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MANCHESTER. — Jose Mourinho’s Manchester United revolution has already earned him the nickname Mr Meticulous at their hi-tech Aon Training Complex.
Just a week into his reign, manager Mourinho has made his mark at Carrington with a series of changes designed to wipe out almost all trace of former boss Louis van Gaal .
The most significant step among a raft of new measures implemented by Mourinho has been the removal of the training-pitch cameras deployed by Van Gaal to track his stars during sessions.
The cameras, used for analysis by Van Gaal and his coaching team, were disliked by the players who saw them as a spying device, an intrusion and another unnecessary display of the Dutchman’s obsession with players adhering to his philosophy.
Footage from the cameras would occasionally be used in team meetings, which players eventually found tedious and a turn-off.
Mourinho has ordered them taken away, insisting to staff that he doesn’t need cameras to tell him what his own eyes can see.
The move has been instantly popular with the players, who have welcomed the new direction Mourinho is taking the first-team squad.
United stars are already relieved the former Chelsea, Real Madrid, Inter Milan and Porto boss is less reliant on the classroom-style approach favoured by Van Gaal.
And Mourinho has told them he won’t be conducting the evaluation meetings Van Gaal staged the day after games to establish what players did right and wrong.
Mourinho does place huge emphasis on performance stats and data, but it’s believed he will be bringing only one analysis technician onto his back-room team.
His main way through to his key players is forming a bond with them, as he did with John Terry and Frank Lampard during the Chelsea heyday in the mid-2000s.
Squad members who returned to training last week have already noticed Mourinho is very much a players’ manager, with an intuitive approach rather than the teacher/pupil mode employed at times by Van Gaal.
A training ground source said: “The players have been bowled over by the manager already inside just a few days – the training ground feels alive again and there is a spring in everyone’s step.
“Michael Carrick is one of the senior players but he was saying he wished he was 25 again and facing a few years playing for Mourinho.
“The place is absolutely buzzing.
“The previous manager was very thorough in his planning and preparation and on the training ground but it all felt a little bit regimented.
“Some of the staff have already nicknamed Jose “Mr Meticulous” because of his attention to detail – but the mood feels a lot lighter, albeit super-professional.
“The players know Jose will be demanding, but they are excited. They want to be competing for the league title again.”
Mourinho is aware from his own visits to Old Trafford that the 75 635 capacity stadium can be an intimidating place, and not just for opposing teams.
That’s why he has told ground-staff he wants all new players joining United to be given a chance to play there before making their debut in front of a full house.
The Portuguese boss wants to organise full-scale behind-closed-doors practice matches so new arrivals can get a feel for the playing surface and the scale of the stadium.
But, after consultation with award-winning head groundsman Tony Sinclair, he is no longer pushing to have regular training sessions at Old Trafford, after initially deciding to implement them. — The Mirror.
Online Reporter