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Jose Mourinho – The Special One

Manchester United and Old Trafford remained stunned in silence as Tottenham Hotspur blitzed past the Red Devils with a comfortable 3-0 victory. This is the first time in 26 years that United have lost two of their opening three fixtures. The last time this happened was in the 92/93 season under the reign of Sir Alex Ferguson. He, however, miraculously won the league that season. The Manchester United that Jose Mourinho inherited now have twenty League titles and are arguably the biggest club in Europe so being swept aside by an albeit well drilled Tottenham side is simply unacceptable.

This defeat piles more misery on Mourinho on a night where his Tottenham counterpart, Mauricio Pochettino, tactically outwitted him; he is already odds-on to be the first managerial casualty. Having said that, United quite evidently played the better football in the first half hour, spurning three glorious chances to put them in the lead. It truly was a game of two halves and Spurs came to life in the second. The men in white were more resilient, focused and eventually reaped the rewards of their hard work. Starman Harry Kane broke the deadlock ten minutes into the second half with a well-directed header into the top corner that left David De Gea rooted to the spot. Two minutes later, Lucas Moura doubled United’s woes with a fine finish and sealed the game late on with a breakaway third goal reminiscent of the one Gareth Bale scored at Old Trafford in 2013.

Jose cannot blame this poor result on a lack of summer signings. Look at Spurs’ transfer activity over the summer – they became the first club in transfer window history to make no summer signings. This victory shows that Mauricio Pochettino believes in his philosophy and the players that he already has. He has evidently created a title-winning mentality and instilled an unerring belief around the club that they can go to big away grounds and pick up three points. He has organically amplified their position as title contenders.

However, given the stature of Manchester United, pundits, journalists and fans look back on this result and see it as a sign of United regressing under Mourinho rather than a stellar Spurs performance. However, Mourinho’s record should speak for itself; the Manchester United boss has won 8 league titles in 4 different countries (Portugal, England, Spain and Italy) in addition to being a two-time winner of the Champions League and Europa League. In his illustrious managerial career, the Portuguese has managed to accrue 25 trophies making him the most successful manager in the game currently.

It is hard to imagine with that managerial record how a manager of that stature is under so much pressure three games into the season? It predominantly lies down to the poor performances of last season carrying on into this, with no evidence that anything is likely to change. Every game going forward is a must-win game for United and the next test is away at Turf Moor, which will prove a gruelling test.

It is really surprising that many of the people are placing the bets on Manchester United sacking the Special One as soon as his third season in charge of the Red Devils. The thing about Social Media goes on to suggest the current mindset of the fans. However, having Mourinho in the helm would certainly be like hitting the jackpot at a casino online, with the Portuguese man on all his glory.

Jose Mourinho does deserve respect for his past achievements as he lashed out at Journalists in a bizarre post-match press conference. However, we are living in the present and his teams’ performances show no indication that they are anywhere near challenging for the title and haven’t for a while. That does beg the question, is the special one still really special or is it just a distant memory?