Limp end to a limp season for trophy hunter Mourinho
Britain’s best columnist from Wembley
IT was typical Jose, making sure he gave himself fulsome praise while claiming the rest of the world does not.
“Maybe when I win one more trophy than 25, I have a little bit of credit,” he said, back in November.
One more trophy than 25 will have to wait. A little bit of credit will have to wait.
Never mind the second-placed Premier League finish and the decent points total, this Wembley loss was the full stop to an uninspiring season.
Manchester United had a couple of good opportunities to extend the final into extra-time but, in truth, this was a reverse that typified their campaign’s work.
For too long they were cautious and uncommitted to adventure, certainly in the first half.
In the second half, Mourinho, generally becalmed early, became more and more agitated.
We know what any trophy means to him, and he knew what this trophy would have meant to United’s season.
In a show of open-necked defiance, Mourinho had shunned the traditional managerial garb for Wembley.
Or maybe when you have been to as many finals as Jose, dressing up for the occasion loses a little appeal.
There was never likely to be anything casual about his preparation and approach, though.
But one of the issues Mourinho has grappled with – and will continue to grapple with – is finding a first-choice central-defensive pairing.
He again settled for Phil Jones and Chris Smalling, one fortunate to be going to Russia, the other given the summer off.
Considering the shallowness of the pool Gareth Southgate is fishing in, Smalling can take that as a minor insult.
And even if Southgate deploys three centre-halves, my guess is Jones does not figure.
After this display, he will have some convincing to do, that is for sure.
The reason why Jones always appears to be defending on the edge is that he repeatedly gets himself into poor positions.
Ander Herrera must have taken a fag break when Eden Hazard darted on to a Cesc Fabregas pass, but it was Jones who was horribly exposed and his attempts to atone were amateurish to say the least.
Jones was not sent off because referee Michael Oliver deemed it a genuine attempt to play the ball. It might have been genuine but it was always doomed to punishment from 12 yards. The real talking point should have been why Mourinho seems to have a downer on Eric Bailly, who has rarely given anything other than the impression that he is the best centre-half at the club. Mourinho’s favouritism goes in phases that must confuse players now and again. One minute, well in January, Mourinho says he cannot see many better left-backs than Luke Shaw. The next, Shaw cannot get near the squad. Others must get a little flummoxed on a game-by-game basis, Marcus Rashford being one of those. He should be one of the world’s most exciting young players – he probably is one of the world’s most exciting young players.
But he did not start successive Premier League games in the last six months of the season.
It was hardly surprising he looked shorn of confidence and decisiveness.
One second-half snapshot was the sum of his contribution until he missed a decent equalising chance and was duly hooked.
Rashford turns 21 this year but his game is not maturing in the way it should be.
It might not do under Mourinho.
Yet the irony is that he is the type of player that could alter the perception of Mourinho, perform with the sort of adventure his teams miss.
As Rashford was replaced, Mourinho offered a handshake that was not ignored but was hardly met with vigour.
It was almost symbolic. They might have finished only behind Manchester City, but it was a limp end to a limp season.
And the credit Jose is craving will have to wait.