United spirit can be a leveller next season
MONEY? Tactics? Consistency? Luck? It is going to take a lot for United to close the 16-point gap and overthrow City next season. But they do have one thing going for them – spirit.
When the chips have been down in recent months, United’s players have not turned on each other - they have rallied. In four of the last 10 games, the Reds have come from behind to win. Against Crystal Palace and City they went into the break 2-0 down.
That shows this squad is slowly being moulded in Jose Mourinho’s macho image. They may not always be consistent - how can you lose at home to basement boys West Brom eight days after beating City? - but they have got spirit.
There were countless moments in the FA Cup semi-final win against Spurs which epitomised that – and all 25 members of the squad played their part.
As exhausted captain Antonio Valencia hobbled to the dressing room at full-time, it was youngster Scott McTominay who caught up to offer a hand.
“Captain, put your arm around me,” he said.
McTominay may have still been playing as a makeshift forward for the reserves a year ago, but he had grounds to be disappointed after failing to make the bench at Wembley.
The 21-year-old really stepped up in huge games against Sevilla, Chelsea and, particularly, Liverpool but has found minutes harder to come by of late and Mourinho has preferred to have Marouane Fellaini’s experience on the bench.
And, yet, here he was doing his bit - even if he was not on the field.
Another fringe player, Matteo Darmian, replaced Valencia and even though he had played just 181 minutes of football this year, he responded to Mourinho’s instrucitons.
The United boss made a point of punching Darmian’s chest as he prepared to come on and the Italy international did not look like a player who was on his way back to his homeland this summer, instead making an important contribution in the final 10 minutes.
Darmian slotted into a defensive line alongside Phil Jones and Chris Smalling, two players who were entitled to fear the worst after Dele Alli Ciaran Kelly behind to beat Spurs at Wembley put Spurs 1-0 up after 11 minutes. The pair do not have happy recent memories of Wembley and, yet, they dug in and kept Harry Kane out. Smalling’s lasting power is remarkable. Just 13 games into his reign, Mourinho was questioning the defender’s commitment when he did not push through the pain barrier down at Swansea. Now, it would be a shock if he did not start the FA Cup final. There may not necessarily be an outstanding candidate to replace Michael Carrick as skipper at the end of the season, but there are a lot of characters in this squad who are prepared to do their bit.