Top four, Jose... you’re having a laugh with this ‘ordinary’ side

HE is fond of a hand gesture, Jose, and, in the dying embers of this miserable Manchester United performance, he obliged again.

In the past, he has ear-cupped Juventus fans, shushed Liverpool supporters with a single finger to lip and, by brandishing three digits, told the world he had won the Europa League, the EFL Cup and the fiendishly difficult-to-capture Community Shield.

This time, four fingers were flourished in theatrical protest at the amount of added time allotted. Is that all? Four minutes? Lee Mason could have tagged on 44 minutes and United would still not have scored.

And the stadium might well have emptied, so painful were the attempts to break through.

The jeers when those four minutes elapsed were not just for the unsatisfactory nature of the result and the performance, but surely for the sole tactical manoeuvre employed by Mourinho in the final quarter of the match.

It is something Old Trafford has become familiar with.

Big men up top, big Rom (right), big Marouane, send big Chris up as well and get it in the mixer.

So, while an honest Mourinho was right to talk about a lack of intensity and a dearth of desire, his own coaching acumen has to be questioned.

The inescapable, simple truth about this Manchester United team is that it rarely produces enthralling football.

Maybe that is why there were empty seats dotted around Old Trafford.

Maybe that is why so many people took so long to return to their vantage points after half-time.

There had probably been more entertainment in the concourses at the interval than there had been in the entire first half.

It was half an hour before United had a shot on target, for goodness sake.

Their performance was typified by Paul Pogba.

Labelling Pogba inconsistent has become one of football’s cliches, but, within the narrow parameters of this contest, he went from the almost-sublime to the ridiculous. He has an odd knack of executing difficult passes well and simple passes poorly. His substitution might have provoked a mixed reaction, but no wonder Mourinho tired of Pogba’s prancing unpredictability a good 20 minutes from time. To be fair, when it came to hooking personnel, Mourinho had a banquet of choices. The service was scant, but Romelu Lukaku’s contributions – a decent late header a notable exception – occasionally verged on the laughable. Jesse Lingard reacted to his withdrawal by downing his gloves, but had been a peripheral figure, while Nemanja Matic simply slows everything down. There was not one player who delivered an above-average performance.

Ahead of the match, Mourinho, maybe trying to convince himself, had declared his assertion United will end 2019 in the top four.

He repeated it in his programme notes and maybe that is what the four fingers were for.

Unlikely. Much more in this vein and United will finish the year and, subsequently, the season where this type of form deserves… mid-table.

Even though Wayne Hennessy made a couple of decent saves, this draw was the least Crystal Palace deserved.

They held United, who had only five attempts on target, with a degree of comfort, which was unsurprising when you consider the lack of potency in Mourinho’s side.

They are the only team in the top 10 with a negative goal difference and the 21 points from 13 fixtures is their lowest haul in 28 years.

Significantly, the discontent at the end was probably as voluble as it has been at any point of Mourinho’s tenure.

As steadfastly as the away support back Mourinho, this is becoming a loveless association.

Let’s put it this way. At the conclusion of a dire performance, Jose Mourinho was not the only one making gestures.

There is a general ordinariness about United under Mourinho – and, unfortunately for those supporters, it is hard to see it changing.