Official UEFA Champions League Thread: Manchestr Utd. Champs

[Slava]

Michael Essien when he plays out of position quickly goes from being their best player to being their weakest link on the pitch. Time and again United tried to exploit him on the right flank with Ronaldo playing there instead of his natural right side position. That has to change and I believe that was one main reason as to why they gave up the first goal.

May be since Jose Bosingwa has been signed, things might change and Essien might get to play in his central area more. Got to admit that amongst all their players Essien was probably the only one that played the game in a true spirit.

[Alex_De_Large]

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No sorry. Avram Grant has done in half a season what Mourinho couldn't do for 3 seasons at Chelsea. I'm more inclined to think that it was more down to the quality of players that contributed to their success than Mourinho just pulling something out of his hat.

How about Michael Ballack becoming a more essential part of that team while he could do nothing good as long as Jose was in charge?

In 3 years, Mourinho did lose 2 times against the champions, 2 times in semis against Liverpool, the first one with one goal who never crossed the line and the other one with penaltis, Benitez can't simply beat Mourinho because Mourinho is the best coach in the world.
Mourinho is the best coach in the history in NEVER have played pro-soccer before, so it's a much more hard to do. Herrera or Rinus Michel did actually played soccer before coaching. and Ferguson is really overrated.

Mourinho in 3 years: 2 semis, 95 points in premier league, and always challenging the league.
BENITEZ OR FERGUSON CAN'T NEVER WIN CL WITH SCRUBS LIKE COSTINHA OR MANICHE, WHY? BECAUSE THEY ARE NOT AS GOOD AS THE SPECIAL ONE.

Ballack and Shevchenko should have never become Chelea players.
Shevchenko: 45 million euros, Kalou: i don't know, but i doubt its more than 10, while Kalou has proved much more.

[Slava]

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In 3 years, Mourinho did lose 2 times against the champions, 2 times in semis against Liverpool, the first one with one goal who never crossed the line and the other one with penaltis, Benitez can't simply beat Mourinho because Mourinho is the best coach in the world.
Mourinho is the best coach in the history in NEVER have played pro-soccer before, so it's a much more hard to do. Herrera or Rinus Michel did actually played soccer before coaching. and Ferguson is really overrated.

Mourinho in 3 years: 2 semis, 95 points in premier league, and always challenging the league.
BENITEZ OR FERGUSON CAN'T NEVER WIN CL WITH SCRUBS LIKE COSTINHA OR MANICHE, WHY? BECAUSE THEY ARE NOT AS GOOD AS THE SPECIAL ONE.

Ballack and Shevchenko should have never become Chelea players.
Shevchenko: 45 million euros, Kalou: i don't know, but i doubt its more than 10, while Kalou has proved much more.

Whats the point? Mourinho had an all star squad that was perfectly balanced at every position and still couldn't make it to the CL finals. Grant made it in less than an year into his tenure while shouldering the burden of replacing a player favourite manager.

Benitez can't beat Mourinho? You don't even have the stats to prove that. "If"s and "But"s won't win you games, goals do and Chelsea couldn't buy a goal against Liverpool in the champions league.

Special one for winning the CL against Porto? Yeah I can credit him for that. It happens once every decade but still that team was not all duds, they also had players like McCarthy, Deco and Carvalho.

I'll acknowledge Mourinho's greatness if he sustains his winning consistency over a period of like 22 years like Sir. ALex did while bringing out players Giggs/Neville/Beckham/Scholes from the youth academy.

........and oh yeah remember me when he wins a treble.

[Alex_De_Large]

And sometimes football is not fair, i don't think penaltis are, it's like free throws in basketball if there is a draw, no sense at all.

Deco and Carvalho are good but that squad was much much worst than almost any squad Manchester United had in the last 15 years.
Ferguson spend his 6 first years at Manchester United without winning anything, if any, we should compare both in 14 years when Mourinho have 22 years of experience, but then, probably have Mourinho have 5 champions leagues (2 more than Alex),
he will win with Inter, i have no doubt.

[Slava]

I don't think so. Penalties only seem unfair when you lose. If you can't convert from the spot kick you got no right to complain against anyone. Ferguson took over a United team that was almost relegated and he built it to a glorious future. Very few managers have proved they have the longevity and desire to do that (only Arsene Wenger is the other manager than comes to my mind).

[Alex_De_Large]

Yestarday i was cheering for Chelsea, and after CR7 missed penalti i honestly thought ManU would lose and i was feeling how unfair that was, i believe those 2 teams are by far the 2 best teams of the year and probably the 2 best sides in the world.

Actually philosophy about managers in England is much different than in england or spain. Who knows how much have could won Rijkaard 6 years more in Barcelona? and i don't like him, but he could have won a lot.

[Slava]

There's a ridiculous amount of pressure on managers in Spain as well as England and its no different anywhere. Even Carlo Ancelotti is being doubted so its no big deal if Riijkard or Mourinho gets booted out from their teams. Who knows a few moves here and a couple of big buys might make Manchester City relevant again and Sven Eriksson will be hailed as a genius that turned around a club's fortunes, which is why longevity and consistency is so special.

WHile I do agree that Mourinho is a nice manager, I wouldn't put him in the same league as a Ferguson and you cannot extrapolate his achievements over 3 seasons to a period of 20 years, it doesn't work like that. Football is a very uncertain sport to be predicted so easily.

[El Turco]

first time i ve heard somebody defining 300 million$ team as "scrubs".

[Alex_De_Large]

Maniche and Costinha are not scrubs? they must be superstars and i don't even know about it.

[BlackMamba]

well, i agree with most of what you guys have posted, but you have to keep an eye on how long has ferguson being a successfull coach.

obviously right now it's difficult to compare, but i don't really know if there is anybody outisde of ferguson that has been with a team for 23 years!!!! and it's not any team, it's manchester united, a historical top 5 team in the world, maybe even top 2. so, imagine the preassure of being part of that organization.


also having a team with superstars will not guarantee you success, and sometimes having "scrubs" gives you a better shot because of the lack of preassure and the freedom those teams and players have to play.


and i agree, PK aren't fair, but when shooting you demonstrate how prepared you are, it doesn't matter if it's after 120 mins of play or whatever. the temper, quality and mentality is shown.
and don't get offended with my example, but there is a faaaaar difference between giggs and ronaldo, and they clearly showed it with how they shot.

[El Turco]

Maniche and Costinha are the players that Mourinho used to get his biggest success.

Also, Maniche and Costinha are players Mourinho brought to Chelsea. If they became scrubs when they played for Chelsea, then it is HIS fault. You dont become a great manager by being a good tactian, you also need to be smart about what players you bring and how you use them. And Mourinho was one of the luckiest managers in the world in that context considering he had unlimited resources to build that team.

if he was a better player evaluator he wouldnt have to put "scrubs" like maniche or costinha on the field.

[kromoszoma]

Did Costinha even play for Chelsea?

[El Turco]

you are right, he didnt, i mixed him up with carvalho.

you get the point.

[Alex_De_Large]

So its Mourinho fault that right now Maniche and Costinha flop at Inter and Atletico?
They both SUCK and are not talented players at all., but they did look good in Porto thanks to him.

[El Turco]

so sucky players look good under Mourinho and win the highest club honors but good players look bad under Mourinho since he cant even go past semi finals.

how does that help his case again?

[Slava]

^^

[Alex_De_Large]

all look good under mourinho.

scrubs like costinha
and superstars like lampard or drogba, with them, 95 points in premier league

[Slava]

^^He was lucky that Arsenal and United were in a transition period at that time and we all know what he won since United regrouped and Arsenal/Liverpool regrouped themselves.

[Alex_De_Large]

thats like say manchester united won (and was lucky) in the 90's because all sucked, arsenal in transition and everton/liverpool sucking.
no sense at all, if you are the best, you are.

[BlackMamba]

i like mourinho, but winning the champions is sometimes faaaaaaar better than winning any domestic cup/championship.