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Manchester United currently sit second in the Premier League behind local rivals Manchester City. Much has been said at the brand of football being played by the Portuguese boss since taking over the United job. United have often appeared to be boring under Jose, struggling for creativity at times.
The Red Devils' record against the Premier League's "Big Six", to say the least, is shambolic. However, there is plenty of positives to take away from Jose's second season running at the Theater of Dreams where the club has shown massive improvement.
Therefore, here is a look at the reasons why Jose Mourinho must be entrusted with more time by the Old Trafford faithful.
#5 The 'Braver-One'
When the prospect of taking over the United job arrived in 2016, both Pep Guardiola and Jose Mourinho were temporarily unemployed. The latter was sacked just a year after winning the league with Chelsea while Pep was out of contract in Germany.
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Pep was approached by either Manchester clubs and he chose to enter the blue-half. Jose was the obvious option left for United to take over the vacated top job at the club.
It would not be unfair to say that Pep took a relatively safe road by choosing Man City. With all due respect to the Cityzens and their boss, Pep was aware that the amount of pressure he would be facing at Etihad would be highly magnified at United.
The Old Trafford job is much more than what it appears to be on paper. To fill in the great shoes of Sir Alex and pick up a giant club like them from rock-bottom was perhaps a burden Pep would have found difficult to bear.
Jose, on the other hand, being sacked by a rival team showed the courage to prove the Chelsea hierarchy wrong. Just when the world had written off the "Special-One", he took a risk putting all his history on the line.
He deserves a chance to prove his worth to the critics, for yet another time.
#4 The 'Undisputed king' of man-management
Jose Mourinho is known for his ability to get the best out of his players by the tantrums of his own. His enigmatic approach towards individuals has consistently reaped dividends for the clubs he has managed.
Recently, Jose was reported being in a "rift" with his record signing Paul Pogba after team's shambolic display at Wembley.
The "rift" saw Pogba miss some substantial game-time. While people have failed to notice the fact that Jose used it as a way to push the Frenchman to his best. Pogba was impressive with his trickery against Chelsea where his counter-part N'Golo Kante could not keep a hold of him.
In a way, when Jose left the midfielder out of his XI, he had a warning for the player which said, "When you start, make sure you prove me wrong". The 24-year-old started against Chelsea and was given the freedom he desired for and earned the praise of his manager.
Not to mention, meanwhile, United have yet another promising player in Scott McTominay who had filled in for the French midfielder temporarily in the process.
Typical Jose, it was.
#3 A proven winner
Despite the claims that Jose is a "finished" manager, he is the only manager in the business who is on the run for winning three Champions League titles with three different clubs.
In 17 seasons of club management, Mourinho has led his club to win its domestic league eight times, the UEFA Champions League twice and the UEFA Europa League twice. Between 2003 and 2012, Mourinho did not go a single calendar year without winning at least one trophy.
Every time when the media and the pundits had written him off, he struck back in some fashion. Previously in 2009, when FC Barcelona enjoyed a treble-winning season and rattled the defenses as per their wills, Jose stood tall with Inter. At Camp Nou, he managed to resist Barca's flair with his genius from the drawing broad.
Inter Milan won the treble under Jose Mourinho in 2010 and the manager was given the job to stop Barca, at the Bernabeu. In 2011, when Pep's Barcelona lifted the treble, doubts were there regarding Jose's ability to stop the Catalans.
Jose won the La Liga title with Real Madrid in the next 2011/12 season and broke all the goal scoring records previously held in Spain.
#2 Possible replacements?
The Portuguese's pragmatism may appear to be unendurable at times, but then the question arises that how many are better than him at the moment AND willing to take up the United job? Probably none!
Jose is the only manager who has managed to lift United up after Sir Alex's departure in 2013. A team with aged up players, a team filled with mediocre players has now been transformed into a team studded with superstars like Pogba, Alexis, Zlatan, and Lukaku.
He has spent a lot of money with United but so had Van Gaal in his failed attempts. The point being made is that United may not be the best but they certainly carry the potential now. If they part ways with the Portuguese now, the upcoming gaffer would be a huge risk with a lot of money already being invested in the team.
The only possible options currently appear to be Carlo Ancelotti or Luis Enrique who don't have the best of memories of their last season in-charge as managers.
On the other hand, if Mourinho is given a couple of years more at the club, he might just find that missing piece of the jigsaw at Old Trafford.
#1 The only resistance to Pep
Manchester United are technically the second best team in England only bettered by Pep's Manchester City. The only man who has managed to scare Guardiola with his mastermind regularly is Jose Mourinho.
The fact would appear totally unacceptable to the readers, but here is the explanation for the same. To begin with, "resistance", here, means the ability to put the opposition in a position where they cannot play their natural football and has to get back to the drawing board.
This is the reason why Liverpool's 4-3 victory has been ignored here. Manchester City was playing their natural attacking football at Anfield, it was only the high press by Klopp's men that secured, or to be honest, salvaged the maximum points for the Reds.
When Manchester City visited Old Trafford in December, they went home with all three points. However, the ones who have seen the match would know that Jose did manage to break Guardiola's "beautiful" football.
City appeared nowhere near their best and thanks to Lukaku's mistakes they clinched a victory. Their star-man Kevin de Bruyne wasn't getting the through balls at his will, City had to look for other options to open United up.
Manchester United was let down by their mistakes and lack of creativity throughout the match. Had they managed to spurn a few more chances, a draw would not have been a surprising result.
Therefore, if Jose can make a few tweaks in his team's creativity room, City next encounter with United could prove troublesome for them. Else it is just a matter of time before Pep makes City an unformidable force just like he did with Barcelona.
