Jose Mourinho, believe it or not, comes with a bad reputation.
Yes, he wins leagues in his second season but he’s also said to cause chaos thereafter.
Real Madrid looked to have taken a whole lot out of him and, by the time he made it back to Chelsea battle-worn from sticking his finger in people’s eyes and stopping short of starting a Spanish civil war, he was a far cry from the fresh-faced, bushy-haired young man who inspired the world with his masterminding of successive successes at Porto, in London, and at Inter Milan.
Mourinho always wanted the United job though.
When Real Madrid eliminated them at Old Trafford, he pretended to be embarrassed. “The best team lost,” he said. It was Alex Ferguson’s last year and some accounts had made it that the Portugal native was already told he’d replace the manager who had served with unmatchable distinction for 26 years. He got passed over for David bloody Moyes. He had no real choice but to go back to Chelsea.
So he got bored. He built a great XI, he won a customary league title but he got bored. And when he reached Manchester, it didn’t really matter what he did before Madrid because of what came after. He had left too many pieces at his last two clubs and even the most desperate of United fans were suspicious of him. On some level, they always will be.
But whilst Mourinho will always have his own football beliefs and style, he also doesn’t really have anywhere else to go after here. It doesn’t get much better than this and he has to make it work, he has to. So like him or loathe him for how he sets his teams up and refuses to really do anything at big clubs away from home, beating him right now with the Real Madrid and Chelsea II stick is probably unfair.
The Manchester United boss is not going to change his philosophy. He’s got a formula that wins titles and he has no reason to stray from that. He might not be able to really change his personality either but he can change his attitude and it looks like Old Trafford has already done that for him.
Mourinho isn’t holding himself like the brash character who thinks he’s the special one or bigger than the club. He’s thankful for where he is and he doesn’t want to ruin that. Unfortunately, 4-0 losses to title rivals can turn the Theatre of Dreams against you pretty easily and the manager showed up on Wednesday night apologetically like he should have.
He wasn’t angry, he wasn’t bulling, and he wasn’t pointing the blame anywhere else. He was sorry and he was damn well grateful just that they welcomed him back for another chance.
A 1-0 win over City in the EFL Cup was just the start of his apology but he knows that it’s not enough. United fans can at least take heart from that.
Jose Mourinho knows when to celebrate and when not to celebrate pic.twitter.com/yK7L2jcSaK
— Conán Doherty (@ConanDoherty) October 27, 2016
Mourinho is too long in the tooth to think that a fourth round League Cup victory will mean anything in May. An FA Cup meant damn all to Louis van Gaal, even in May and all.
What this was, was just a statement of intent. He showed up at Old Trafford looking to make some amends and knowing that another non-result simply wouldn’t be acceptable. He played a strong team, he told them to go and win the bloody match, and they did just that. Afterwards though there were no scenes of celebration and not even a smile. It was just a bowed head, a humble interaction and an apology.
It was a sign of a man who gets the expectation. It was a sign of a man who understands that EFL Cups won’t save him. All this was was the start of the clean-up job. There may just be hope for him yet.
Colm Parkinson is joined by Paul Rouse for a heated debate about Sky Sports’ five-year GAA deal and an exclusive chat with AFL star Zach Tuohy on the new GAA Hour. Subscribe here on iTunes
