United front Lukaku eases pressure on Mourinho
Jose Mourinho was punching the air furiously on the touchline. The Manchester United manager had been fairly restrained, with a momentary shake of clenched fists from his seat in the dugout, when Romelu Lukaku scored the first but the Belgium striker’s second on the cusp of half-time elicited an eruption of emotion.
It was only two days earlier that Mourinho had talked about how he was not one of those managers who makes a song and dance of it when his side score but he had no compunction about passionately celebrating this particular goal. He knew how big it was. He knew, for all his team’s defensive shortcomings of late, that the goal as good as settled this game.
Burnley had given everything against Olympiakos in the Europa League on Thursday. Two-nil down at half-time to a United team in commanding, uncompromising mood – there was no way back from there for Sean Dyche’s men, who have now gone 10 matches without a win in 90 minutes this season.
Not even a missed penalty from Paul Pogba midway through the second period, or Marcus Rashford being sent off for what Mourinho called a “naive” butt on Phil Bardsley only 10 minutes after coming on, or two notable misses from Lukaku, were going to change that. When the game was finally done, Mourinho made a beeline for United’s magnificent away supporters, handed his jacket to one young fan and high-fived others before walking off wearing a very purposeful look.
A third successive defeat would not have cost Mourinho his job, despite suggestions to the contrary, but it would have ramped up the pressure and made for a seemingly interminable international break.
Instead, United can look forward to visiting high-flying Watford on Saturday week without a sense of foreboding and free of the kind of suffocating scrutiny a loss at Turf Moor would have invited.
The first half here was how you imagined Mourinho wanted it to go against Tottenham a week ago – in control, assured, but this time with goals. His tactics have been picked apart of late, but Mourinho did a number on Burnley here and delivered what essentially was an archetypal Mourinho away performance.
The decision to employ Marouane Fellaini in a holding midfield role was a particular masterstroke and Mourinho joked afterwards that his press officer was denying him the one opportunity to talk himself up after momentarily cutting off a question about Fellaini.
Lukaku, after a slow start to the campaign, was also a menace throughout with his strength and running, despite the late misses. Every step of the way, Mourinho’s name was sung lustily by United fans, who had clearly come with the intention of throwing their support firmly behind the manager.
Did it help United that, on the day, Burnley did not have that much left in the tank after Thursday’s exploits?
Sure, especially after Mourinho’s side were reduced to 10 men with 19 minutes left when Rashford reacted needlessly to Bardsley’s provocation.
But United got their game-plan spot on, sucking the life out of Burnley and, even with a numerical disadvantage, it was still United creating the best chances at the end.
The logic behind starting Fellaini deep and pushing Nemanja Matic further forward from his usual holding role was simple and sound: the towering Belgian could offer aerial support to centre-backs, Chris Smalling and Victor Lindelof, against the similarly imposing Chris Wood.
Fellaini did his job superbly, with Wood given no opportunity to isolate and bully Lindelof. “He was phenomenal,” Mourinho said. “In the air he is one of the best in the Premier League and he was that cover in front of Victor and Smalling that made it a comfortable job”.
Fellaini also gave United a foundation from which Pogba, Jesse Lingard and Alexis Sanchez had licence to run. Lingard was lively early on and Sanchez involved in both goals. The Chilean’s clipped cross for Lukaku to head home the first was a peach. What Joe Hart was doing is another matter.
The Burnley goalkeeper appeared to be caught in two minds and, ultimately, in no man’s land as he came to meet Sanchez’s cross, then thought better of it and watched as Lukaku’s header looped over him.
To Hart’s credit, though, he was the reason United did not end up winning this by four or five. He kept out Pogba’s penalty after Aaron Lennon bundled over Rashford and then made a fine stop to deny Lukaku.
By that point, Rashford had been dismissed. After the England striker and Bardsley slid in to challenge for the ball on the touchline, the Burnley right-back flicked out his left leg.
Rashford took exception and rammed his head into Bardsley as the pair squared up like a pair of stags. Bardsley was shown yellow but Rashford was not so lucky.
Lukaku would miss again before the end but he had made no mistake with United’s second after thrashing home a loose ball after Lingard’s shot, following good work from Sanchez and Luke Shaw, bounced off Charlie Taylor and then Ashley Westwood into the Belgian’s path.
Cue Mourinho’s reaction.
His tactics have been picked apart of late but the Portuguese did a number on Burnley