Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola believes recently-sacked Jose Mourinho will be back in football sooner rather than later.
Mourinho, 55, was dismissed from his role as Manchester United manager on Tuesday after overseeing the club’s worst league start since 1990.
What went wrong for Jose? Five things to know…
- Man Utd currently sit sixth in the Premier League, 19 points adrift the summit, and 11 off a top four position.
- The club have looked lacklustre and cumbersome this term, currently on a goal difference of zero.
- Marquee asset Paul Pogba has not started in three league matches and fell out of favour with Mourinho.
- The pair had an abrasive relationship, with Mourinho stripping him of the vice-captaincy and confronting him in training earlier this season.
- After a 3-1 defeat against Liverpool on Sunday, Mourinho was sacked, but Guardiola insists he will return to management shortly.
Mourinho had been in situ as long as Guardiola but was unable seriously threaten the Catalan’s recent dominance in English football, and the City boss was not afraid to express sympathy towards his former rival.
“When it happens I am sad for the managers,” Guardiola told Sky Sports. “When the situation is not good, we are alone. I am close with all of them. In football it happens, but when the results are not good you can be sacked.
“Of course he doesn’t need me, he is so strong. I wish him all the best and soon he is going to come back.”
Guardiola was speaking after masterminding a Football League quarter-final victory over Leicester City on Tuesday night, with his side winning on penalties at the King Power Stadium after the match ended in a 1-1 draw.
The 47-year-old was forced to make wholesale changes with a congested Christmas schedule coming up, but he praised his side’s ability to get the job done regardless.
“It was tough game,” Guardiola added. “It is always difficult here. We played with Kevin and Sergio (Aguero), who cannot play 90 minutes, and then a player who is 17-years-old (Eric Garcia).
“We make a good performance. Of course we had the chances to close out the game and in the end it was the same as last season.”
City drew Burton Albion in the Football League semi-final, while Chelsea will lock horns with Spurs in the corresponding fixture.
What can United fans expect from Solskjaer?
A day after Mourinho’s dismissal the club hierarchy wasted no time in appointing his short-term successor with Ole Gunnar Solskjaer taking on an interim role until the end of the season.
The former striker has been joined by Sir Alex Ferguson’s old No. 2 Mike Phelan in the dugout, with the pair looking to stabilise the ship after a tumultuous start.
This will be the Norwegian’s second managerial fling on English soil after he previously failed to keep Cardiff City in the Premier League in 2014.
Since then he has managed Molde in his homeland for three years, receiving praise for his attacking approach, which was perhaps, coupled with his United reputation, the main reason for his appointment.
However, Solskjaer does not have the best defensive record, but this is perhaps where Phelan will step in. A 4-3-3 formation appears his preferred choice of system, and it could be key in getting the best out of Pogba.
United face Solskjaer’s former club Cardiff in the Welsh capital on Saturday.
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