NEWS
A selection of FirstTouch's best football writing, brought to you by emerging journalists, collaborators, and fans.
Coin Toss: Will Manchester United sack Mourinho to get Zidane?
Manchester United have secured just two wins in the first four matches and the media reports have not been tight lipped on the supposed rift between manager Jose Mourinho and world cup winner Pogba. With the serial Champions League winner, Zidane currently jobless, will he eventually be called up for the United job if Mourinho is showed the door?
So far this season, Manchester United have accumulated only 3 points in 3 matches which is one of their slowest starts to the season since 1992. The Red Devils are at rock bottom that they were at 26 years ago, at least according to their standards.
Manager Jose Mourinho consoles Andreas Pereira #15 of Manchester United after the team lost to Liverpool during the International Champions Cup 2018 at Michigan Stadium on July 28, 2018 in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Liverpool defeated Manchester United 4-1.
(July 27, 2018 - Source: Jason Miller/Getty Images North America)
This review has led to news that Jose Mourinho may not secure his position as the Red Devils coach for a very long time. Even before we are quick to discard Jose, let us take a brief look at what he had done as a manager. He has amassed a total of 25 cups since the inception of his career in 2003. These include 8 league titles, 13 domestic cups, 2 UEFA Champions League trophies and 2 Uefa Europa League titles. In spite of all these accolades on this manager, his journey with United has not been the smoothest. He has not won any leagues at the red-half of Manchester and he has been recently caught up in a supposed rift with the world cup winner, Paul Pogba. On that, Joleon Lescott a former English professional player was quoted saying, “Man Utd need Paul Pogba more than they need Jose Mourinho, it's sad to say.” He continued to say that the 55 year old has not evolved enough to retain his relevance with young players. All these have raised the stakes for Mourinho’s possible replacement at Man United. It has increased the rumour about former Real Madrid manager, Zinedine Zidane’s possibility to succeed the Portuguese. Let’s evaluate the feasibility of these claims.
Zidane has an amazing track record that can lure a team like Man United that desperately needs to take its place at the top. He has won the Champions’ League with Madrid for 3 times in a row. From April 2016 to April 2017, the club went for 40 games without any taste of a loss. This is definitely an incredible record for any coach. It can be argued that all these Real Madrid wins cannot be accredited to Zidane because any coach can pull that when they have great players like Ronaldo in their team. However, we cannot forget that no one man can win a game on his own. It calls for a great coach to ensure that even a Ronaldo is performing at his best and in perfect sync with other players. Let us also not forget the amount of motivation that a coach needs to give for a team to win. If Zidane was able to pull that off, then definitely, he is an amazing coach that Man U is most likely going to fish.
“Zidane may not be the only coach who is most likely to be seen at the Red Devils, should they choose to part ways with the Special One, but he is currently the one at the top of the list. He seems to be the most needed refresher for the team.”
Manchester City fans hold up signs supporting their manager prior to the Premier League match between Manchester City and Manchester United at Etihad Stadium on April 7, 2018 in Manchester, England.
(April 6, 2018 - Source: Michael Regan/Getty Images Europe)
Secondly, he is younger than Mourinho. He might only be 9 years younger that Mourinho but that’s about 3200 days and that difference could be the differentiator when it comes to how best a coach is able to communicate with his players. As Joleon Lescott alluded to the fact that it is important for a coach to evolve to be more suited for younger players, it is evident that a younger coach might not even need to evolve as he is more likely to be at the same level as his players.
To top it all, Zidane admitted that he wants to go back to coaching. He has declared his undying love for football and said it’s the only thing that he has done all his life and does not want to let let go off. Knowing that the person you want also wants to be in the game could be a huge motivation for United. Half of the conviction has already been done by Zidane himself.
Zidane may not be the only coach who is most likely to be seen at the Red Devils, should they choose to part ways with the Special One, but he is currently the one at the top of the list. He seems to be the most needed refresher for the team.