JOSE VAN GAAL!
Manager’s excuses are beginning to sound like the old boss
IT’S maybe a bit harsh to refer to Manchester United’s current manager as Jose van Gaal but the statistics are beginning to look particularly damning.
Yesterday’s soulless goalless draw against West Brom was the eighth time in 15 Premier League matches that United have been held at Old Trafford this season. Hull, Burnley and Bournemouth are among the other ‘giants’ to have left with a point.
United hogged 75 per cent possession but mustered only three shots on target with it. Fifth place now looks by far the likeliest finish for Mourinho — exactly where his much-criticised predecessor finished 12 months ago.
Mourinho was without Ander Herrera, Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Juan Mata, Chris Smalling, Phil Jones and Paul Pogba, all either injured or suspended.
But his starting line-up still cost more than £200milliion and afterwards the United manager appeared to blame his young, attacking front four of Marcus Rashford, Anthony Martial, Henrikh Mkhitaryan and Jesse Lingard for not winning the game.
Ben Foster’s two important saves both came from long-distance Rashford efforts. The teenager hasn’t scored a league goal since September, though, and rarely made the runs into the box that No 9s should.
One centre from Lingard fizzed across the six-yard box with nobody there to get a touch. Ibrahimovic would have been there for a tap-in and the Swede will be welcomed back with open arms against Everton on Tuesday, having now completed his three-match ban.
‘We have had a lot of this, total control but the goals didn’t come,’ grumbled Mourinho after the game. Sometimes because the goalkeeper was magnificent, deja vu, other times because (we could) not score a goal even one on one. It was a game we totally deserved to win.’
Mourinho then gave up the pretence of trying to protect his flair players, delivering some withering remarks aware that United’s 19-game unbeaten run has seen them only climb from sixth to fifth because of too many draws.
‘At this level if you want to win things, you need to be consistent,’ he said. ‘Today for 90 minutes, Valencia was consistent, Rojo, Bailly, Young, Fellaini, Carrick. The other ones were not. It was a flash of talent, a glimpse. We need to kill opponents.’
West Bromwich have had a good season under Tony Pulis and arrived at Old Trafford with three United old boys in their ranks: Foster, central defender Jonny Evans and stalwart Darren Fletcher in midfield.
Nobody was surprised by the way they set up, getting every outfield player behind the ball bar Hal Robson-Kanu, and even he wore the No 4 shirt.
Pulis said afterwards: ‘When you come up against clubs with more money and talent, you have to be organised.’ And Albion were.
United failed to register a shot on target in the first hour and their only near thing came when Martial rose well at the far post and headed Lingard’s cross wide, receiving a bruise on his cheek from Craig Dawson as a result.
The intensity increased after the interval, with the Stretford End riled by a waist-high challenge by Allan Nyom on Michael Carrick.
Marouane Fellaini arrowed a shot wide, Mkhitaryan finished weakly in front of goal with only Foster to beat and then Rashford was denied by a flying stop from the keeper. The youngster then took over free-kick duties and sent a 25yarder towards the top corner until Foster sprang to his right to palm away.
Unusually, Pulis made all three of his substitutions before the 70th minute, before Mourinho had moved a muscle. He eventually sent on Rooney, who got a large ovation but who at 31 is no longer the match-winner of old.
It was the visitors who came closest to scoring late on. Fletcher tried a potshot from 25 yards which David de Gea caught with his hands above his head before spilling the ball on to the crossbar where it bounced to safety.
Van Gaal became a figure of fun towards the end of his reign for pouring out excuses for poor results and dreary performances.
As former United players didn’t hold back on in-house television station MUTV about a disappointing afternoon, Mourinho suggested referee Mike Dean had played into West Brom’s desire to waste time and praised his team’s defensive organisation — against a team that didn’t want to attack.
Aware that United’s goal tally of 42 is at least 10 fewer than any of the other top-seven teams, he said. ‘Somebody who saw that would think we are a defensive team without ambition. But it is completely the opposite. Rashford, Lingard, Mkhitaryan, Martial, see how many goals they score. Zlatan and (Juan) Mata are the ones with more goals.’ Zlatan and possibly Pogba should be back for Everton. Alas, Mata is out for some time yet. By kickoff time on Tuesday night, United could be seven points adrift of a top-four place, depending on Manchester City’s result against Arsenal today. Pulis tried to lend his pal Jose some moral support by predicting United would be champions next season but the Europa League looks like being the key to United’s campaign. Imagine if that had happened to Van Gaal.