Jose Mourinho: The Anti- Hero?

Jose Mourinho has been sacked three times in the past 8 years, he first got sacked by Real Madrid back in May 2013. He then returned back to England and in his first season lead Chelsea to a respective 3rd finish in the Premier League.

The following season Jose Mourinho delivered the title as usual in his second season. But in his 3rd season where it normally goes wrong, it really did go wrong. His third season has been described as "third season syndrome."

Well, we all know Manchester United are a football club built on very big traditions. One of them is to play an attacking free-flowing style of Football. We all know Mourinho is a big user of the more pragmatic style in football, something that never fitted Manchester United. The United owners the Glazers knew this, but why did they choose the special one?

Well down the road Manchester City had appointed Pep Guardiola and the United board showed a clear sense of panic and naivety. They were rushed into the decision, the only man that had challenged Pep previously, was Jose Mourinho. So you could argue that there was some sort of justification for him to be brought in. Let's look at Mourinho's time at United though.

In his first season at Old Trafford, United won the Europe League meaning they would be back in the Champions League, Mourinho also delivered the League Cup in a 3-2 win over Southampton in the final at Wembley. In his second season, United finished 2nd and got to the FA Cup final, but got beaten by Chelsea.

Chelsea 1-0 Manchester United - The Emirates FA Cup Final

From the very first press conference in the summer of 2018, Jose Mourinho voiced his concern over the United squad, as he demanded a centre-back to be brought in. United started the season horribly as they faced defeat from Spurs and Brighton in the first month of the Premier League. Then they started to pick themselves back up and a sense of optimism came back to the Old Trafford, something they didn't have all season. But a few poor results and it seemed Mourinho had lost control, his relationship with Pogba had hit a climax too.

A poor result against Liverpool, where United got run ragged all over the pitch and also the prospect of also getting a similar humiliation to PSG in the Champions League in February scared the hierarchy.

They surprisingly acted quickly and parted ways with the serial winner and the rest at United is history. Jose Mourinho has voiced his interest at taking over one of Europe's elite clubs. It is time to realize this isn't the Jose Mourinho, we all fell in love with, the charismatic and charming man we once knew is now extinct. Mourinho will most likely get another job due to his merits and sheer achievements in the game, but does he deserve another job at the highest level?

Mourinho has been in these sort of situations before where he has been sacked, and he has been able to find another job at another big club. But this time around it seems different as Mourinho's stint at United should be counted as a failure as he failed to bring any big or major silverware into the club. Bearing in mind Mourinho spent somewhere around the region of £400 million pounds, it is not good enough.

It will be very interesting to see how Mourinho will approach his next job? Will he be the the same old stubborn Mourinho we all know, playing his defensive and pragmatic style of football? Or will he become the modern day manager, playing the more fast forward thinking football of today.