Jose Mourinho is a risk for Manchester United..but Louis van Gaal is a greater one

Louis van Gaal has given Manchester United little choice.

Appointing Jose Mourinho might be their best option, but that doesn’t make it a good decision. He should have been appointed when Alex Ferguson left, but now it seems a far bigger risk. It’s indicative of how difficult things are for both United and Mourinho that there should be serious reservations about him being given the job.

Just look at Chelsea. It is just one game where there has been a marked improvement, and it is difficult to read too much into the change. Chelsea have beaten poor sides (and Arsenal) already this season, but they have looked thoroughly miserable throughout. That wasn’t the case on Saturday, when they were more relaxed, including Pedro, who had struggled with his new side. It can’t be denied that there was a sense of relief around the players, even if that is more a projection at the moment, rather than reality.

But there’s probably truth in it. The rumours persist that Cesc Fabregas was an unhelpful presence for at least his second season at Chelsea. The same can be said for John Terry and Diego Costa, for Oscar and Eden Hazard, for Branislav Ivanovic and every player except the consistently excellent Willian. In midweek, after Mourinho had been removed by Roman Abramovich, Michael Emenalo explained the decision, in part, by talking of palpable discord in the Chelsea dressing room. On the last day of training, there was a scuffle between Fabregas and a younger player - not breaking point, just another symptom.

It is not the only time that Mourinho has left an unhappy dressing room. The first exit from Chelsea saw murmurings of senior players wielding the knife behind his back. At Real Madrid, Diego Torres’ increasingly convincing book on his time at Real Madrid paints a picture of a paranoid man who moulded his side into a combustibly effective squad that bloodied Barcelona until they’d bloodied themselves more.

Mourinho still has unkind words for Iker Casillas, and criticised him again after the last match against Porto. He also still has unkind words for Manuel Pellegrini, Arsene Wenger, and has a track record of criticising plenty of players and peers. It’s just about acceptable if kept with a joking edge, rather than a malevolent one. The disagreement with Eva Carneiro suggests he can no longer be relied upon to judge where the line is. Looking at how he criticised his players last weekend, it’s reasonable to suggest he can’t do it with his players anymore, either. They had grown tired of him, regardless of their own faults as Chelsea fell apart.

So, a disgruntled squad, a team that’s not winning. Things that United fans are all familiar with under Louis van Gaal. The performances, from Wolfsburg, to Bournemouth, to Norwich City, have all had something in common. Dissent from players has been leaked to the press, with increasing severity and despair, and the commitment on the pitch has notably faded. Against Norwich, the terrible display was the kind that suggested players were trying to get their manager sacked. Amongst United fans, there were possibly a record amount of comments suggesting they actively wanted their side to lose.

They might have wanted Van Gaal gone in the last two weeks, but they still wanted him to turn it around if possible. Now they honestly don’t see it happening, and wish for Van Gaal and the club to be put out of their mutual miseries.

To that end, it seems like the club now know they must change. Van Gaal was touchingly upset and frank in one comment after the match, correcting himself to say that he perhaps ‘is’ not a great manager, but ‘was’. As belligerent as he has been, it’s never pleasant to see a man lose faith in himself, and he has talked with vulnerability for the first time. He probably knows that the odds are distinctly against him, particularly as Mourinho has already, reportedly, been in touch with United to remind them of his existence.

What has done for Van Gaal with the crowd, and the players, has been his intractability, his conservatism, and his willingness to fight his corner. It’s worth now looking at Mourinho’s qualities of intractability, prominent aversion to free-flowing football, and his willingness to fight his corner, and then fight some more people. Add to that his obvious mistrust to indulge young players, and there are credible reservations.

Those reservations probably should be listened to in most other circumstances. But this is close to desperate. Champions League football is at risk as Liverpool have Jurgen Klopp, Spurs are in fourth, finally, Leicester are on a ridiculous streak and Arsenal might belatedly have got it right. Mourinho might be someone who ultimately leaves United in disarray, but everywhere he has gone he has given two seasons of solid performances before the disarray sets in. It is a gamble that the chaos he almost inevitably will bequeath United is worth the intervening improvement.

But it is less of a risk than giving the untested Ryan Giggs, or the tested and failed Van Gaal, the chance to take United into 2016.