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DEJA MOU!

By Ratul Ghosh

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mourinho roma

Jose Mourinho has been here before. After Mourinho’s Roma sides horrifying 6-1 defeat to FK Bodo/Glimt of Norway in Europe midweek, his words sounded familiar to what onlookers have heard in previous managerial spells.

 

Mourinho ripped into the players on the field, emphatically declaring “We have a very good team, we don’t have a very good squad,” and “If I could use the same players every match I would. It’s risky because there’s a huge gulf between our first choice and second choice players.” The fallout from the match was always going to be significant and it was evident against Napoli last night.

 

Five of the starting eleven from Thursday- Borja Mayoral, Gonzalo Villar, Amadou Diawara, Marsh Kumbulla, and Bryan Reynolds were left of the squad entirely.

 

Could this be the start of another famous combustible chapter in Mourinho’s long career or will better sense prevail, considering it is only nine games into the season domestically?

 

THE CALM BEFORE THE STORM

The first two months of Mourinho in charge had largely been normal and positive for all involved. Roma are currently 4th on the table, having taken five wins and one draw. His main acquisition of the summer, Tammy Abraham started off similarly well with four goals and two assists in all competitions but the last came on October 1 in Europe.

 

However, there had been some notably poor results, with 3-2 away losses to Hellas Verona and bitter rivals Lazio respectively. The restart since the end of the international break has been even more dismal. Juventus managed to shut out the Giallorossi in a 1-0 defeat before that dark day in Scandinavia unfolded.

Those results sparked the simmering comments, which involved taking a swipe at Roma’s former owners as well. Mourinho criticized the signing of players under the previous regime and implied that the current board has been working hard to correct those mistakes.

 

The 0-0 draw against Napoli was another poor performance, with just 1/13 shots on target and an xG of 1.47 while having just 38% possession. Personally, it was the conclusion of another disappointing evening for the manager as Mourinho was sent to the stands for two yellows on the sidelines, something he did not quite understand.

 

The current form has been poor and Mourinho’s outburst has certainly not helped matters to settle down.

 

A FAMILIAR FEELING

Mourinho’s exits from his previous two jobs at Spurs and Manchester United had similar patterns of unfolding. A culmination of dismal results, intense criticism of his outdated methods of coaching and team setup and of course, famously falling out with players.

 

Paul Pogba, Luke Shaw, Phil Jones, Tanguy Ndombele are just some of the names that have been lambasted by Mourinho in recent times. Everybody loves an outspoken manager who is not afraid to state things how they are, but with the Portuguese- they do tend to go overboard at times.

 

Marginalizing members of the squad who will be needed in the future to help the team as a packed schedule unfolds itself is not the smartest of moves. It cannot feel good when your manager expresses no confidence in your abilities and clearly demarcates a division between two groups of players.

 

At Manchester United, the damage was not too great since the overall quality of the rest of the players was enough to pull through. However, Spurs suffered mightily and somehow dragged themselves to finish 7th last season and the same or worse fate could await Roma. The competition is significantly mightier since the time Mourinho was last in Italy with the two Milanese clubs leading the way to the Scudetto.

 

THE LAST STAND?

Many in the footballing world had genuinely wondered aloud whether Mourinho was finished at the top-level after his sacking in London. The job at Roma was supposed to be a redemption arc for one of the most serial winners in the game.

 

Back to the place where he won the treble in 2010, something he still likes to remind opponent fans of. And truth be told, there have been notable highs too in this short time as well. Abraham’s return to form and goal scoring touch, the last gasp win over Sassuolo in his 1000th game in charge, Jordan Veretout claiming there has been an upward shift of mentality in training as players look to impress Mourinho are all good stories.

 

However, the 6-1 has upset the apple-cart quite a bit and it will be interesting to see how the manager makes his way forward with the squad at least till January.

Ratul Ghosh
His name means Red and a fan of devilish food, which equals to his favourite team being Manchester United. Can be found sleeping or in front of the TV otherwise. Hates waking up early but loves staying up late for football.

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