Why his third will be the new second season for Mourinho at Manchester United
There are three certainties in life: Death, taxes, and Mourinho winning the league in his second season at a club. At least there were.
Like every good old film, Mourinho's reign at a club has three stages
(i) The First year - The year where he introduces his protagonists, his on-field warriors, and leaders who he uses to get his message across to the team.The year does not bring much success but brings a semblance of stable outlook to the club with a clear vision and playing style and a manager the players believe in.
(ii) The Second year - The main plot of the story where the protagonists take the lead and get the message across to the other players and galvanise the squad as they blindly follow their manager's instructions and obliterate every opponent on their path to success. The league title usually follows, with his protagonists usually taking center-stage.
(iii) The Third year- The climax or anti-climax where the players become emotionally and physically drained of his methods and reach a breaking point when they start to revolt against him behind his back with the protagonists taking center-stage here too. Below par performances and controversies follow eventually leading to his sacking. He joins another club and the cycle continues
This has been the story of his career so far and so United fans could be forgiven for harboring dreams of league title no.21 this season as there are few things more certain in life than Mourinho winning the league in his second season at a club.
For the first time in his career, Mourinho has deviated from the script due to factors both external and internal as next set of slides explain and also why he is to replicate his second season syndrome in his third season at United