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Tag: Jose Mourinho

  • Lukaku to return early to help depleted Man United – Mourinho

    Belgium striker Romelu Lukaku has curtailed his vacation and will join Manchester United at the start of their Premier League campaign, manager Jose Mourinho has said.

    Mourinho called for the club’s World Cup participants to shorten their rest days after last month’s tournament to help United.

    The club have also been hindered by injuries, and hope to avoid a poor start to the league season.

    England duo Phil Jones and Marcus Rashford were already set to return early and United will now be boosted by Lukaku’s decision.

    Man United prepare to host Leicester City in their first league game on Aug. 10.

    “We will have (Victor) Lindelof who started training two days ago,” Mourinho said after United’s 2-1 win over Real Madrid in the pre-season International Champions Cup (ICC) on Wednesday.

    “Marcus Rashford, Jones and Lukaku are coming back three days early to try to be available for the team.”

    The Portuguese boss praised his senior players for the intensity they showed in United’s pre-season tour but insisted the fixtures did not reveal anything new strategically.

    “I didn’t learn anything (tactically). I know what (Ander) Herrera is, I know what (Juan) Mata is, I know what (Alexis) Sanchez is, I know what they are…

    “I know the kids need time to grow up,” Mourinho said.

    “The boys tried everything, they gave everything, they know we have to try to fight for the best result but tactically it means nothing.”

    United have won two of their five pre-season fixtures so far and will be keen to make a quick start in their quest to win silverware this season.

    Mourinho was unsure, however, if Anthony Martial would return in time to play Sunday’s final friendly against Bayern Munich.

    The Frenchman left the team’s pre-season tour early to attend the birth of his daughter.

  • Mourinho pays tribute to old rival Wenger

    Jose Mourinho once called Arsene Wenger a “specialist in failure’’ but, after the Arsenal manager announced he was stepping down at the end of the season, there was only respect.

    Asked by reporters on Friday whether he regretted some of his behaviour towards the Frenchman over the years, the Manchester United boss suggested the question betrayed a lack of understanding.

    “You are not a manager. You are not a player of course,” he said.

    Read Also: Wenger Quit Notice: He is leaving a big shoe -Kanu

    “You do not know the way we respect each other, even when sometimes it looks like in some moments we don’t.

    “In the end, probably the ones that respect each other more are the ones that have the problems,” added the Portuguese.

    “It is power against power, it is quality against quality, it is ambition against ambition.”

    Wenger, 68, announced on Friday that he would end a near 22-year reign at the north London club, during which he has become Arsenal’s most successful manager.

    Mourinho’s rivalry with Wenger dates from the younger manager’s arrival at Chelsea as a self-proclaimed “Special One’’ in 2004.

    In 2005, the Portuguese famously labelled the Frenchman a “voyeur” after becoming annoyed at comments from him about his Chelsea team.

    By 2014, when the “specialist in failure’’ comment was made, the rivalry had become so heated.

    Wenger even pushed Mourinho as the pair clashed in the technical area during a 2-0 defeat to Chelsea at Stamford Bridge.

    On Friday, Mourinho said he hoped Wenger did not retire from football.

    “If he’s happy I’m happy. If he’s sad, I’m sad,” he declared. “I always wish the best for my opponents.

    “Mr Wenger and Arsenal were for many, many years the biggest rivals of Sir Alex Ferguson’s era. I’m pretty sure that we as a club will show Mr Wenger the respect he deserves.”

    Mourinho, an English Premier League title winner with Chelsea, recognised what Wenger had achieved.

    “For us football people, the real football people, who are the ones inside the four lines, playing, or the managers… the football people don’t have short memories,” he said.

    “I know what it means, three Premier League titles and seven FA Cups, what he did in Japan and France…

    “What he brought to French football and what he gave to Arsenal in the period without Premier Leagues, the transition from stadium to stadium.

    “We know what he did,” he said.

    NAN

     

  • Jose to Spurs: Wembley sojourn won’t save you

     

    Despite having Wembley almost as a home ground, Jose Mourinho has told Spurs that they will have no advantage over Manchester United ahead of the FA Cup semi-final clash on Saturday

    Mauricio Pochettino’s side  have played all their home matches at England’s national stadium this season, while work on the new White Hart Lane is completed.

    Mourinho, though does not think Spurs will have any kind of edge this weekend and says he is not preparing for the match any differently than he did in the early rounds.

    He told a news conference: “I played one cup final in Roma’s stadium against Roma [as Inter coach in 2010] and I won, and I played a cup final in my stadium [at the Santiago Bernabeu in 2013, as Real Madrid coach] and I lost, so I think, when you go to these big moments with big decisions, semi-finals, finals, I don’t think it’s an advantage at all.

    “In some countries, even the cup semi-final is played with a draw and you play home or away, not at a neutral ground, and that’s just football.

    “I look at Tottenham-Manchester United the same way I looked at Huddersfield, or Brighton. This time it’s away but I don’t see any advantage. It’s the same as playing at Old Trafford.”

    Mourinho, who denied the suggestion his season will be a failure if United do not win the FA Cup, has had his team training in London since the 2-0 Premier League win at Bournemouth on Wednesday.

    The Portuguese has thanked Fulham and head coach Slavisa Jokanovic for allowing United to use their facilities as they prepare for Saturday’s showdown.

    “Yesterday [Thursday] they let us use Craven Cottage and today [Friday] I asked for a pitch on the training ground [Motspur Park] and Jokanovic, the manager, gave me their best pitch so I have to thank Fulham and Joka for that,” he told MUTV.

    “I think it’s just good for us after the Bournemouth game, instead of travelling back to Manchester, getting the plane, then go back home, come back the next day, train to London again. But we just came here [to London], we’re here together, training quietly, preparing for the game the best we can.”

    Despite jose’s down playing  the possibility of branding the season being branded a failure should Man U fail to win the FA cup, some supporters of the side insist that the only way they can be happy for the season is to clinch the trophy after losing the premier league title to rival neighbours Manchester city.

     

  • Mourinho set to drop players for United’s FA Cup semi-final

    Manchester United manager Jose Mourinho is ready to drop established players for the FA Cup semi-final against Tottenham Hotspur on Saturday, after the Old Trafford club’s weekend defeat by Premier League bottom side West Bromwich Albion.

    United suffered a shock 1-0 home loss to West Brom on Sunday, handing the title to Manchester City, and Mourinho said his team were the “masters of complication”.

    They next visit Bournemouth on Wednesday before facing Spurs at Wembley.

    Mourinho indicated that some of those who played against West Brom would feature again at Bournemouth because they had lost their place for the semi-final.

    “Rotating is not the right word,” he was quoted as saying by The Independent. “If I play a player against Bournemouth and the player is phenomenal, he plays the semi-final.

    “So is not rotating, because rotating looks like a player plays against Bournemouth to give a rest to somebody that is going to play against Spurs in the semi-final.

    “So the word is not rotation, it is an opportunity for people, for some people, to play and to try to get a place in the team for Spurs.

    “Some of the guys that played ( on Sunday ) don’t have a place in that team.”

    Asked to clarify if he meant those who performed badly against West Brom would not play against Tottenham, Mourinho said: “Yeah.

    “What is the criteria for a manager to choose a team? I only know one criteria: ( it ) is the way you play.

    “Or do you want me to go for the price they cost, or their salary, or their beautiful face? The only way is to go with performance.”

    Ander Herrera was substituted at halftime against West Brom, while fellow midfielder Paul Pogba came off in the 58th minute, but Mourinho said that a yellow card had also been a factor in the Frenchman’s replacement.

    “It was not just him and he had a yellow card, so he was in a more difficult position than others,” Mourinho said.

    “And playing with only two midfield players, you cannot play with one player in risk of not being able to make a foul.

    “You can do it if your team is not losing the ball, but our team was losing the ball so easy with the complication, everything was complicated, so we were losing lots of balls.

    “Paul was out because of the yellow card, because in terms of the way he played, he was not worse than some others that were on the pitch for 90 minutes.”

    NAN

  • Zlatan departure a big loss for European soccer – Mourinho

    European soccer has lost a “huge player” in Zlatan Ibrahimovic but the striker will raise the level of the game in the U.S following his move to LA Galaxy, Manchester United manager Jose Mourinho said on Friday.

    Ibrahimovic last week ended a short but successful stint at United where he won the League Cup and the Europa League.

    The striker has become the latest high-profile player to move to the MLS, following the likes of David Beckham, Steven Gerrard, Thierry Henry and Frank Lampard.

    Mourinho used his news conference ahead of Saturday’s English Premier League game against Swansea City to pay tribute to the talismanic Swedish forward who he previously coached at Inter Milan.

    “For me it’s always sad when the big players move towards the end.

    “I remember Luis Figo’s last match with me and Inter, it was one of my saddest moments.

    The Zlatan goodbye was more in that direction, he’s a huge player that European Football has lost.

    “But this period with LA Galaxy will be very good for him, he will be good for American football, because of what he can do; his personality, his passion and his professionalism,” Mourinho told reporters.

    Ibrahimovic sustained a bad knee injury in United’s Europa League quarter-final against Belgian side Anderlecht last April but returned to make seven appearances for the Old Trafford side this season.

    “His recovery was an example of what a professional should be,” Mourinho added.

    “For him (the move to U.S.) will just be a way to enjoy the last couple of years of football.”

    United will be without back-up goalkeeper Sergio Romero for the weekend’s game, after the Argentine international picked up a knock in his country’s 6-1 friendly defeat by Spain.

    Ashley Young was also injured on international duty with England but could play against Carlos Carvalhal’s 14th-placed side.

    United are second in the table on 65 points from 30 games as they bid to finish as runners-up to champions-elect Manchester City.

    Reuters/NAN

  • De Boer is worst manager in history-Mourinho

     

    Red eyed Jose Mourinho has dished out a damning verdict of former Crystal Palace Manager Frank De Boer describing him as the worst manager in history of the English premier league. Jose’s outburst is not unconnected with De Boer open regret that Rashford is playing under the special one at the Old Trafford, saying it’s ‘a pity’ that Marcus Rashford plays under Mourinho’

    De Boer made the comments after Rashford scored both goals in United’s 2-1 win over Liverpool at Old Trafford at the weekend.

    The Dutchman was sacked in September after five games and 77 days in charge, losing his four Premier League fixtures.

    Asked about Rashford ahead of United’s Champions League clash with Sevilla on Tuesday night, Mourinho said: ‘I read something, some quote from the worst manager in the history of the Premier League – Frank De Boer.

    ‘What he was saying was not good for Marcus Rashford to have a coach like me because the most important thing for me is to win. If he was coached by Frank, he would learn to lose because he lost every game.

    ‘I try to give the best to the kid. I have to be honest and give the credit to the people of the academy that were responsible for his formation, and to Mr (Louis) Van Gaal who was responsible for his first season.

    ‘But if you go to his numbers and how many matches he played with me last season and this, I would say probably he’s in the top five players with more matches in the two seasons. The best thing that can happen to a kid is experience and Marcus is having this.’

    Mourinho has recently taken issue with Gary Neville for his comments on Sky TV, and was clearly in no mood to let De Boer get away with his observations.

    The former Ajax star said: ‘It’s a pity that the manager is Mourinho because normally he’s an English player you want to give him time and he can then make mistakes. But Mourinho is not like that. He wants to get results.

    ‘If he has one or two not good games, he puts him out. He’s a player, he’s very young, he needs games, but he’s so talented. You want to see this player every week.’

  • Mourinho to earn £1.71million in Russia

    Mourinho to earn £1.71million in Russia

     

    Manchester United coach Jose Mourinho is to pocket £1.71million as a pundit during the World cup in Russia.  The former Chelsea manager will earn £400,000 a day as a pundit for about four days.

    Mourinho, who was being chased by the BBC and ITV, has signed up for Russia’s international news channel RT, who have no live rights.

    Their agreement with the Manchester United manager requires him to be in Moscow at the start of the World Cup for those lucrative four days doing a variety of punditry.

    Then he will work for RT on World Cup final day, but that will be done via a satellite link-up with Manchester.

    The World Cup has proved a great earner for Mourinho, who was paid more than £1m when he provided his views for Yahoo in 2014.

    Mourinho’s commercial agents Creative Artists wanted to negotiate a deal that earned their client the biggest fee for the smallest amount of his time, and they have certainly succeeded.

    The Portuguese intends to take a family holiday between his RT commitments at the start and end of the World Cup. He said: ‘I am looking forward to attending the World Cup in Russia and sharing my insights.

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

  • Mourinho forecasts ‘amazing’ period for Man Utd

    Mourinho forecasts ‘amazing’ period for Man Utd

    Jose Mourinho has predicted an “amazing” period for Manchester United as he prepares to host a series of significant fixtures at Old Trafford across three different competitions.

    United host Chelsea in the English Premier League on Sunday to kick off a run of four home games in their next five matches.

    Mourinho’s side start next month with a league trip to Crystal Palace before welcoming top-four rivals Liverpool.

    A Champions League last-16, second-leg fixture against Sevilla and a home FA Cup quarter-final against Brighton & Hove Albion wrap up the busy period, and Mourinho remains confident ahead of United’s decisive spell in the campaign.

    “I think the next few weeks at Old Trafford will be amazing,” he told MUTV.

    ”Two big matches against two direct rivals in the EPL, two knockout matches that, if things go well, can leave us in the quarter-final of the Champions League and the semi-final of the FA Cup.

    Read Also: Mourinho Writes 94-year-old Man U fan

    “Sometimes we have periods with three, four consecutive away matches but this time we have four matches at home, with Crystal Palace away in between, but four big matches at Old Trafford.”

    United’s schedule contains 13 fixtures, including 11 league matches, but that total could potentially rise to 20 depending on their progress in the cup competitions.

    “March, April and May can be really busy and going far in the FA Cup creates you problems.

    “We now play Brighton when we were supposed to play West Ham and we don’t know when we’ll play West Ham,” Mourinho added.

    United, currently second in the league, have an opportunity to open up a six-point advantage over fourth-placed Chelsea with a win at the weekend.

  • Pogba vs Mourinho: Who blinks first?

    Pogba vs Mourinho: Who blinks first?

     

    The romance between Coach Jose Mourinho and Paul Pogba seems to be over. Considering that both men have big egos, the rift between them may tear Manchester United apart and derail their aspiration of finishing in the top four. PRECIOUS IGBEDION talked to fans of European football on the issue.

    Noah Taiwo: Pogba coming in from the bench in the Champion League game against Sevilla was due to his illness before the match. And every player has issue with their coaches. The problem at Man United is that Pogba feels he is being played out of position.

    Sunday Festus: The major problem between Jose and Pogba is wages. The French international feels that he should be getting as much as new-signing, Alexis Sanchez if not more. He also wants to be the main man in the team who will dictate proceedings on the pitch.

    Kingsley: As far as I am concerned, there is no issue between the two of them. Pogba is warming the bench due to poor performance. He needs time to regain his form and Sanchez would help him improve and become a better team player.

    John: Pogba began the game on the bench against Sevilla due to injury and when he was introduced into the tie he proved his worth. I don’t think he has any problem with Mourinho.

    Bello Kehinde: The issue between Mourinho and Pogba is power tussle. Both are the best in their jobs. I don’t agree with the coach keeping him on the bench, he is a fantastic player and should play so he’ll be able to justify his huge transfer fee.

    Austin Mordi: The problem between Mourinho and Pogba is ego, both are proud men, and till they come to understand that the club is bigger than them, this issue would linger.

    Alex Anyafulu: This is not the first time Mourinho is having issues with his players. He did same at Real Madrid and that was the beginning of the end for him. Pogba also have to change his attitude, football is not all about fashion, dance and crazy hair styles. It’s a business and team play is the answer, which could be seen in Manchester City.

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

  • Mourinho Writes 94-year-old Man U fan

    Mourinho Writes 94-year-old Man U fan

    Jose Mourinho put aside his technical and tactical notes for a while to engage in something else at least for a few minutes, letter writing.

    The Manchester United manager  took time out of his preparations to face Tottenham Hotspur at Wembley on Wednesday as he wrote a letter to an ill 94-year-old supporter.

    Lifelong supporter Fredrick Schofield is recovering after suffering a stroke and the Portuguese boss felt compelled to get in touch after learning of his struggles.

    ‘We have recently been advised about all your wonderful dedication to Manchester United,’ Mourinho said in the letter.

    ‘I just wanted to write to you to thank you for your loyal support and devotion to the club. The enthusiasm of the fans continues to astound me.’

    Mourinho signed off his letter by informing Schofield that ‘myself, the players and the staff are all thinking of you’ as his family surprised him with the personal note after reaching out to the Red Devils.

    The 55-year-old United manager is often criticised for his icy persona on the touchline but this latest gesture is evidence of his commitment to engaging with the supporters.

    Schofield’s grandson Kevin was the one to reach out to the club, which is even more surprising when it was revealed the youngster is a big Manchester City fan.

    Speaking on how it came about on twitter, he said: ‘United exceeded my expectations here. Football passion in our city is amazing, divides us but can unify us when needed.’

    United have won every game so far in 2018 and the Portuguese will be looking to continue the fine run when he takes his side to Wembley on Wednesday to take on Mauricio Pochettino’s Tottenham team.

    Spurs were held to a frustrating 1-1 draw by League Two Newport County in the FA Cup on Saturday while United put their League Two opponent, Yeovil Town, firmly to the sword in a resounding 4-0 win.

    Alexis Sanchez is expected to make his Premier League debut for the Reds after joining the club from Arsenal last week.

    The Chile forward impressed at Huish Park as he was chosen as the official ‘Man of the Match’, having played a part in United’s first two goals.