Speaking of defense, here Mourinho has amassed a collection of very poor footballers. Smalling's technical ability on the ball is so, so poor. The amount of times the ball comes to him when he has time to take it down and recycle it, and ends up clearing it first time away, basically gifting possession away very cheaply.
Also, Smalling has no brain. The clearest demonstration of this is when he's trying to drive forward carrying the ball into midfield galloping forward like a majestic stallion, only to remember he's not one, then panic. You can see the "oh shit" in his eyes as the space he's in starts to close like a net and he either starts losing control of the ball and slides in to knick it away to someone else or turns back and runs backwards just as fast as he came forward. Pure comedy.
Then you have Phil Jones who could be a magnificent footballer, such is his tremendous potential. Just in the NFL though, not in FIFA. Bailly is new to league, and there's not a lot to judge. What's evident though is that he is so weak in the air. He jumps like a turtle - afraid of the ball and trying to avoid contact with it at all costs. Rojo is decent as a FB, but he is a liability with his rash challenges. In another universe he'd have 4-5 reds by now. Valencia is a midfielder-cum-defender, so I won't criticize him so much on line positioning and marking and basic defending skills. I've never such a one-footed player though. Blind seems like a smart player without the physical attributes to make it in the PL. Shaw, what happened to him? He looks fat for an athlete, and he's probably offski in the summer.
DDG is also offski this summer. Real Madrid will not tolerate another season of Keilor Navas who seems to commit a blunder every other game. David wants to go home. Think this is already agreed.
Upfront you've got Rooneh! What a pig, making 300k a week for over 3 years and contributing fckall. I remember English pundits saying 10 years ago he was better than C Ronaldo, HAHA. Martial, great talent that left a good environment perhaps too early. Mkhitaryan and Mata are the only decent attackers in that team and I'm not even sure Mata is a Mourinho player. Thus everything rests on the shoulders of 35-yr old who's probably seen enough and is pining for the simple life in the Los Angeles sun...
So prepare for another summer of blockbuster transfer deals coming to a theater near you...
