Is Mourinho’s third season syndrome striking again at Man United?

Paul Pogba issue brings things into focus

Arsenal legend Martin Keown has accused Manchester United manager Jose Mourinho of being “at war with his players” following the club’s defeat to Derby County in the Carabao Cup.

The Red Devils were knocked out by the Championship club to extend their Old Trafford winless run to three matches. Rumours later swirled of a fall-out between Mourinho and Paul Pogba.

Can the Portuguese coach stop the inevitable in his third season with the club? If he can’t, then what next for the so-called Special One? The Coral News Team investigates.

Third season syndrome

Only once has Mourinho extended his stay at a club into the fourth season. Stints at Porto, Real Madrid and his second term at Chelsea have all ended either during or at the end of his third season. Such a pattern is not a coincidence. The 55-year-old’s fractious nature doesn’t always sit well with his players long-term.

His reactionary methods and approach produces results in the short-term with the right balance of characters. However, modern footballers aren’t quite as easy to mould and manipulate and techniques of subversion begin to fail.

If Mourinho cannot successfully “create storms to protect” his side, as Frank Lampard once claimed, the whole project is in danger of falling apart.

The Pogba issue

Plenty have fallen out with Mourinho over the years. Ricardo Carvalho, Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Karim Benzema all have stories to tell about the divisive manager. All responded to his techniques.

Yet Eden Hazard didn’t at Chelsea. And the same is happening with Paul Pogba at Manchester United. The £89m man has been stripped of the vice-captaincy and appeared to be at the centre of a public disagreement with the manager in training this week. It’s the latest in a long line of public quarrels between the two.