Reborn Fellaini stands tallest in Jose’s land of the giants
Mourinho’s trusted ethos of favouring big men getting United back on track
THIS was the kind of game of which Jose Mourinho’s dreams are made. A backs-to-the-wall, all-hands-to-the-defensive-pump scrap of a win in which the manager’s highlight was his centre-forward dashing back to deliver a slide tackle and Marouane Fellaini was man of the match. No wonder he was smiling afterwards.
This was a very different Manchester United side from the one that surrendered meekly at Brighton a month ago.
Despite turning out in an insipid, washed-out pink change strip against a hitherto all-conquering Watford, they were full of spirit, togetherness, application. And scale.
As Watford manager Javi Gracia pointed out: “They have a lot of players (who are) very, very tall. They have a lot of players – not only Fellaini – who are one metre 90, 92, 93 (6ft 2in-6ft 4in). It’s not easy when you have players who are one metre 80 (5ft 10in).”
The truth is Mourinho’s reversion to his trusted methodology of favouring the big lads has put United back on track.
At the heart of his commitment to size is Fellaini, brought in after those early-season stumbles to replace new signing Fred.
Despite costing £52m, at only 5ft 5in the Brazilian is struggling to find a place in Mourinho’s land of the giants.
Frequently derided by some fans since he was bought by David Moyes five seasons ago as the epitome of everything a United player should not be, Fellaini is emerging as a critical tactical pivot.
Mourinho described him as “the first wall of physicality”, sitting deep in midfield and providing protection to the porous centre of the defence.
That role was obvious from the first skirmishes at Vicarage Road on Saturday, when the busy Troy Deeney grabbed Victor Lindelof by the collar.
The next high ball the Watford captain contested, he found himself not battling with a quivering Swede but staring up at the improbable elevation of Fellaini, who comfortably headed the ball away.
But there is more to the big man than simply forming a luxuriously coiffured barrier. He was involved in both United goals, unleashing his awkwardness profitably in the Watford box during set-pieces.
The enthusiasm with which Mourinho greeted United’s second goal, scored with a smart swivel by Chris Smalling after Fellaini had won the first ball, suggested it was a move mapped out on the training ground.
“We had been working a little bit on set-plays,” said Smalling. “When we play a team like we did today, we have a lot of height and we do not always threaten enough at set-plays. We caused them a few problems.”
Those headers notwithstanding, it was perhaps the simplicity and calmness of Fellaini’s passing that was his most significant contribution to this victory.
By not surrendering possession and delivering the ball so efficiently, he gave Nemanja Matic and Paul Pogba time to control the tempo of the game.
For much of the first half, Abdou-
laye Doucoure and Etienne Capoue, whose excellence has been critical to Watford’s flying start, were reduced to observers.
But for a couple of smart saves by Ben Foster from Pogba, United could have gone into the break four up.
That Watford recovered so well in the second half is testament to Gracia’s tactical astuteness and the belief running through his team.
Driven by Doucoure, they pushed United further and further on to their heels. After Andre Gray had brought them back into the game with a fine finish from Doucoure’s switch-back, it was only David de Gea’s acrobatic excellence in the last few moments that preserved
United’s lead.
Not for the first time the man described by Foster as “the Lionel Messi of goalkeeping” was responsible for preserving three points.
Thus United head into the Champions League in far better fettle than their early-season missteps suggested they might.
It may not be pretty, it may not conform to the club’s self-image, but while Liverpool and Manchester City espouse pace and passing, Mourinho’s commitment to the old-school approach of trusting the big lad, at least for now, seems to be working. (© Daily Telegraph, London)