Spectacular outcome after Mourinho stamps his authority
ONE HUNDRED and twenty days after he was appointed manager of Manchester United, we finally saw the real Jose Mourinho.
He made the big decisions for which he is famed and then sat back to see them pay dividends one by one.
Or rather, he stood. From the opening minute, Mourinho was on the front foot and the team responded all the way to a 4-1 thrashing of the champions.
United picked Mourinho because he can make tough calls. At Chelsea, he jettisoned Juan Mata and David Luiz. They left and he won the title.
Yet until yesterday, it was a nervous and hesitant Mourinho. While Pep Guardiola took on Joe Hart and Yaya Toure, he tried to squeeze his big egos Paul Pogba, Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Wayne Rooney into the same team. The result was defeats to Manchester City, Feyenoord and Watford. That all changed yesterday. Four changes from United’s embarrassing 3-1 defeat at Watford. No Wayne Rooney or Marouane Fellaini, demoted to the bench. Anthony Martial and Luke Shaw not in the 18.
For better or worse, this was Mourinho doing things his way. As it turned out, it was much, much better.
Mata was given the No10 role in place of Rooney. He scored a brilliant second after link-up play involving Paul Pogba and Jesse Lingard, then he set up the third for Marcus Rashford.
Rooney’s armband was given to Chris Smalling who led by example with the opening goal.
The pace of United’s play was far quicker with Anders Herrera in central midfield rather than Fellaini.
As for Shaw, replacement Daley Blind set up three of United’s four goals from corners. Follow that, Luke.
Even more importantly, Old Trafford may have witnessed Mourinho getting his mojo back. He’ll feel special again today.
He didn’t mind spelling out why Rooney was left out. ‘When our main striker is Zlatan, we need fast people surrounding him,’ he said.
Mourinho parked his own ego for the good of results, promoting Lingard and Rashford, two players given their chance by Louis van Gaal. This was clear-minded thinking at its best. Rashford scored and some of his linkup play was exceptional.
Perhaps the best reward for Mourinho’s revamp was Pogba’s improvement. United’s quicker football gave him more space. Rooney’s absence meant he could run towards the box without crashing into his team-mate, Mata having the mobility to drop wider when he saw him coming.
Pogba was brilliant and deserved his first United goal with a set-piece header.
For all his faults, Mourinho has traditionally been a brave manager. After a timid start to his time at United, he is once again.