JOSE LEFT GRUBBING AROUND IN THE DIRT
United simply treading water
AT THE end of another confusing afternoon in charge of Manchester United, Jose Mourinho changed tack from his recent declarations and looked for some positives from what his players had given him.
He was, he said, happy with his team’s efforts, personality and that they hadn’t lost. If this sounds like a man clutching at some fast shortening straws then that is about the size of it. Mourinho and his team have their dignity and self- respect to play for in the Premier League but not a lot else.
This was a few minutes away from being an enormous embarrassment for Mourinho. Forget the trauma of the draw at Leicester on Saturday, to lose at home to Burnley would have been something else entirely. That is a little tough on Burnley — the mostimproved team of the league season so far — but true nonetheless.
Mourinho did not come to United for afternoons like this. He didn’t come here to be grubbing around in the dirt, watching his team launch endless long balls into the opposition penalty area in the hope that something may drop on to the toe of a man in a red shirt.
No, he came to Old Trafford to win the Premier League. But that ambition, for the second season running, has long since been replaced by something else.
Now the aim must be to finish second — no matter how distant — to Manchester City and hope that the rest of the season brings enough positive moments to convince his club and indeed himself that things may be better next season. Mourinho looks and sounds like a man a little disorientated by life at United and that is reflected by his team. He is right when he says his team kept going yesterday. It’s worth noting that the home crowd did too. But what is also clear is that United are nowhere near good enough for a sustained title challenge, certainly not given the standards set by City. United remain second but a feeling pervades that this is a team treading water, if not travelling backwards.
If United do lose their handle on second place then the ground really will begin to shift beneath Mourinho’s feet. This has not exactly been a stellar title defence by champions Chelsea but the London club are now only a point behind United.
Here, at a rather frenzied Old Trafford, there was no style, no great confidence and no particular pattern of play from the home side. Sean Dyche and Burnley had a game plan whereas United were altogether more reactive.
Mourinho had made a rather brave team selection. Fielding Zlatan Ibrahimovic as a No 10 behind Romelu Lukaku was an interesting gamble and it failed. By the time Ibrahimovic was taken off at half-time United were in trouble and needing players to bring them youth, speed and direction. Ultimately Jesse Lingard did that for them.
Burnley were marvellous in the first half. They scored in the third minute after Marcos Rojo hauled down Jeff Hendrick and Ashley Barnes poked in the ball from six yards following United’s failure to deal with the free-kick.
Strangely, there seemed an inevitability about that goal but, equally, there was also about the United territorial domination that followed. For a while Burnley struggled to get out of their half, which turned out to be good practice for the second period.
But United’s chances were rarely clear cut — Paul Pogba going close from a corner and Luke Shaw driving low from 25 yards — and they were struck down again by a Burnley counter- attack nine minutes before the interval.
Ashley Young gave away the freekick from which Steven Defour scored and it was clumsy. But the mistakes from Shaw and Rojo that preceded that should not be overlooked. It is things like this that will eventually undermine a team.
In terms of Defour’s strike — right-footed from 28 yards — it was absolutely immaculate.
Ibrahimovic and Marcus Rashford came close before half-time but with the Swede subsequently removed, United were brighter.
Substitute Lingard should have scored in the 50th minute — somehow placing the ball into the face
of Burnley goalkeeper Nick Pope from six yards — but did score three minutes later with a perfect backheel from another Ashley Young cross.
Young was playing right back yesterday which makes one wonder why a club like United don’t have a real one in their squad. But he was always dangerous going forward and as United pressed on, Burnley’s struggle to hang on became more desperate.
United still didn’t create much that was clear but they did dominate and added time was always likely to test a tiring Burnley. So it proved as a chipped free-kick from Juan Mata in minute 91 dropped for Lingard to strike a perfect half-volley past Pope.
So there was no embarrassment for Mourinho, only further nagging discomfort. Those who subsequently viewed his post-match comments about money as an exercise in distraction were probably correct.