United just can’t find the X-factor
CHAMPIONS LEAGUE Mourinho’s struggling side take grim recent run to four without a win
Can they score? They always score... Remember that? It seems an age ago now. These days, no one thinks Manchester United will score, not even their own fans.
Long before the final whistle sounded here, whole blocks of them were on their way home. It wasn’t as if Manchester United were losing, either. There was all to play for, still.
Yet that confidence had deserted them, the certainty that once made it worth hanging on to the last kick of any tight match at Old Trafford.
at the end, there were boos from many of those remaining. Yet this wasn’t a wholly dismal United performance. There was energy in parts, there were enough chances to win. Yet there is something missing.
It is October now and United have not won at home in any competition since the first Friday of the season, in august. as for Jose Mourinho, this is the first time in his career he has failed to win in four consecutive home games. Stalking the sidelines, dressed darkly and hatchet-faced, he looked as lost as his team does at times. Maybe he is. This is uncharted territory for them all.
So if it’s not yet a crisis, it’s certainly no drama, either. a good drama is exciting. Watching United trying desperately to rediscover their mojo simply isn’t. not that they aren’t trying. More that they are adrift and uncertain. Timid when they should be bold. Cautious when they should be cavalier. a little bland, a little blah, a little meh.
They laboured against Valencia, plodded in parts, and only really got going late in the game when the prospect of a goalless home draw undoing so much good work in Switzerland last month became apparent.
Having opened Group H with an emphatic win against Young Boys in Bern, this was an excellent chance to build and keep pace with Juventus. Instead, it became another exercise in ineffectuality. United have now played their last four games in three competitions and failed to win in any of them: a draw and a defeat in the Premier League against Wolves and West Ham, a Carabao Cup exit against Derby and now this.
It wasn’t the worst, but nor was it the United the locals have been waiting for. Valencia contained them comfortably for the most part and occasionally threatened on the break.
The delightfully named neto, in Valencia’s goal, made a handful of good saves but nowhere near as many as he would have against a side playing with confidence. One imagines this game would have had a very different tempo had Liverpool been the team in red.
With five minutes remaining, anthony Martial was tripped just outside the area by Cristiano Piccini and Marcus Rashford hit the bar from the free-kick.
Shortly after, Romelu Lukaku had an excellent chance from a Luke Shaw corner but couldn’t even get his header on target. That aside, United’s best moments came in a ten-minute spell midway through the second half. Paul Pogba took a free-kick after alexis Sanchez had been pushed over. He got it over the wall but neto palmed it out for a corner.
Soon after, Pogba played Lukaku through but the striker had his shot tipped round the far post.
nobody could accuse United’s players of not working hard for the manager but effectively? Well, that’s another matter.
United did not test neto until the hour mark.
They are missing a certain something — an X-factor, a spark that once came so naturally.
It wasn’t that they did not want it, more that they have forgotten what it was — the magnificent drive Manchester United teams of past decades brought to nights like this. They look nervous, and the crowd are too.
In the stands, reminders of better days: Gary neville and David Beckham in the nicer seats, Paul Scholes and Rio Ferdinand in the television studio.
Of course, the Manchester United of old didn’t get it right every game, either.
Yet those United sides had verve, spirit, flair that comes from confidence.
What was missing from Mourinho’s edition last night, for all their endeavour, was the swagger of old. Occasionally, Rashford would show Valencia a clean pair of heels and the place would light up — but United did not get much return on their effort.
If anything, on the odd occasion when Valencia got through, they appeared to have more awareness of the direct route to goal.
There were intermittent signs of life. Rashford cut inside on the left showing real pace and hit a low shot, but it went just wide.
But that was after 14 minutes and was followed by a lengthy spell of inactivity save a quite ludicrous attempt from 40 yards-plus by Bailly that had little on its side bar mystery. a few minutes later, he took a whack to the throat from Rodrigo, which continued to cause him trouble for the rest of the first half.
It was quite a physical game with six Valencia players in the book by the end. Time was, a Mourinho team would have relished a battle like that, but even that is no longer their forte.
They look like a team desperately in need of inspiration, Mourinho a manager struggling to locate his ability to inspire.
LEGEND McCLAIR LETS RIP AT JOSE’S MEN Coach, players, system, shape, tactics, b ******* !!! To win red team need to run harder and faster than the white team, I believe it’s occasionally referred to as desire!!! Brian McClair (@brianMcClair13)