Almost three years to the day since he was dismissed from Chelsea, Jose Mourinho has now been sacked as Manchester United manager after months of speculation that his time at Old Trafford was up.
We’ve compared his record to those of the other managers at one of the Premier League’s ‘big six’ since he took charge of the Red Devils to break down where it all went wrong.
A lack of hot streaks
Building momentum is important for any side chasing Champions League football, but the data reveals that United rarely built up a head of steam under Mourinho. During his time at Old Trafford, his side only managed to chain together three successive wins on 15 occasions, compared to the whopping 41 managed by his long-time rival Pep Guardiola. In the same period, there were 10 occasions where the Portuguese endured a three-match winless spell, which is the same number that Jurgen Klopp and Mauricio Pochettino have racked up between them.
Poor overall performances
Mourinho is also alone among these six bosses in winning less than two points per game since the start of the 2016/17 season, with United only registering an average of 1.89 points per Premier League outing. A win percentage of just 54% is also difficult to justify when three of his erstwhile rivals – Guardiola, Unai Emery and Maurizio Sarri – have won at least 70% of their league matches in the same time-frame.
A quiet attack
While Mourinho could at least point to a slight improvement in United’s fortunes compared to their previous two managers in terms of both win percentage and points won per match, their lack of attacking verve during his reign has made it difficult to keep supporters onside. The average of 1.62 goals scored per game in the top flight is actually lower than the 1.65 recorded by David Moyes during his ill-fated season in charge.
A loss of dominance
United’s modest record against promoted sides – usually the prime candidates for a morale-boosting thrashing – has also hinted at his limitations. Again he has lagged behind the other five managers with a return of fewer than two points per game while the next worst is the average of 2.43 that Liverpool have achieved under Klopp. Here both Moyes and Louis van Gaal fared better, with both topping two points per match when facing opponents fresh from the Championship.
:: Check out the leading contenders to replace Mourinho in our Man Utd next manager odds.
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