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4 Reasons Why Jose Mourinho's Days As A World-Class Manager Might Be Over

The meltdown has commenced in record time

Headshot of Nick PopeBy Nick Pope
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It's not looking good for Jose, is it? Three losses on the trot, including a rollover to his fiercest rival, signals that Manchester United might be looking down the barrel of another season of expensive failure.

And now, just weeks into the campaign, people are starting to question whether the Portuguese mastermind has lost his magic touch. People like us, right now.

So does he have what it takes to pull Man Utd out of the quicksand and back to their Premier League-topping perch? Maybe not, because…

He's not as handsome as he used to be

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Don't get us wrong: Jose's still a prime cut. With his smart salt-and-pepper barnet and the kind of eyebrows that'd have any woman careering towards a night-cap, the 53 year-old still looks as comfortable brooding his way through an aftershave ad as he does yelling on the sidelines.


But if 2k16 Jose can be likened to a fine wine, mid-noughties Jose was a glass of the world's finest whiskey. His suave Mediterranean mug intoxicated the nation, and his Chelsea players were clearly in awe of the magnetism that his Hollywood looks helped to create. Within a season, they rode the wave of his well-deserved arrogance all the way to domestic dominance.


So you can gabber on about Guardiola's tactical nouse and footballing philosophy all you want, but when it comes down to it, can't all of his success really just be boiled down to the fact that he's a bit of a looker? Almost certainly yes.

He's no longer a miracle man

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Since his move to Chelsea in 2003, Mourinho has always been seen as a necessary evil by chairmen looking to break a trophy-drought.


The accepted logic was: Mourinho will arrive at your club and immediately piss off the entire nation. He'll then spend piles of your cash, win loads of trophies, alienate his squad, poke someone in the eye and leave in spiteful acrimony.


But Mourinho's reputation has taken a big hit over the past year. He transformed a championship-winning Chelsea team into relegation fodder in the space of a season, and managed to inspire a club-crumbling mutiny in record time.


And now, after years of avoiding his gaze, Manchester United have drafted in the miracle man to finally put the barren years behind them – but after last season, he just isn't the sure-bet that he once was.

He can't protect his players like before

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As far as setting a new player up for an almighty fall goes, the flashy Paul Pogba announcement video was an absolute game changer. Oddly captivating as it was to watch Stormzy and Pogba dab their way through an Adidas advert (and name-check Nick Jonas for no reason at all), it also meant that critics weren't going to even entertain the idea of a settling in period. Vultures have already started to circle around the £100 million midfielder.


That's where old school Mourinho would have stepped in. The man was an expert in detracting attention away from his players. He would just run his mouth off for a while, maybe insinuate something about a rival manager's private life, and ensure that the only face attracting back page outrage was his own. It fostered the kind of pressure-less environment that Pogba would no doubt benefit from now.


But it doesn't work that way anymore. Instead, Mourinho oversees a squad of social media stars, and he can't control the way they communicate and appear in the media. He can no longer play the protective, paternal figure. Where once Mourinho had a cult of personality built on respect and self-sacrifice, he now has a squadron of men who only subscribe to their own personal brands. Mourinho's greatest trick just doesn't wash anymore.

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He's already pissing off his squad

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After last week's 3-1 loss to Watford, Mourinho singled out left-back Luke Shaw for criticism. He poured scorn on the defender for repeating a mistake he'd made in their loss against Manchester City, questioning his tactical and mental aptitude.


According to the Independent, the United squad is shocked by the manager's treatment of Shaw, who has apparently been playing through the pain with a groin injury for weeks.


That Mourinho will ultimately fall out with his United squad is inevitable. It's just what he does. But even the wary Manchester United board couldn't have expected the cracks to start showing within the first few weeks of the season.


At this rate, the all-too-familiar Mourinho ego clash could come a lot sooner than we thought.

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