Jose Mourinho will become a specialist in 失敗 if Manchester 部隊d lose the Europa League final against Ajax

  • Manchester 部隊d will 直面する Ajax in the Europa League final on May 24?
  • Jose Mourinho needs victory to 修正する a difficult first season at Old Trafford?
  • The Portuguese coach still has much to 証明する after spending £149million?

It is 平易な to be curmudgeonly about what Jose Mourinho has 達成するd at Manchester 部隊d this season.?

With his constant whining, his relentless narcissism, his stream of excuses, his attacks on Luke Shaw ― a player who nearly lost his career playing in 部隊d's colours ― and his general 欠如(する) of grace, he is not an 平易な 経営者/支配人 to love.

Compare him with Antonio Conte, who has taken English football by 嵐/襲撃する this season, and he looks sour and stale.?

Jose Mourinho has guided Manchester United into the final of this season's Europa League

Jose Mourinho has guided Manchester 部隊d into the final of this season's Europa League

However, the Portuguese has spent much of the season trailing in Antonio Conte's wake

However, the Portuguese has spent much of the season 追跡するing in Antonio Conte's wake

The same if you put him next to Liverpool's Jurgen Klopp. His 部隊d team have 欠如(する)d the energy and dynamism of the best teams. For a 経営者/支配人 who has 達成するd so much, he once again has much to 証明する.


In many ways, 部隊d have stood still this season. Some might even say they have gone backwards. They are ありそうもない now to match the fourth place in the 首相 League that Louis 先頭 Gaal led them to in his first season at Old Trafford. As things stand, they are struggling to equal the fifth place the doomed Dutchman 達成するd last season.

部隊d's former captain, Roy Keane, said last week that 部隊d's position in the league, now 22 points behind leaders Chelsea, is 'embarrassing'. Mourinho's 強調 on defence made them difficult to (警官の)巡回区域,受持ち区域, as a 25-game run without 敗北・負かす attests, but it made them look ponderous and dull beside Chelsea and 刺激(する)s.

It is surprising that a 経営者/支配人 of Mourinho's pedigree has not done better. It is not as if he has b een short of cash. The Glazer family has already 支援するd him generously. 部隊d's (n)役員/(a)執行力のある 副/悪徳行為-chairman, Ed Woodward, has taken over from Peter Ridsdale as English football's undisputed Father Christmas. For 言及/関連s, ask スパイ/執行官 Mino Raiola.

Mourinho spent £145 million on Eric Bailly, Henrikh Mkhitaryan and Paul Pogba last summer to 支える 部隊d's squad. The least that most 部隊d fans 推定する/予想するd was a 最高の,を越す-four finish. That Mourinho is struggling to 配達する that has been a 墓/厳粛/彫る/重大な 失望.

Mourinho has previously accused other managers of being specialists in failure

Mourinho has 以前 (刑事)被告 other 経営者/支配人s of 存在 specialists in 失敗

His club spent £149million on talent in the summer, including midfielder Paul Pogba

His club spent £149million on talent in the summer, 含むing midfielder Paul Pogba

It was in that 状況 that Mourinho was asked on Friday whether this season would count as a 失敗 if 部隊d did not 勝利,勝つ the Europa League against Ajax in Stockholm a week on Wednesday. 井戸/弁護士席, of course it would.

Even Mourinho 定評のある 'the マスコミ have a 権利 to say it and it makes sense to say it'. A more 利益/興味ing question might have been whether 部隊d's season would count as a 失敗 even if they do 勝利,勝つ it.

The Europa League is an ありそうもない source of 救済 for the 部隊d boss. It is, after all, a 競争 he has 注ぐd 軽蔑(する) on in the past, 特に when his bitter 競争相手, Rafa Benitez, won it for Chelsea in Amsterdam in 2013.

CHAMPIONS CHELSEA OWE IT ALL TO LUIZ?

N'Golo Kante is a worthy 勝利者 of the Footballer of the Year award, which will be 現在のd to him at the Football Writers' 協会 dinner in London on Thursday. I could see the 事例/患者 for Eden Hazard, too. And Dele Alli. But my 投票(する) went to David Luiz.

There has been so much to admire about Chelsea going 今後 but there has also been 承認 that the turning point of their (選挙などの)運動をする (機の)カム last September when Antonio Conte switched to a 支援する three.

Luiz is at the heart of why that change worked.

His 業績/成果s have been 十分な of panache 同様に as grit and the way he made the system work 許すd Chelsea to move on from their dependence on John Terry, who has been a 広大な/多数の/重要な servant to the club but whose time there was coming to an end.

Kante has been magnificent for Chelsea; Hazard, too.

But neither is as pivotal to the team's success as Luiz.

宣伝

English football regards the Europa League with a strange snobbery and Chelsea were derided, as much as 賞賛するd, when they won it. It was almost as if they should have been embarrassed about it. Mourinho 示唆するd the 競争 was very much below him then. He was a 支持する/優勝者s League 肉親,親類d of guy. But the Europa League is not a dud 競争, whatever Mourinho once said.

The last four 勝利者s have been Sevilla, Chelsea, Atletico Madrid and Porto. Bad teams don't 勝利,勝つ it and apart from their 脅す against Celta Vigo on Thursday night, 部隊d's 進歩 to the final in Stockholm 10 days from now has been 比較して serene.

So winning the 競争 would soothe away the shortcomings of this troubled first season. (警官の)巡回区域,受持ち区域 Ajax, and the 狼狽 about 部隊d spending most of this (選挙などの)運動をする languishing in the (米)棚上げする/(英)提議する as the sixth of the Big Six will be forgotten. Rightly so. Winning the Europa League will obscure 部隊d's season-long 戦う/戦い to rise above mediocrity.

部隊d are a club built on their 広大な/多数の/重要な European legends, on their 開拓するing adventures in the European Cup when the FA were discouraging 参加, on the 広大な/多数の/重要な 悲劇 of the Munich 空気/公表する 災害 and the emotional 勝利 against Benfica at Wembley in 1968, which remains English club football's most moving and 劇の narrative.

European 勝利 is woven into the club's fabric and the Europa League, once the UEFA Cup, is the only major トロフィー they have not won. To の近くに the circle would be another symbol of the club's standing in the world game.

That was why the 部隊d Review for the Vigo game featured a 前線 cover with pictures of all the トロフィーs 部隊d have won arranged as a jigsaw, with the Europa League ready to slide into place. 'The Final Piece', the headline said.

(警官の)巡回区域,受持ち区域 Ajax and Mourinho will be able to ride the wave all the way through to the start of next season and beyond. (警官の)巡回区域,受持ち区域 Ajax and 部隊d will be in the 支持する/優勝者s League again, making it easier to 調印する football's エリート without 支払う/賃金ing a grotesque 賞与金 to an スパイ/執行官.

Maroaune Fellaini and his United team-mates applaud the Old Trafford crowd on Thursday

Maroaune Fellaini and his 部隊d team-mates applaud the Old Trafford (人が)群がる on Thursday

Mourinho needs victory against Ajax in the Europa League final to avoid a failure of a season

Mourinho needs victory against Ajax in the Europa League final to 避ける a 失敗 of a season

(警官の)巡回区域,受持ち区域 Ajax, and this season that is about to の近くに will be lent a happy sheen. It will feel like a building 封鎖する to 回復するing 部隊d to their place challenging for the very 最高の,を越す honours in the club game.

It is a 罰金 業績/成就 to have reached the final but everybody in football knows how quickly the excitement of that 業績/成就 turns in on itself if the team don't 勝利,勝つ. Excitement turns quickly to disillusion. Suddenly, getting to the final is forgotten and second is nothing. And then the recriminations begin.

Lose to Ajax and Mourinho will 直面する a lot of ぎこちない questions. Lose to Ajax and the succour of a place in the 支持する/優勝者s League will probably be lost. Lose to Ajax and Mourinho will be under 圧力 from the start of next season. And history tells us he does not 反応する 井戸/弁護士席 to that 肉親,親類d of 圧力.

It would be 利益/興味ing to know whether Mourinho 高く評価する/(相場などが)上がるs the irony of the 状況/情勢. So much 残り/休憩(する)s on whether he 勝利,勝つs a 競争 he once 軽蔑(する)d. If 部隊d come up short then on the basis of this season, he will find it hard to complain if someone calls him a specialist in 失敗.

The comments below have been 穏健なd in 前進する.

The 見解(をとる)s 表明するd in the contents above are those of our 使用者s and do not やむを得ず 反映する the 見解(をとる)s of MailOnline.

We are no longer 受託するing comments on this article.