Okay, United megastars... the manager’s gone so let’s see just what you’re made of

OF all the repercussions of Jose Mourinho’s sacking, there is one certainty.

There is now no hiding place for a set of players who have let Manchester United fans down this season.

Yes, Mourinho has to take the blame, and the fall, for such a mediocre first half of the campaign.

Archaic, negative tactics and a safety-first mindset fatally undermined his long goodbye to Old Trafford.

Incessant changes to the line-up underscored a startling lack of consistency – even within individual fixtures – and his super-ego became a distraction.

And as I said here on the eve of his dismissal, Mourinho was a big-name manager playing small-time football. He had to go. Absolutely.

Yet to blame the factors above for Paul Pogba’s flippancy on the field, for Romelu Lukaku looking less mobile than he has done since arriving on the scene, for Phil Jones’ continued lack of improvement, for Ander Herrera’s basic error at Anfield, for all the carelessness that has characterised this current United team is ridiculous.

And to blame those factors for the palpable lack of intensity at Anfield, and in many other games, is equally silly.

Mourinho’s reference to Liverpool’s far greater intensity turned out to be his parting shot at his squad.

Intensity in a professional footballer should fundamentally come from within.

Of course, it must help to have a cajoling, inspiring coach such as Pep Guardiola, Jurgen Klopp or Mauricio Pochettino. But, as a footballer at any professional club, you are playing for the supporters and yourself, not the manager.

If that sounds too idealistic, it is probably because it is, but that does not excuse the drop in commitment and form of so many United players this season.

Nor does Mourinho’s toxic regime. The tone was set early when Pogba, captain for the game, said his attitude had not been right in the 3-2 defeat at Brighton. In his two-and-a-half years working with him, Mourinho should have got a mountain more out of the prodigiously gifted Pogba.

But you cannot coach a good attitude. And if you believe his Instagram post was a scheduled coincidence, then you probably believe the chubby chap is actually going to come down your chimney on Tuesday.

High-fiving when your manager has been sacked is all well and good but, if he has been sacked, it must mean your results haven’t been good enough.

YOUR results.

Seeing the departure of a boss you cannot stand will obviously lighten your mood, but the Carrington training ground post-capitulation at Anfield should have been anything but a celebratory scene, regardless of who got fired.

Even amongst those players whose attitude cannot be questioned, few seem to be progressing on what you would expect to be a normal path. Is, for example, Marcus Rashford developing at the rate you would expect?

Again, Mourinho must take the lion’s share of blame, but individuals have to take responsibility and too many have been hiding behind the perfect excuse. That excuse has gone. Now, with a coach untested at a club this size, the players will effectively run the rest of the season.

Now, we will see what they are made of.