Something to prove

For the first time in his managerial career Jose Mourinho goes into a pre season campaign finding himself very much under pressure in his role as manager of Inter Milan. No longer is he renowned around the world as the next great young manager, but has found himself usurped by the inspirational leadership skills of Pep Guardiola at Barcelona.
Instead he is quickly gaining a reputation for building, dull methodical teams, who whilst winning trophies, don’t win any friends.
In fact since Mourinho went to Italy he has done his very best to make himself as unpopular as possible, clashing with fans, managers, players and the media. He won the league but came short in the Champions League. That is another blot on his copybook. Inter signed him to win the European Cup and the fact was they didn’t even come close. The only reason they continue to win Serie A year after year is due more to the failings of the other teams around them than anything done by Inter Milan.
Next year Inter need to continue to dominate Serie A and need to show some form of improvement in the Champions League, but what’s more they need to do it in a style that Mourinho has previously shown himself to be unaccustomed to.
If not Mourinho will find himself shipped out of Milan with his tail between his legs and looking for another job.
It is time the so called ‘Special One’ started to justify his own hype.