Jose Mourinho has a record of being a winner, even at Man Utd he collected silverware including a European trophy but there is a feeling that he is no longer the manager he once was, that he has not evolved.
In some quarters, the jury is still out on whether he has “lost” his touch but one thing the so-called special one has not lost is his encyclopedia of excuses and in all fairness, he has been justified to some degree this season with the number of players he has lost due to injury.
But his tactics have been very questionable, his lack of ambition obvious, his reluctance to experiment a frustration and his habit of calling players out in public a strange strategy, to say the least.
There comes a point when the buck stops with the manager and I believe we are at that stage right now.
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Mourinho has almost a full squad to choose from now, his players are refreshed, he has had more than enough time to instil his vision and ideas into the players and he does not have to deal with a lack of confidence within the squad.
To some degree it is now a level playing field for most clubs and the deciding factor could come down to the quality of the manager.
Take the upcoming game against Man Utd, both teams are fairly balanced in terms of quality players and so the only really glaring difference is the quality of the manager and so an argument can be constructed that Mourinho should be getting the better of Solskjaer but I am not as confident as I should be that he will.
This is the time for Mourinho to justify his appointment, to show he still has it, that he alone can be the difference. If he does not then what is the point of him? He was hired to deliver trophies based on his previous record but if he cannot start producing results on a consistent basis when he has a fully fit squad at his disposal then maybe he is not the manager he thinks he is.