JOSE’S ALSO-RANTAN
Tired old moans can’t hide the fact United face scrap just to finish in City’s shadow
IT is not what is disappearing over the horizon that should concern Jose Mourinho, it is what lurks in the waters behind him.
No matter what happens at St James’ Park this evening, there is only one fight Manchester United will face in this second half of the season and that is for a top-four place.
He knows it. That is why, after Jesse Lingard clawed back a point with two second-half goals, Mourinho reminded everyone his is not the only club who should have title ambitions but will fall short.
Think Chelsea, Tottenham, Arsenal, Liverpool.
To a certain extent, he is right. United are judged by different standards, whether he likes it or not.
He will not get the patience he hints at wanting.
“We’re in the second year of trying to rebuild a football team,” said Mourinho after Ashley Barnes and Steven Defour had given Burnley a two-goal lead that was only eradicated in added time.
And there is improvement. They are in a far superior position to last season, still holding second place.
Yet somehow, there remains an undercurrent of negativity.
Again, Mourinho had a moan about the festive schedule, pointing out, “No other team in the Premier League has fewer nonmatchdays than us”.
Maybe if you convince your players they should be tired, they will be. If you persistently bleat about injustices of scheduling, they will imagine fatigue.
But the bottom line is stark. United have played Bristol City, Leicester City and Burnley inside a week and have not managed a victory. With respect, they should not have to be on full gas to fry those sort of opponents.
It was not tiredness that inflicted this set-piece suffering. It was rashness. First, Marcos Rojo conceding a free-kick that was eventually knocked home by Barnes after another comical Romelu Lukaku defensive cameo. Then, Ashley Young lunging like only Ashley Young can to give Defour the stage to showcase his dead-ball gifts.
David de Gea, incidentally, had a highlights reel he will not be sending Spain-wards.
Defour struck his goal delightfully but these were defensive lapses that Mourinho could have described as childish or immature.
Instead, he described the first, and those conceded at Leicester, as “Sgoals”, the S not standing for silly or even shocking, if you get the drift. Not good goals, let us put it that way.
“We’ve dropped points but in the last two games we have conceded three S-goals and a great free-kick,” said Mourinho, who hooked a struggling Zlatan Ibrahimovic at half-time.
“But I’m very happy with the character, happy with the effort, happy with the feeling we did not lose.” They did not lose because Lingard, who came on after the break, topped and tailed his second half with a cleverly-flicked first and an opportunistic leveller.
“I didn’t think it was a free-kick leading up to the equaliser but to come here and get a point with our squad stretched is excellent,” said Burnley manager Sean Dyche.
“There was an assuredness about us. Don’t forget, it’s difficult. They are still a top side.”
Still a top side and certainly a big club but, as Mourinho was intimating in post-match discussions, no bigger a team than, say, a Spurs, a Chelsea or a Liverpool.
That is why he will be looking over his shoulder rather than at his vanishing city rival. That is what this kind of result confirms.