Problems run deeper PREMIER LEAGUE than getting rid of Jose
Trademark comeback but it was cheap imitation of glory days
IT WAS as though the team wished to illustrate the complexity of the mess Manchester United have meandered into over the past five years.
They were so poor in the first half it would have been easy to jump to the logical conclusion and simply dismiss Jose Mourinho there and then.
Yet they are not without talent, this team and this coach. And so as was once traditional at United, a dramatic comeback was arranged.
Of course in the old days this meant a l ate goal t o win t he Champions League or the Premier League.
Nowadays they will settle for an exhilarating home victory over Newcastle, a t eam without a victory in the league all season.
It’s a cheap copy of the old authentic drama but at least it is a start.
The Stretford End seemed to believe it was. ‘ Jose Mourinho!’ they chanted with gusto once that third goal had gone in.
And indeed for half an hour last night they looked like Manchester United. Overlapping runs were made by full-backs, the opposition goal was peppered, excitement filled the ground. It was beguiling.
And yet there was always the first half to consider. And a run of forthcoming games that includes Chelsea, J uventus t wice a nd Manchester City.
The truth is United don’t look e s peci a l l y near e r a s e ns i bl e conclusion to their malaise.
Perhaps some believe this was the turning point. Others entertain a f antasy t hat t hey could sack Mourinho and, in one single bound, t hey would be f r ee of t he quagmire of poor decisionmaking over the past five years.
Maybe an icon, Zinedine Zidane perhaps, could rescue this mess of a club? Or perhaps a tactician more in tune with the modern rhythms of t h e g a me, such as Maurici o Pochettino, could save these players from their paucity?
If only it was simply a matter of appointing a different captain to turn around the ship as though the course set and the design flaws weren’t contributing factors.
It’s an easy mistake to make when your club has been dominated by one of the most compelling and contrary personalities in football history for 26 years.
The club was built on the force of two extraordinarily charismatic football men in Sir Matt Busby and Sir Alex Ferguson. Naturally there is a temptation to think another strong figure could sort this out. Of course United do need a good manager. And it is debatable that in his current state of mind and at this stage Mourinho is that man. He doubtless will be good again. He has been great. He inspired last night’s comeback. Yet for much of the time he looks a man out of time in his approach to the game and out of step with a younger generation. That was Ferguson’s greatest trick; he never seemed to weary of young people, no matter how odd their haircuts, nor how tuneless their music. But whilst Mourinho is part of the problem, surely no one is convinced by the idea he is the root cause? There was a microcosm of the club’s utter l ack of j oined- up thinking in yesterday’s game.
So we started with Eric Bailly and Chris Smalling at centre half when last weekend Bailly wasn’t deemed good enough to play in a back three.
Bailly went off and young Scott McTominay and Smalling paired up, but suffice to say they won’t be entering the pantheon of great United partnerships.
The Scot lasted until half-time when he was withdrawn and Nemanja Matic was asked to play at centre half.
Now, of course, this is partly Mourinho’s fault. He signed Bailly and Victor Lindelof, who sat dutifully on the bench watching his manager reach for ‘ anyone but Victor’.
But over eight years United have accumulated several centre halves, none of whom are actually good enough to play for the club, so that now they resort to drafting in tall midfielders to that position.
Anyone would think this was a club run on tight budget rather t han one with a £ 580 million turnover. Counter-intuitively, the cash is part of the problem. Ed Woodward rather gave the game away in a briefing to shareholders back in May.
‘ Playing performance doesn’t really have a meaningful impact on what we can do on the commercial side of the business,’ he said.
It’s all about the brand these days. Never mind the nuts and bolts of winning matches: look at our global reach.
The fact is that United have been trading off their reputation for years. Sir Alex might have held it t ogether, but as soon as you removed that vital cog, the whole infrastructure collapsed. There has been little coherence to recruitment for years. A whole layer of executive management is missing: sporting directors, heads of recruitment. Only now are United considering these options.
Equally, in their appointment of managers United are a step behind the curve of tactical progress.
Wh i l e P e p G u a r d i o l a w a s reinventing football for the 21st century, United opted for a man who was a genius at the turn of the last century, Louis van Gaal.
In Mourinho, they have a man who was at his peak 10 years ago.
United have b e c o me that lumbering corporation, too big to fail but too conservative to innovate.
You might not have guessed it as they left the field to the strains of ‘Glory, Glory Man United’. It felt like the good old days. But that’s all it was: a feeling.