Mourinho the wrong man for Man United, says Paul Parker
Our analyst tells Gary Lim that United will be wrong to replace LVG with the not-so Special One
CHELSEA v MAN UNITED
(Tomorrow, 11.59pm, Singtel TV Ch 102)
1. There has been speculation that Jose Mourinho may replace Louis van Gaal as United manager in the summer. Do you think he's the right man for the Red Devils?
PARKER: Not in a million years. That will be like jumping from a frying pan into the fire.
The football at Man United is going to deteriorate.
They will have someone at the touchline jumping up and down when things don't go his way.
He will berate teams, managers, players and officials.
Man United need a manager with personality and stature but, more importantly, they need a good manager who is a good front person, not someone who is not tolerated by anybody.
Yes, Mourinho has won titles and trophies, but people didn't talk about Chelsea winning titles.
People didn't talk about his teams because they bored people.
They were interested in only Mourinho, the manager who won them league titles.
When it comes to Man United, people talk about the teams who won the league titles and the individual players who brought the club glory.
Everywhere Mourinho has gone, he advocates the same brand of football.
He spent most of his time at Chelsea slagging off Man United.
All of a sudden now, if he is going to be Man United boss, that will be really going backwards.
2. Wayne Rooney has scored five goals in his last five league matches. Is he back to his best?
If we are talking about scoring goals, then he has done well recently.
If we are talking about general performance, he hasn't been very good.
He's still looking sluggish, he's not sharp on the turn and not getting behind defences.
We should judge him when Man United come up against stronger opposition.
Chelsea are strong opponents with a strong midfield and a potent frontline now.
3. Do you see a big difference between the styles of the two Dutch managers - van Gaal and Guus Hiddink?
Man United are still playing the same possession-based football.
Chelsea haven't changed too.
They pretty much play the same way as they did under Mourinho.
They are compact, reactive and try to hit opponents on the break.
It's the mentality of the Chelsea players that has changed, that's why they are getting the results now.
Hiddink got the players to enjoy their football again, and that's why we are seeing an improvement from them.
If Man United go 1-0 down, a lot of people are going to turn their television sets off and say that there is going to be only one possible winner.
4. Can United's defence handle the antagonistic Diego Costa?
Man United will probably count on Chris Smalling to deal with him.
It depends on how Smalling is going to approach this match.
If he decides to match him fist-to-fist, he's not going to win.
Costa is always going to win a battle of street fighting.
What you do as a defender is not to go near him, or have any contact with him.
You nick the ball off his toes, you let him know you are there, but you kind of drop off.
Just drop away and don't let him have the opportunity to swing his arms or grab hold of you.
That's what you do against players like him.
That was what I did for many years against Mark Hughes, because I was never going to win those battles.
5. Does it surprise you that Gary Cahill is struggling to get playing time at Chelsea?
I don't understand why.
He is a quick defender who covers for John Terry's weaknesses well.
Hiddink is caught up in his obsession with Kurt Zouma.
To be honest, it takes Zouma half an hour to run around a corner because his agility isn't that good.
When it comes to positional sense and having the ball at his feet, he is a liability.
Cahill is a better player than Zouma.
6. Do United still have it in them to charge back into the top four?
They have always got the ability to get back up there.
They have individuals who can get them out of trouble.
But we should not fall into the trap of talking about a turnaround for Man United just because they won a couple of games.
Yes, they beat Derby County and Stoke City and scored three goals against them respectively but, if this were the Man United of yesteryear, we wouldn't even be talking about it because these were games to be won.
Chelsea will be the benchmark game for them.
The Blues' defence is resilient and they have been doing well in the big games.
7. Who will come out on top?
I'm going for a score draw. One point is the best United are going to get out of this game.
Paul Parker is an ex-England and Man United defender who won two EPL titles and earned 19 caps for his country. He is now a football pundit with FOX Sports.
BY THE NUMBERS
40: Man United's tally of 40 points after 24 EPL games is their joint-lowest at this stage, tying their previous lowest during the 2013-14 season.
OTHER MATCHES
TODAY
8.45pm: Man City v Leicester
11pm: Aston Villa v Norwich
11pm: Liverpool v Sunderland
11pm: Newcastle v West Brom
11pm: Stoke City v Everton
11pm: Swansea v Crystal Palace
11pm: Tottenham v Watford
TOMORROW
1.30am: Southampton v West Ham
9.30pm: Bournemouth v Arsenal
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