The Weekly Take, Issue 90: As Far As They Could Have Gone

In a stunning turn of events, Tottenham Hotspur made a coaching change which not many could have seen coming. Mauricio Pochettino, who had been Spurs' head coach for over five years, was fired and replaced by José Mourinho after a recent run of form which had seen the London club fall to 14th place in the Premier League while also being knocked out of the Carabao Cup by Colchester. Their only saving grace had been their expected progress to the Champions League's round of 16; even so, they will do so as the second-placed team in Group B, thus forcing them to play against a first-place team in the next round.

On the whole, I will say that Pochettino did an excellent job during his stint in North London. He led Tottenham to a second-place Premier League finish in the 2016-17 season and, even more impressively, took them to the final of last season's Champions League where they lost to Liverpool. The Argentine also played an important role in turning Harry Kane into a bona fide superstar while also surrounding him with several solid supporting pieces such as Son Heung-min, Lucas Moura, Toby Alderweireld, and Dele Alli.

However, I will also say that firing Pochettino at this time was a difficult call, but the right one by Tottenham's front office. This is because Pochettino had seemed to have reached his limit; he had extracted everything he possibly could have out of this Tottenham team. If Tottenham were to reach the next level and win the Premier League or even Champions League any time soon, a change had to be made; one must keep in mind that Tottenham's run to last season's Champions League final was a genuine underdog story and wholly unexpected. Thus, it would have been unlikely to be repeated with Pochettino at the helm.

That said, I do not believe Pochettino will be out of a job for long; his time at Tottenham showed that he is an excellent option for any team which would like to turn an average team into a good team. However, he just isn't cut out to turn a good team into a great team. That's not necessarily a major knock on him - there are many coaches who have made solid coaching careers out of improving otherwise average teams. However, now that he has elevated Tottenham beyond that level, the expectations around the team have changed and he simply isn't the coach who could be the one to make Tottenham one of the football world's elite.

Many Tottenham fans have expressed apprehension over the hiring of Mourinho. This is understandable in light of his most recent coaching stint: a tumultous tenure spanning two-and-a-half years at Manchester United. However, if there was ever a coach who knows what it takes to win and how to turn a team which is merely a good team into one of the world's best football teams, it is Mourinho. At almost every club he has coached, he has led the club to overachievement; one could even argue that his Manchester United team, despite the circumstances of his departure, outperformed expectations by winning a Carabao Cup and a Europa League while also finishing second in the league in spite of their relatively limited financial capabilities when compared to those of many other teams.

It cannot be denied that Pochettino has laid the foundations for the future success of Tottenham Hotspur. That said, the time was right for the baton to be passed; nevertheless, any success experienced by Mourinho or any other Tottenham coach in the near future will have largely been derived from Pochettino's efforts to being Tottenham to the level at which they currently are. However, sometimes risks have to be taken; in this case, the only way for Tottenham to become a perennial title contender in the league and in Europe was by moving on from the former Espanyol and Southampton coach.

Tottenham have not won the league since 1961 and have never won the Champions League. This is a club and a fanbase which is desperate for silverware. Although Tottenham fans will look back on the Pochettino years with many fond memories, in due time many of these fans will come to realize that he would never have been the one who would have led Tottenham to have broken either of these droughts.

The Weekly Take, Issue 42: An Expected Departure

The seemingly inevitable has now happened.

After Manchester United’s 3-1 loss to arch-rivals Liverpool, José Mourinho was fired as the Red Devils’ coach after just over two years in the position.

To say that Mourinho’s time as United coach was turbulent is an understatement.

Mourinho was known to have had personal issues with a number of United players, including Paul Pogba, Anthony Martial, Alexis Sánchez, and Andreas Pereira. He also clashed with vice-chairman Ed Woodward over the money he was allocated for the purpose of signing players.

It cannot be said that Mourinho’s stint as United coach was a complete failure, especially given the fact that the squad he had at his disposal was not flooded with the sheer amount of talent that the likes of Manchester City, Paris Saint-Germain, Real Madrid, or Barcelona had. Second place in the Premier League last season can be considered a success, considering that they finished ahead of arguably more fancied teams such as Chelsea and Tottenham. However, it must also be noted that in his first season at United, Mourinho’s team only finished sixth in the league, only qualifying for the Champions League by winning the much less prestigious and competitive Europa League.

Although Mourinho’s time at the helm of United didn’t go the way many a United fan had hoped, the reality is that this Manchester United team was never the right fit for the Portuguese coach.

Consider all the other teams which experienced much success under Mourinho. What did all of them have in common?

Every one of them was built around an elite playmaking central midfielder – a player who was equally adept at playing the number 8 or 10 roles.

Mourinho had Deco on his roster at Porto, Frank Lampard at Chelsea, Wesley Sneijder at Inter Milan, and Mesut Özil and Luka Modrić at Real Madrid.

United do not have a player of such calibre in that position. Juan Mata currently occupies that role, but, while a solid player, is nowhere near the levels of the five players just mentioned.

Mourinho has also always favoured a defense-first approach. Once again, his personnel at other clubs allowed him to do that with ease, but not so at United.

He had Paulo Ferreira, Jorge Costa, and Ricardo Carvalho at Porto. At Chelsea, he had John Terry, as well as Ferreira and Carvalho again. His Inter Milan team had Javier Zanetti, Maicon, and Iván Cordoba. Then, when he coached Real Madrid, he had Sergio Ramos and Marcelo on his roster.

United’s current backline is led by Luke Shaw and Victor Lindelöf. That’s simply not going to cut it at the highest level.

To put it simply: this Manchester United team was not set up to favour a coach like Mourinho.

Furthermore, as Mourinho has pointed out, the team has clearly been hampered by the lack of signings made. Over the previous off-season, United made three signings, all of whom have mostly been limited to the bench. Diogo Dalot, Fred, and Lee Grant have combined for just 14 starts and five substitute appearances this season. United stood still while their rivals moved ahead and strengthened their teams by making key signings.

Of course, José Mourinho himself must shoulder a good deal of the blame. Publicly airing his personal problems with his players was a horrible look, and it clearly destabilized the team. To make matters worse, three of the players he fell out with – Pogba, Sánchez, and Martial – are arguably three of United’s four best players. A coach of Mourinho’s calibre and experience ought to know that a team’s best players often have to be dealt with differently. However, Mourinho clearly failed to get the memo, as far as his interactions with his players are concerned. This played a major role in the club’s making the decision to fire him.

No one should cast any doubt on Mourinho’s coaching skill. With two Champions Leagues, eight league titles, four domestic cups, two doubles, and a treble, he is, in my opinion, the greatest coach in football history.

Despite his track record, though, his United stint never came close to the heights he once hit, proving that no matter how great the coach, if the coach doesn’t fit the club well, success will be difficult to come by.

The Weekly Take, Issue 4: ‘The Special One’? More like ‘The Greatest One’

In the lead-up to the recent match between Manchester United and Chelsea, many of the sports world’s headlines were dominated by the rivalry between Manchester United head coach José Mourinho and his counterpart at Chelsea, Antonio Conte.

However, once the match was completed, it was clear that the question of who is the superior coach should really never have been a question at all.

Despite falling behind to a first-half goal by Willian, Manchester United were clearly the better of the two teams in terms of strategy and coaching, as shown by how United’s backline restricted Eden Hazard and Álvaro Morata, as well as by the fact that Jesse Lingard, who came on as a substitute, scored the winning goal for United.

Conte is certainly a fine coach. He has achieved much at both Juventus and Chelsea. There is no shame in being outcoached and out-strategised by the greatest head coach in the history of football.

Yes, I went there.

You can throw any other name at me. Helenio Herrera. Arrigo Sacchi. Alex Ferguson. Pep Guardiola. Jupp Heynckes. Carlo Ancelotti. Bob Paisley. Rinus Michels.

I would still take José Mourinho over every single one of those names.

You may say “he only has two Champions League titles”.

Of those names, only Paisley and Ancelotti have more, and Paisley’s came before the 1999-2000 season, which marks the beginning of what I consider the modern Champions League era.

This is because it was the first time after expansion of the tournament to include non-champions from superior leagues that the Champions League had its current 32-team format.

With regard to Ancelotti, José Mourinho led Porto and Inter Milan, two underdog teams, to win the Champions League.

Ancelotti, as well as every other name I mentioned, won with stacked teams expected to win it all.

Porto in 2004 and Inter Milan in 2010 were not among the favourites to win the title at the beginning of the season.

I consider his triumph with Porto as the greatest coaching performance in football history because of the strategic genius shown throughout their campaign in their victories against, on paper, superior teams.

Mourinho has also revolutionised football strategy in a way that only Guardiola, Herrera, and Michels can claim to have done.

His counter-attacking strategies, timely substitutions, and ability to adapt his own team’s tactics to counter those of his next opponent are unmatched in modern football.

He is often criticized for using “ugly” strategies, playing too defensively, and not being conventionally “entertaining” (though defensive-minded tactics can be just as entertaining to watch as offensive-minded ones).

And yet, in spite of the criticism he receives, he holds firm to his tactics, so much so that you can tell that a team is a Mourinho team by their playstyle and setup, and this persistence in the face of his detractors has given Mourinho tremendous success.

Eight league titles, two Champions Leagues, two Europa Leagues, five national super cups, four national cups, and four side cups over an 18-year coaching career.

Out of 871 games he has coached, he has won a staggering 570 and drawn 178.

Mourinho's teams thus average 2.17 points per game.

That’s a number that would have placed him in a Champions League spot in all four major leagues.

This is a career average, not a selection of peak seasons.

Some criticise him for never staying for long at a club – his longest time spent at one club is five years and nine months, which was at Chelsea. Even then, it was over two stints.

But do we hold it against Diego Maradona for playing for six clubs over his career? Or Ronaldo for playing for seven, including direct rivals Barcelona and Real Madrid, as well as Inter Milan and AC Milan?

Furthermore, there have other great coaches who never spent too long at the same club.

Sacchi’s longest tenure was at AC Milan: five years over two stints.

Guardiola’s longest was his four-year stint in charge of Barcelona.

Hence, it makes no sense to hold Mourinho to a different standard.

Now, it may not necessarily be the case that Mourinho remains the greatest of all time for that much longer.

If Guardiola or Heynckes lead their teams to a Champions League title soon, that would put them in the conversation.

But for now, they still rank behind the touchline wizard from Setúbal, Portugal.