United can’t go on attack as Jose is unable to let old ways go
WITHIN Old Trafford, they’d already noticed a wild swing in Jose Mourinho’s demeanour and outlook.
There was no humour about denying City the party they wanted. There was no joking about their confirmation as the best team coming in the worst way. Mourinho has bigger concerns, and it could lead to big problems for some of United’s players.
The talk is that the Portuguese has had it with many of them, and very few are safe in the summer. Mourinho would be willing to consider the sale of pretty much any player bar David de Gea, Alexis Sanchez, Romelu Lukaku, Nemanja Matic, Jesse Lingard, Ashley Young and Juan Mata.
United sources are keen to point out that such swings have been a trend of Mourinho’s time so far, and that his moods have been influenced by the most recent big results. That has led to transfer plans drastically changing from month to month and it is possible that victory over Tottenham in the FA Cup semi-final at the weekend could cause another reversion.
This week’s swing stood out all the more because it was in-keeping with more intense extremes.
United went from the joyously rousing performance against City to the dismally flat display against West Brom. They went from heroically denying Pep Guardiola’s side the title to so meekly handing it to them.
And they went from looking so exciting against City to so exceedingly dull and lifeless.
The deeper question is thereby not who Mourinho will buy or sell, but how they can so readily go through such extremes. How could they so quickly lose any verve from the City match?
It is impossible not to think that much of the searing second half of that 3-2 win was circumstantial, as has been the case with all of United’s statement performances. While it was Mourinho’s pride stung before the Chelsea and Liverpool wins, it was the players’ pride stung at half-time of the City game.
This is by no means to say that Mourinho had little effect, since the players did directly respond to his half-time words, and that did show that he has a hold over the team. There is currently no issue with his “psychological” or “emotional” management.
There still may be a big issue with his management of the side’s attacking though, something that has now gone beyond a fear before he got the job to a fully-fledged problem.
Those who have worked with the Portuguese and know him well say he still is a “defensive genius”. The organisation there remains supreme.
The organisation beyond that area is not supreme, though, and this abstract talk about the lack of modern co-ordination has a concrete effect. It is also deeply linked to that defensive outlook.
Fundamentally, the requirements of a Mourinho backline mean that full-backs aren’t really allowed to attack, in a way that has become standard. This wouldn’t be a problem if the Portuguese played with proper wide men, but United don’t do that.
The effect of this can be seen in a frustrating pattern of play that is itself seen far too often when United play. It is when Antonio Valencia has the ball in a promising position in the opposition half.
Because of the way that United are set up, and because of that key lack of drilled attacking co-ordination, there is very little movement in front of Valencia. There certainly isn’t the “red arrows” co-ordination that Arsene Wenger’s best Arsenal sides used to such effect, unless it’s one of those days when United are properly revved up and it all seems to come off instinctively.
When that isn’t the case, Valencia is forced to go outside. He will then try to drill a cross that is blocked, and the move will usually break down.
That isn’t such a problem if you have proper creators in the middle, and United do have that. The issue is that Mourinho doesn’t have the patience to indulge them. With players like that, there has to be a certain risk in the sense of allowing them to keep trying things, but it doesn’t seem like it’s in the Portuguese’s nature to allow that.
Either they do it relentlessly, or they’re hooked, and dropped.
At United alone, this has happened with Mata, Anthony Martial, Henrikh Mkhitaryan… and now with Paul Pogba.
The Pogba situation is all the more interesting because of what it represents. Some who have worked with Mourinho say he primarily sees central midfielders as strong players to set up a beachhead, mainly there for tackles and aerial dominance.
There is however a feeling that Pogba was signed because Mourinho was conscious of this, and wanted to break out of it. He wanted to evolve his midfield idea… but then can’t truly let himself go and reverts to type.
Others around the Portuguese and the club argue that things would be different if he had two or three key players he requires. A stronger defence would allow them to push up higher and with more confidence, a midfield passer like a peak Michael Carrick — or a current Toni Kroos — would allow more fluidity, and a winger like Ivan Perisic would have allowed that play out wide that they require.
Mourinho right now wants two central midfielders and another attacker, but that could drastically change again depending on how the season ends.
That will be dependent on the semi-final, and who knows what that will bring. It would be in-keeping with the nature of the season to see another swing.
The underlying reasons for it, however, won’t change. ANDY Carroll climbed off the treatment table to score a last-minute equaliser and deny Stoke a precious win in their battle for Premier League survival.
The striker, out injured since the turn of the year, was sent on as a last throw of the dice by David Moyes with West Ham trailing to Peter Crouch’s goal.
And within three minutes, Carroll fired home from the edge of the area to snatch a 1-1 draw which edged the Hammers closer to safety and left Stoke in serious trouble.
England boss Gareth Southgate was in attendance to witness two Three Lions strikers of old take centre stage.
Referee Michael Oliver was busy shortly after the break as West Ham twice had the ball in the back of the net only to see both goals disallowed.
First, Marko Arnautovic converted Aaron Cresswell’s cross with a deft header but he had strayed marginally offside.
Then a low Edimilson Fernandes drive flew past Jack Butland but Arnautovic, this time clearly offside, was in the keeper’s way.
Butland made another decent save to palm away Cresswell’s long-range effort, but when Joe Hart was called into action from similar distance he failed.
The Manchester City loanee fumbled Xherdan Shaqiri’s shot and was too slow to react, allowing Crouch to stab the ball home.
But enter Carroll, and in the final minute the big frontman stroked home a crisp first-time shot after the ball was played into his feet by Cresswell.
Crouch said: “We had five minutes left (when Carroll scored) and it would have been a vital win for us, but coming here and getting the draw is still a good result.”
West Ham ace Carroll reflected on the last-gasp handball that put paid to a potential winner from Javier Hernandez.
He said: “I tried to bring it down and it did hit my hand but it was because of a shove which might even have been a penalty.”