Jose Mourinho was named the new Manchester United manager on
Friday
The Portuguese doesn't tick every box for United but will
win trophies
The Premier League will boast some of the best names next
season
Jurgen Klopp, Pep Guardiola and Antonio Conte will go
head-to-head
Mourinho and Guardiola will reprise rivalry dating back to
La Liga days
Manchester United XI under Jose Mourinho: From Zlatan to
Saul Niguez
By JAMIE CARRAGHER FOR BE INFORMED
PUBLISHED: 13:38 GMT, 27 May 2016 | UPDATED: 15:07 GMT, 27
May 2016
Spain might have the best players and by Saturday night they
will have won both European club competitions after the all-Spanish Champions
League final — but the invasion of the great managers will electrify the
Premier League and confirm it as the place to be.
The Manchester United manager Jose Mourinho (22 trophies)
battling it out with Manchester City’s Pep Guardiola (21 trophies). Then
there’s Chelsea’s Antonio Conte (three Serie A titles) slugging it out with
Liverpool’s Jurgen Klopp (a dual Bundesliga winner and Champions League
finalist) and Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger (17 trophies).
It means no other competition can rival England’s big league
for expertise and swagger.
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Jose Mourinho was named the new manager of Manchester United
on Friday morning on a four-year deal
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Some claim Mourinho does not play in the style preferred by
United supporters but he will deliver trophies
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The Premier League will boast some of the best names next
season including Pep Guardiola and Jurgen Klopp
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Whether you are a fan of his ways or not, you cannot deny
that Mourinho is box office and will get United challenging for silverware
straight away. The man is a serial winner.
Along with plenty of others, I have said for a long time
that he doesn’t tick every box for United, but there is only one box they want
ticking now — the one that says ‘trophies’. And they’ve got the best man for
the job for that. In 14 attempts, he’s won eight titles across Europe. That’s
more than a 50 per cent success rate!
United had the chance to get him three years ago but went
for David Moyes, believing they didn’t need Mourinho and the baggage he brings.
The argument then was that he was not the right fit for Old
Trafford, but what the last three years have shown is that no manager can be
what Sir Alex Ferguson was. He was a one-off in the modern game for promoting
young players, playing with style and being able to stay out in front
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Mourinho follows in the footsteps of Sir Alex Ferguson who
won an incredible 13 Premier League titles
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Sir Matt Busby stands alongside Paddy Crerand (left) and
George Best (right) after winning the European Cup
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The other man to do that was Sir Matt Busby. Both Busby and
Ferguson lasted over two decades at the club but they are the only two men in
United’s history to be successful playing such attacking football. They also
promoted youth, Busby with his Babes and Ferguson with his Class of ’92.
Busby and Ferguson are giants of the game and other United
managers tried to bring success - including the likes of Tommy Docherty and Ron
Atkinson - but couldn’t pull it off. So for all the talk of the ‘United way’,
the achievements were based around two extraordinary managers.
Clubs like Barcelona and Ajax bring in managers to suit the
club and have ideas of the way they want to play regardless of the manager’s
c.v. Luis Enrique, for instance, was sacked at Roma but has thrived at
Barcelona.
United thought, when Ferguson left, that they could go down
the same path, but it hasn’t worked for them. Others have caught up and
overtaken them.
Moyes was very hard-working but he lacked the positivity and
risk-taking that United fans had been used to. Louis van Gaal believed that a
combination of a Dutch philosophy and his impressive c.v. would propel United
forward, but it hasn’t.
Now they’ve finally turned to Jose: a man who won’t please
everyone but a man who won’t change his way of playing. And why should he?
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Mourinho replaces Louis van Gaal who, despite delivering the
FA Cup this season, was dismissed on Monday
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Moyes lacked the positive mentality needed at a club of
United's stature and was sacked after 10 months
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At times he will strangle a game if he feels the opposition
are superior. For prime examples, look at the games between his Real Madrid
team and Guardiola’s Barcelona. I’m sure Jose always felt his rival Guardiola
had the strongest line-up in those titanic El Clasico battles, so he had an
advantage.
Pep won five of those 11 clashes, and Jose just two, but
with United’s spending power Mourinho will be able to go head to head with his
great rival. They are playing on an even playing field — and he will relish
that.
Also, it is harsh to say Mourinho doesn’t play good
football. He broke plenty of Premier League records with Chelsea, while Real
Madrid outscored Barcelona in two of his three La Liga seasons
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Mourinho, then managing Real Madrid, shakes the hand of
Barcelona boss Guardiola during a great rivalry
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As for not bringing young players through, if they are top
class, he plays them. He played 19-year-old Carlos Alberto in the Champions
League final at Porto, he gave a chance to Raphael Varane at Real Madrid and
picked Davide Santon at Inter when he was a teenager. So Marcus Rashford will
be fine if he carries on as he is.
One man who won’t be fine, though, is Guardiola. He left
Barcelona for a number of reasons but one of them, I’m sure, is the continual
baiting to which he was subjected to by Mourinho in the media. It is
inevitable, at some point, that theme will return. Guardiola must be thinking:
‘Oh no, not him again.’
Mourinho arrives at Old Trafford with a point to prove and,
as a Liverpool supporter, it worries me! It should also worry the rest of the
Premier League — he is coming back to win.
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Marcus Rashford, pictured during England duty, will be
hoping to continue his dramatic rise under Mourinho
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MAN OF THE WEEK - BRENDAN RODGERS
Eyebrows will have been raised in some quarters about his
decision to re-launch his managerial career in Scotland but, from Celtic’s
point of view, this is a major coup.
Their last two appointments were Ronny Deila, who arrived
unheralded from Norwegian side Stromsgodset, and Neil Lennon, who was taking
his first job in management, so to recruit someone who two years ago took
Liverpool to within two points of the title shows how well Celtic have done.
The feeling in Glasgow is this appointment rivals that of
Martin O’Neill in 2000 but for Rodgers — who has agreed a 12-month rolling
contract — to be remembered in similarly glowing terms, winning the Scottish
Premier League won’t be enough if he wants to come south again and fight for
trophies.
What sets O’Neill apart is his achievements in Europe in
2002-2003, when Celtic knocked the Liverpool team I played in out of the UEFA
Cup en route to facing Jose Mourinho’s Porto in a final they dramatically lost
3-2.
O’Neill was able to sign players such as Chris Sutton and
John Hartson from the Premier League but Rodgers recognises he won’t be buying
from that market, as it’s difficult for Scottish clubs to buy top-level players
from England. That, of course, is a negative but Rodgers didn’t let it
influence his decision. He wanted to get back to work and is excited about the
idea of trying to put what is undoubtedly a huge club back on the map in
Europe.
I’ve played at Parkhead under the floodlights and sat in the
stands for Champions League games against Ajax and Barcelona.
It’s an unbelievable stadium when it is bouncing and I know
from experience Celtic have got a very good manager to get them what they want.
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Former Liverpool boss Brendan Rodgers has taken charge at
Celtic in what is a major coup for the Bhoys
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I WANT TO SEE DIEGO SIMEONE TRIUMPH
I hope on Saturday that it’s Gabi, Atletico Madrid’s
captain, lifting the Champions League trophy in Milan.
I still feel for the club and their manager Diego Simeone
after the last final between the two Madrid clubs in Lisbon two years ago, when
Real equalised in the third minute of injury time and went on to win in extra
time.
I was there that night and was surrounded by Atleti fans and
the disappointment on their faces has stayed with me. They were league
champions then but to lose that game to your biggest rivals was a bitter blow
and, after playing second fiddle in the city for their entire history, this is
a chance for them to put it right.
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Diego Simeone and his Atletico Madrid side have another
chance of Champions League glory against Real
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Psychologically, Real, with their 10 European Cups, still
have a stranglehold on this trophy and will approach this game with an
expectation to win.
The one person who won’t share that mentality is Atletico’s
outstanding manager Simeone, who continues to build and then rebuild a team
that punches above its weight against the powerhouses of Spain.
The purists will want a Real Madrid win - Atletico are as
defensive as any team you can remember in big games. But I can’t help admiring
their intensity and organisation, especially Diego Godin at the back. Another
man I should mention is my old Anfield team-mate Fernando Torres, who probably
can’t believe he’s playing in a Champions League final for his hometown club
after his ups and downs of the last few years.
If Atletico win I’m sure it will mean even more to him than
the World Cup or European Championship he has won with Spain.
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Sportsmail columnist Jamie Carragher hopes it will be
Atletico captain Gabi lifting the Champions League
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