Why we may come to regret Jose’s return

A big pat on the back for the English media, they finally look like they are getting what they always wanted for Christmas – Jose Mourinho for England manager.  

In swapping the ‘bad copy’, ginger-haired, ‘too eager to please’ Steve McClaren for the ‘great copy’, raven-haired, ‘not bothered how you take it as long as you listen’ sex bomb Jose Mourinho, they have ‘actioned’ the desires of their editors and proprietors. Jose will sell papers by the vanload as England coach and for all the reasons he was a hit at Chelsea, he’s unmissable, a walking headline. 

The final moments of Steve McClaren’s reign, played out before a jeering Wembley crowd, lashed by rain and featuring the type of football more typically seen on the proverbial ‘wet Wednesday night in Hartlepool’, were as predictable to many as the fact of England’s failure to overcome a small, proud European country of just 4 million souls. Yet the role played by the nation’s media in McClaren’s downfall should not be understated. From the moment his name came into the frame McClaren’s was derided.

The memory of the Middlesbrough season ticket holder literally throwing the book at his team’s boss during a 0-4 reverse at home to Aston Villa seemed to stay with the media and it’s millions of readers longer than his real achievements in the game. These included guiding an unfashionable club to a European final and having an influence at Manchester United where he helped the club to the treble and domination of the English game. 

The outrage following a draw with Macedonia and a calamitous defeat in Zagreb seemed justified as the manager now dubbed ‘McClown’ tinkered with formation after formation. Despite a few home wins and an encouraging return to form for a few of the ‘Golden Generation’, McClaren’s goose was cooked on the Astroturf in Moscow and the gridiron marked paddyfield of Wembley.  

Yet his sidekick Terry Venables, widely acknowledged as the best English manager since Bobby Robson, largely escaped criticism. As did the players – should they not have been capable of carrying out their manager’s instructions, however complicated?  After all the soul searching and blood letting of the past fortnight it seems the media men may have their way.

The London based hacks will claim they were only reflecting a national fear that, if McClaren was the best England could offer, we should stick to the trusted formula of finding a foreign Anglophone to succeed Sven. The FA agreed but former Brazil boss Phil Scolari wisely turned down the job. 

Yet once Jose Mourinho left Chelsea he was always going to be the man Fleet Street wanted, just as they had yearned for Clough to succeed Revie and Venables to replace Graham Taylor. Every so often the hack pack are given their head by the FA – usually after a campaign of vilification where they wind-up the populace to oust a hate figure. As it happened with Taylor and Venables so it seems inevitable it will happen for McClaren and Mourinho. 

At the minute Jose is the universal favourite among fans and media, a fact not lost on an unpopular FA. He comes Teflon coated, with even the blame for his failings at Chelsea being shifted elsewhere.  If any man can take on the might of the English media, it is the Portugeezer – it shouldn’t be hard to engender the ‘them and us’ mentality into a team as universally derided as the current representatives of the national game. Jose’s ability to set the media agenda would come in useful too – any defeat could conveniently be blamed on the slim talent pool available.

The working hours would also suit – 10-12 matches a year would leave plenty of time to watch the wrestling with his kids and pop back home to avoid England’s grim winter evenings. Yet the media might be making a rod for their own back: Jose is renowned as a successful coach, he has the baubles to prove it. He is renowned as a master tactician, a great man manager and a master at media relations. He has been credited with reviving careers previously thought of as dead in the water, turning Didier Drogba from a French based misfit into the deadliest player of his type in the world. 

Yet should even he fail the truth will be there for all to see – it’s not the management or the coaching that’s the problem, it is this country and its footballers. In other words the problem is not a convenient scapegoat but us as a football nation: from fans to players and most of all to its media. Perhaps the hack pack should be careful what they wish for.     

United fans to celebrate England failure

It has emerged that United fans are planning a party in central Manchester should Russia do the business on Saturday and knock England out of Euro 2008 qualification. 

As a statement of the disaffection felt by this set of supporters with the national team, this is pretty emphatic and underlines a growing trend within the Big Four with United’s hardcore support once more in the vanguard…

The Difference

So how have United turned around a slow start (2nd bottom at the start of September) to be top in mid-November and hailed by their manager as his ‘greatest ever team’. Most pundits will point to Rooney’s recovery from injury, his developing relationship with Tevez and the rip-roaring form of a returned from suspension Ronaldo. All of which is true. Yet the single biggest factor is the impact of United’s new number 8 – one Anderson Luís de Abreu Oliveira.

 

He might only be 6 appearances into his United career and yet to score a goal in red, but the Brazilian is already exceeding the expectations that attached themselves to his £17m transfer from Porto this summer. Compact, agile and with a range of passing so accurate that most of his team-mates must enter the post-match showers with bright red marks on their chests, Anderson has defied early disappointments against Sunderland and Coventry to nail down a place in the first team ahead of Michael Carrick.

Yet perhaps the most pleasing aspect of Anderson’s first six games for the club has been his relish for the physical aspects of the game, a quality underlined with impressive appearances against Arsenal and Blackburn in successive weeks. United’s last Brazilian midfielder, Kleberson, seemed to shrink from the physicality of the English game, a reason he made little impression at Old Trafford. By contrast the new number 8 is as happy hurdling and swerving challenges as he is dishing them out.

Fabregas has been lauded by the press this season, but Anderson’s performance in first nullifying then overshadowing a player who, only the week before, had reduced Liverpool’s famed midfield to quivering wrecks, was an indicator of just how far the Brazilian can go. If the focus of the media dwelled on Anderson’s exagerated dive and his attempt to get the Arsenal fulcrum booked, most cognescenti understood that here was a midfielder with everything: pace, tactical nouse and an enviable range of passing. When he adds goals to his repetoire he’ll be the complete midfielder.

Anderson has been nicknamed the new Ronaldinho in some circles, while others have compared him to Edgar Davids. Neither comparison is fair. And, while comparisons with Keane may seem equally overblown, the arrival of Anderson and Hargreaves has given United more midfield options than at any stage since the treble winning quartet of Giggs-Scholes-Keane-Beckham (with Nicky Butt as first reserve) dominated world football at the turn of the century.

Yet it is the speed of Anderson’s play, his ability to counter-attack at double the speed of Scholes and Carrick, that has earned him a first team place. His ability to keep up with the speed merchants of Rooney,Tevez and Ronaldo in terms of both speed of thought as well as foot, is the basis of Fergie’s third great team and perhaps the old man’s crowning glory.

The development of United continues apace. Each outing seems to bring a new aspect to light – at the season’s start it was the solidity of the last line, (VDS, Rio and Vidic), then Rooney, Tevez and Ronaldo got it together going forward, now it seems the midfield is taking centre stage, mixing tenacity with vision while the full backs on both sides overlap with devastating consequences for the opposition.

No wonder the Scot has talked calmly of filling the one remaining hole in his CV with another European Cup. There are still weaknesses in his team – by common consent he needs to replace the permanently injured Neville and Saha, but all of a sudden Ferguson’s claims do not sound so ludicrous.