Jose Mourinho’s reputation on the line in Europa League final

Jose Mourinho is counting on winning the Europa League to prove his first season as Manchester United manager has been a success

Jose Mourinho’s first season as manager of Manchester United has been less than spectacular. While his old club Chelsea rebounded to win the title, the Red Devils are on course to finish sixth in the table.

United lost just five league matches all season. However, they led the league in draws with 14. While not losses, 14 draws is the equivalent of 28 dropped points. It appears that under Mourinho, United’s game plan is simply not to lose. In essence Mourinho went back to his “park the bus” strategy. There was very little flair to his side and watching United play was at times on par with watching paint dry.

As Manchester United continued to progress through the Europa League knock out rounds, Mourinho began to prioritize winning the trophy over finishing inside the top 4 of the Premier League. If his side defeat Ajax in Stockholm on May 24th the Red Devils will automatically qualify for next season’s Champions League competition regardless of their EPL position.

His strategies this season with United show just how hypocritical Mourinho is. He has completely contradicted statements he made in the past.

While managing Chelsea in 2013, Mourinho told the BBC, “I don’t want to win the Europa League. It would be a big disappointment for me. I don’t want my players to feel the Europa League is our competition.”

Apparently he feels differently now. He chose to rest a number of his first-team players in recent matches against Spurs and Arsenal. to save them for the Europa League final.

Mourinho says other top four sides would prefer to be in his team’s position

The United boss recently said that the other teams battling for a top four finish would rather be in Manchester United’s position challenging for a trophy.

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“I don’t know the way the other clubs think; I don’t know what is important for them,” Mourinho said. “At Manchester United, for us it’s more important to win titles than to finish in the top four.

That sounds like the words of someone making excuses for not finishing in the top four.

In another interview he was asked if it was fair to judge the season as a success only if United win the Europa League. He responded,

"We won a League Cup. We won a Community Shield. Until the injuries arrived, we fought for the Premier League top four. We had a fantastic record of 25 matches [unbeaten]. We did things in this club that nobody did in the first season. Like winning a trophy, like having the record of Manchester United in the Premier League, unbeatable. Like reaching a European final. But if I was on your side and you are always looking for these kind of capital letters, big headlines, I accept if you say that."

This last quote is laughable as most fans consider the Community Shield a glorified friendly and the League Cup is viewed as irrelevant. Mourinho is grasping for anything to feed his ego.

Next: Real Madrid change the price on Manchester United

Mourinho’s legacy of success has taken a hit over the past two years. We’ll see how Mourinho is spinning this story after the Europa League final on May 24th. Stay tuned.