Is Jose Mourinho's time at Manchester United coming to an end?
- by Rene Duval
- in Sport
- — Avr 16, 2018
Manchester United boss Jose Mourinho has urged his players to be more consistent next season if they are to challenge Manchester City for the title next season.
City had registered a 3-1 win over Tottenham Hotspur at Wembley on Saturday. The league leaders, in particular, did show a keen interest in the services of Jonny Evans, who was deemed as a backup for veteran defender Vincent Kompany before they signed Aymeric Laporte earlier this year.
It was always a matter of when rather than if City would be champions after they led the way for most of the season.
"I trust in my work, that is for sure - I have no reason not to trust", he said.
The United manager said: "I knew that sooner or later they would be champions and if I was in their position I would be very upset if somebody said that they won the title because Manchester United lost against West Bromwich Albion". You win, of course, with quality, but with consistency in every level, not just the performance level but also the mental level. "It's one of those days that we didn't play good enough and we tried to create some chances in the first half and in the beginning of the second, but we didn't play quickly enough".
Joe Fagan inherited a team that had won back-to-back championships and he delivered three more trophies to the Anfield trophy cabinet as the Reds won a fourth successive League Cup, a third consecutive title and a fourth European Cup, this one courtesy of a penalty shoot-out victory over Roma in the final. I know how to win and I believe in myself.
The result sparked celebrations among the Light Blue half of Manchester but Mourinho said City's title deserved to be recognised for its true value.
It's now 5 years since United last won the league and unless Mourinho wins the title next season, it's hard to see him staying at Old Trafford beyond 2019 (he may even get sacked this summer unless he wins the FA Cup). They saved the best for last, with substitutes Teddy Sheringham and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer scoring in stoppage time to stun Bayern Munich in the Champions League final in Barcelona. A lot of United fans will remember the previous occasion- a freak 3-2 defeat against Blackburn in 2011/12.
Juan Mata echoed comments from Mourinho, accepting United were far below the required standard in defeat to West Brom. "Everyone is disappointed. We didn't play well at all and it's a bad afternoon for us. Everything was complicated. Players they didn't want to or couldn't play simple", Mourinho told SkyTV afterwards.