Man United face daunting Arsenal
MANCHESTER: Jose Mourinho needs to lift Manchester United’s morale quickly as a deflating run of performances threatens to throw their season off track completely but he faces a daunting task against a revitalised Arsenal.
Mourinho’s team have not looked themselves at Old Trafford for much of the season, with their past two matches producing an insipid goalless draw against Crystal Palace and an unconvincing late Champions League victory over Swiss side Young Boys.
On their travels, they had looked as if they were getting back to form as October turned to November, with the side producing fine displays in drawing at Chelsea and beating Juventus.
Yet perhaps those performances were just papering over the cracks. United recovered from a two-goal deficit to draw at Southampton on Saturday and Romelu Lukaku scored his first club goal since September 15 but there was much to be alarmed about.
Mourinho claimed his players, with the exception of Marcus Rashford, were meek, lacking the spirit of what he called “mad dogs”.
According to Duncan Castles, a British journalist with close links to Mourinho’s agent Jorge Mendes, the United manager compared midfielder Paul Pogba to “a virus” after another poor performance at Southampton, saying the France international lacked respect for both his teammates and fans.
DRESSING ROOM NOT A HAPPY PLACE
United’s dressing room gives little indication of being a happy place ahead of Arsenal’s visit to Old Trafford on Wednesday.
To prove the point, forward Juan Mata effectively declined to publish his regular Monday internet column this week, instead posting a short message that began: “Unfortunately, I feel as though it isn’t the time for posts.”
In other matches on Wednesday Chelsea will be up against Wolverhampton and Leicester City will face Fulham. Liverpool will take on Burnley FC and Tottenham will meet Southampton. Everton will face Newcastle.