Jose’s title bid looks a tall order
The optimism of August appears misplaced
ILook at the burly man-mountains playing NFL, rugby union, and Gaelic games these days.
If you’re five foot nothing in your stocking feet don’t bother applying for a trial, son.
As a very limited junior footballer — decent left peg but lacking pace — I juddered against opponents hewn from girders, especially on a dirty winter’s Saturday in Tymon North.
In your head, right away, you were on the back foot, likely to come off second best in the air and even more likely to pull out of a 50-50 tackle.
Against a team of Lilliputians, there was always less fear and a greater chance of expressing yourself.
A similar thought may have struck the footballers of Huddersfield Town last Saturday when Manchester United rolled into West Yorkshire for the first time in N boxing, good big fighters don’t always beat good little fighters, but a physical edge usually comes in handy to land a knockout blow, especially in team sports. the league since the days of Charlton, Best and Law.
As United lined-up before kickoff, they were clearly missing height and muscle power. There was no Bailly, no Pogba, no Fellaini, no Carrick and no Ibrahimovic. Soon, there would be no Jones.
All of these players are not just men, they are giants.
Instead, the visitors leaned on their lightweights — Mata, Lingard, Herrera, Martial and Mkhitaryan, none of whom stood tall, in any sense.
On an afternoon of slate grey skies, wind and driving rain, they needed players to stand up and be counted; instead they went into hiding.
I suspect things would have been different if Jose Mourinho had his preferred battalion of NBA players to lean on as the game was calling out for Fellaini’s bushy head and flying elbows in the opposition box.
Instead, United collapsed like a cheap suit, prompting an exasperated Mourinho to observe his players treated the game like a friendly.
As someone who is paid millions to get everyone in the right frame of mind for competition, the looseness of United was as much the manager’s fault as his players.
Either way, losing to Huddersfield was a shocking result for United.
After parking the bus at Anfield a week earlier, and affording Liverpool more respect than they merited, United stayed on the bus at John Smith’s Stadium and got nothing.
That Mourinho was spared further scrutiny was due, in considerable part, to Sunday’s mauling of Merseyside’s finest and the sacking of Ronald Koeman by Everton on Monday.
It allowed Jose to keep his handsome head under the parapet and prepare for a League Cup tie at Swansea last night. The Red Devils won this bauble last year, which earned Mourinho brownie points, but it’s irrelevant to 2017-18 as he seeks to build a title charge for a club starved of a league triumph since 2013 – it’s their longest gap since the Premier League began. When United broke from the traps in August with a clatter of goals there was giddy talk that Mourinho had it cracked. Such optimism appears misplaced. Five of United’s six wins have come against the Premier League’s punch bags — Leicester (14th), Swansea (15th), West Ham (16th), Everton (18th) and Crystal Palace (20th). They’ve also drawn at Stoke (17th). They’ve yet to play a team in the top eight of the table, but do so on Saturday against inform Spurs at Old Trafford, followed by Chelsea away. These are two huge tests for Mourinho, a chance to convince the doubters that the men from Old Trafford are not only a better team than last season, but are credible title contenders.
One point out of six is hardly a speed wobble but if United were to pick up just two or three from 12, and Manchester City were to pull away at the top, Mourinho would come under fire, which he hates.
United have been the team of the Premier League, with 13 titles since 1992 and Mourinho is desperate to deliver a 14th and join Matt Busby and Alex Ferguson as United managerial legends.
For most of the past 25 years, United have lorded the middle of the ring, swatting away all-comers.
Now and then, Arsenal, Chelsea and City have pegged them on the chin, but it is invariably Manchester United to whom opponents look up to most. They have set the standard.
With the nights closing in and Arsenal and City to play back to back in early December, Mourinho needs his big players, his lock forwards, his tight ends, out on the battlefield.
Even then, will it be enough?