like a Mourinho team. They also look more like a United team. There is a distinction between those two things, a balance to be found. Mourinho knows United’s history. He knows the demand is not just to win but to do so with style.

He is reminded of something that he said in the aftermath of the Europa League triumph over Ajax, responding to questions about United’s prosaic performance by declaring that “there are lots of poets in football, but poets don’t win titles”. At a club of United’s proud traditions, is there not a demand to win in style? “For me, what is important is both together,” he says. “To play very well and win, that is perfection. But, if you cannot have that perfection, you cannot hide [behind] ‘my game is beautiful’ and win nothing. You have to go to win — and to win with the qualities that you have. That is what I meant by that.

“If you compare Manchester United last season and this season, in terms of the quality of our play, you can see immediately that this is what we want. But last season we couldn’t. And when you can’t, you have to play with the qualities of your team, the qualities of your players, and try to beat your opponents.
“In that final we were playing an Ajax team that couldn’t cope with some of our qualities, so let’s go with these qualities. That is the pragmatism of football. If a manager defends a doctrine of ‘I win and I play amazingly well’, I applaud. But the ones who don’t win, who defend something that I don’t understand? I don’t get it.”

Is this a reference to Pep Guardiola, to Jürgen Klopp, to Mauricio Pochettino, all of whom earned and accepted praise last season for some admirable football that did not stop them finishing empty-handed at Manchester City, Liverpool and Tottenham Hotspur respectively? Mourinho does not say. “For me, let’s be honest and objective. The last three Premier League champions — Chelsea with Mourinho, Leicester with [Claudio] Ranieri, Chelsea with [Antonio] Conte — which of these teams was the most offensive one?” he asks. “Which played more quality football? It was mine. But nobody says.”
Does this bother you? “I don’t think about it,” he says rather unconvincingly. “The credit I want is my relationship with the players, with the supporters of the club I defend. This is what I really want. The rest, I don’t care.”

Full steam ahead for a Premier League title challenge then, relishing the choppier waters to come? “We’re going to fight against very good teams, but we’re going to try,” he says. “I have said three [summer] transfer windows is what I need to have the team I want to have, the team I think can bring Manchester United to the top of English football and to close the gap to the top of European football again, and I still think we need that third transfer window, but I’m not going to wait for the third transfer window to try to reach it. Again, I like to accelerate. I don’t like to sleep on a slow watch, a slow timing, and let it go. I like to chase. I don’t like to wait.”

Jeg synes især det er gode pointer omkring transfermarkedet og hvor afgørende det var, at vi fik handlet før Neymar kom på plads i PSG. Det er også interessant, at han ifølge eget udsagn måtte give afkald på sin foretrukne måde at spille på, fordi der manglede kvalitet i holdet. Jeg ved ikke om det passer eller om han bare spinner lidt på historien, men der er i hvert fald en verden til forskel på den måde vi har spillet fodbold på i denne sæson (hele vejen frem fra pre-season) og den måde, vi spilede på sidste år.

Tak, for linket. Rigtig god læsning.

Ingen tvivl om at Mourinho har rigtig mange uheldige udtalelser, og mange af disse bliver der oftest lagt meget stor fokus på, men hvis man rent faktisk læser/lytter til alt hvad der kommer fra ham, så er der meget godt at hente også.

Omkring Mourinho så er jeg da ekstremt glad for at vi har en manager der tænker således:

?If you compare Manchester United last season and this season, in terms of the quality of our play, you can see immediately that this is what we want. But last season we couldn?t. And when you can?t, you have to play with the qualities of your team, the qualities of your players, and try to beat your opponents.
?In that final we were playing an Ajax team that couldn?t cope with some of our qualities, so let?s go with these qualities. That is the pragmatism of football. If a manager defends a doctrine of ?I win and I play amazingly well?, I applaud. But the ones who don?t win, who defend something that I don?t understand? I don?t get it.?

Altså, spil dit spil ud fra de kvaliteter du har til rådighed. Han fik ekstremt meget kritik i den resterende del af sidste sæson, for den måde han valgte at tilgå kampene, men havde han ikke gjort det på den måde, så havde vi med stor sandsynlighed ikke vundet det vi gjorde.
Det er nok der jeg har min største aversion overfor en type som Pep Guardiola, at han tvinger sine spillere ned i et taktisk system, selvom de ikke passer til det (sidste sæson), istedet for at fokusere på den kvalitet der er til rådighed og det det hele handler om - at vinde.
Dette er ikke for at sige at Mourinho ikke også har sine fejl/mangler, for det har han (bla. arbejdet med de unge spillere), men indtil det viser sit tydelige ansigt i United, så vil jeg lade tvivlen komme ham til gode. Er tilfreds med at det er ham vi har på posten og lige nu ville jeg ikke bytte ham med andre managers.

Ja, han er god til at stjæle spotlyset. Hvis man ville, kunne man jo også sagtens lave en artikel, hvor man blot fokuserede på hans komplimenter til sig selv om, at hans mesterhold har spillet bedre fodbold end de to efterfølgende mesterhold. Det bliver lige selvfedt nok til min smag, at han skal grave den frem fra fortiden.

Men hvis man lige skærer noget af alt den slags fra, så er der også nogle fine betragtninger i blandt. Ligesom dig er jeg også glad for, at han hellere vil gå på kompromis med stil end med resultater, hvis han ikke kan komme i mål med begge dele, hvilket sidste sæson jo til tider var et klart billede af. Fx. 6-mands bagkæden på Anfield fordi han ikke stolede på sin offensiv.

Spin er spin og fodbold er fodbold
Man kan omgå sandheden/sandhederne i det ene, men ikke i det andet.
Hvad angår det ene er Mou dygtig og mange mener han også er til det andet

At læse de seneste indlæg ændrer ikke meget på mit syn på hverken det ene eller det andet.
Mou er pragmatiker, derom ingen tvivl. Det finder nogen fint og andre utilstrækkeligt til at fastholde og udvide fanbasen for verdens bedste klub.
Jeg hører til de sidste, hvad næppe overrasker nogen

Han fremhæver sin egen evne til at få det maksimale ud af et hold!!!
At finde succesen i de eksisterende omstændigheder.
Nok meget fint med en sådan udtalelse, når man fører tabellen med lutter sejre

Men holder det?
Har holdet spillet godt?
Hvor mange spilleres kvaliteter udnyttes maksimalt?
Jo, der er nogen. Bestemt. Men, men, men!!!
For mig at se leder man fortsat efter både spil og stil og intet steds er det tydeligere end omkring den fortsatte brug af Pogba som spilstyrer og dirigent.

Den tingenes tilstand er for mig det tydeligste eksempel at Mous udtalelser er spin og selvhævdelse mere end et billede af de faktiske tilstande.
Skulle Pogba pludselig vise sig at være i besiddelse af de kvaliteter, som Mou tilsyneladende tilskriver ham, må jeg bukke mig i støvet.
Det tvivler jeg på sker, manden er for selvcentreret, ganske som Mou selv.

Hvor ville det være rart hvis Pogba fra en position tilbage på banen, spillede kort af og søgte huller fremad. Sådan ville Pogbas kvaliteter komme til udtryk.
Men det er jo ikke hvad vi ser. Sjældent i al fald.
I stedet ser vi en Pogba, der ofte mister overblikket, når han søger målet for den gyldne aflevering. Indrømmet, han kan den aflevering, men alt for ofte sinker han opspillet i processen og næsten lige så ofte roder han sig ud i tåbelige boldtab, når han partout vil "klare ærterne" selv.

Er det hvad en god manager/træner lader ske?
I nu snart flere sæsoner?

Så du ville hellere begrænse en ung spiller og derved mindske hans muligheder for at indfri det kæmpe potentiale han render rundt med? Pogba har potentialet til at blive verdens bedste midtbanespiller og der skal i hans alder stadig være plads til at begå fejl. Varmer han tit bolden for meget? Ja. Søger han for ofte den afgørende aflevering? Ja. Men tager du de muligheder fra ham så udvikler han sig jo aldrig til den spiller vi alle håber. Han skal have lov til at lave fejl på nuværende tidspunkt i hans karriere, uagtet hans prisskilt, men bliver han ved med at lave de samme fejl om 2-3 år så kan vi da tage diskussionen op. Indtil da finder jeg det temmelig useriøst og som en ret snæversynet tilgang.

Men holder det?
Har holdet spillet godt?

Holder det? Efter 3 kampe så er der jo ingen der kan svare på det, men skal vi allerede nu være sortseere og male fanden på væggen? Håber da ikke det er sådan at størstedelen af vores fanbase tænker og mener da ingenlunde vi kan tillade os at være så kræsne trods et par dårlige sæsoner.
Har holdet spiller godt? Undskyld mig, men hvilke urealistiske forventninger har du? Vi fører ligaen, har scoret flest mål, og ikke lukket nogle ind. At vi i de 3 kampe til tider har haft downperioder i kampene, er vel ret naturligt. Selv Real Madrid har dårlige perioder i deres kampe, men det der kendetegner de gode hold, er at de kan slå til når det er nødvendigt, og det har vi vist indtil videre og forhåbentlig bibeholder vi den kynisme resten af sæsonen.

Don

Nej jeg ønsker ikke at begrænse Pogbas potentiale.
Jeg ønsker at udfri det, i hans egen og i holdets tjeneste.
Det sidste ikke mindst!

Jeg er enig med dig. Han kan blive en af verdens bedste midtbanespillere
Men ikke i rollen som spilfordeler. Som målscorer og næstsidste fod på chancer i massevis. Det er hans kvalitet og den er enorm.
Men som ikke kommer til udtryk, når han render rundt nede bagerst på midtbanen og søger den gyldne aflevering konstant.

Hans fysik er enorm. Teknikken ligeså. Det samme er hans overblik i de rette situationer
Han forstår at søge huller og rive et forsvar i stykker og så længe overblikket er der, kan han gøre sine medspillere bedre tilmed.
Men han kan ikke overskue holdets muligheder uden egen betydningsfulde medvirken og derfor vil han aldrig kunne blive spilfordeler.

Jeg vil i hvert fald se det, før jeg tror det.
Og jeg æder med glæde mine ord.
Alt for holdet! Og klubben!

Men problemet er vel hvis han ikke tager fat i kuglen og tager takstokken, hvem skal så gøre det? Jeg har svært ved at se det.

Pogba slår masser af sukkerballer som den dybe playmaker, så det går nu fint. Især hvis han har en meget defensiv makker som Matic/Carrick.