Shearer says: “I don’t think Mourinho will ride this out.”
Premier League legend discusses Man United woe
Jose Mourinho was asking for respect in his press conference following his side’s defeat to Tottenham on Monday evening. In football you don’t ask for respect, you earn it.
When you look at his record at winning trophies, he has earned that. But the past is the past.
He didn’t win anything last season and they have started off by having two poor games in the new campaign.
Mourinho and Man United are at odds
I understand where Jose is coming from but his team have to answer the criticism for him. There is no doubt that the relationship between him and Ed Woodward is not great. He made a point against Spurs of playing Herrera at centre-back when he had defenders who were fit to play on the bench.
If that isn’t sending a message to his vice-chairman, I don’t know what is. He clearly did not get the players he wanted in the summer. It was well documented that he wanted a centre-half.
He also talked a while back about how maybe he should now be called the head coach and not the manager. That is also a dig at the vice-chairman, implying he has no control of the players he brings in or sells.
I don’t think he is going to ride this out. He should be given time as he is one of the most successful managers of his time and we are only three games into the season.
We must remember United finished second last season and had a very good defensive record.
Against Tottenham in the second half, they were hopeless at the back and they could not live with Spurs. Moura and Kane were too good for them.
If Lukaku had stuck in his chance in the first half, it could have been different story but it is all ifs and buts.
This Manchester United team will be nowhere near winning the league this season. I don’t see how it is going to change for them as there appears to be a huge gap in communication between the manager and the vice-chairman.
I am not saying it should happen, but normally its the manager who loses out in this situation.
More struggles for Newcastle
Unfortunately it is another year where Newcastle have gone out of a cup competition so early.
It is annoying and disappointing, but we didn’t deserve to go through. I didn’t think we ever looked like scoring until Rondon came on.
Against Chelsea last Sunday, the big debate was about the way Rafa set up his team. What we need to remember is that he was lauded for finishing tenth last season and he played exactly the same way against one or two clubs when necessary.
At the start of this season he did not play that way against Tottenham and we should have got something from that game, therefore he does not play that way against all the big clubs.
I thought it was a penalty for Chelsea’s opening goal. When you get ball and the man afterwards, particularly with a scissor challenge, you run the risk of giving away a penalty.
If that was at the Gallowgate end, I’d want it given Newcastle’s way. For all of Chelsea’s dominance of possession, they only had three shots on target and one of them was a penalty.
Although we defended well collectively, unfortunately we did not get anything for the game to show for it.
You also have to remember we had a number of key players out of the game against Chelsea. If you take four guaranteed starters out of any team in the Premier League, they will suffer for it.
There have been reports of bust ups on the training ground between certain players. When you train at high intensity every day, if there were no bust ups, I’d be worried.
These things happen every day at every football club. They only get reported when there are problems like there are at Newcastle at the moment.
New opportunities for England
Jamie Vardy and Gary Cahill both announced they are stepping down from international football and only they can tell you the reasons for that.
Neither of them are automatic starters and they know their bodies better than anyone. I retired just before my 30th birthday after I had three serious injuries.
I knew I had to retire to get an extra five or six years from my body at club level. I could no longer do both jobs to the best of my ability.
The good news for England is that there a lot of young players coming through.
Gomez at Liverpool and Foden at Manchester City are two of those. They will hopefully play more for their clubs this season and then we will see them shine for England when they are called upon.
