Jose Mourinho set his sights upon winning the Premier League in his first season at Manchester United. It was going to be a tall order given that the club has struggled to even finish in the top four since the retirement of Sir Alex Ferguson at the end of the 2012-13 season. If there was someone who could turn around the fortunes at Old Trafford, it would be Mourinho, as the Portuguese know a thing or two about winning the English league.
Despite the immense pedigree of the Portuguese manager coupled with another £100 million being spent in the summer transfer window, the club are no closer towards the top of the table. In fact, they are even eight points behind the top four. Even there is still more than halfway left in the campaign, United also need teams like Manchester City and Liverpool to drop points in order to stand any chance of winning the title.
In an honest assessment, Mourinho has admitted that the club may be out of the title race already.
As quoted by Sky Sports, he said:
“When I was speaking about destinations, I think the destination is for us is to be champions. Maybe not this year, maybe we cannot do it.
“I don’t know. In football anything is possible but maybe we don’t do it.
“There’s a gap between us and the top of the table but the destination is for us to be champion.I don’t know when, maybe next year, maybe this year, maybe in two years’ time.”
This is a frank admission from the former blues manager, who has struggled to get consistency in results. Of course, United have three wins in the last five matches across all competitions. Their league record makes for grim reading on a stand-alone basis, as they have managed just one win in the last seven matches. The mood is a little more positive as the team heads into the weekend’s game against Everton at Goodison Park.
United have struggled in recent fixtures at Goodison Park, as they have managed just one league win at this ground since 2012. On Sunday, there is a good chance of improving this record as Everton have not been doing too well under Ronald Koeman of late. The statements by Mourinho could be a ploy to take pressure off the team. Jose Mourinho has always been a master at taking the pressure away from the team. In order to do so, he often involves in mind games with the opposition managers or gets into trouble with officials.
Another technique is also to lower the expectations of the squad. Interestingly, his comments come after the club managed to reach the semifinals of the EFL Cup after beating West Ham. Mourinho will not admit it, but he seems to believe that United have a great chance of winning the EFL Cup this season.
