Mourinho keeps his cool as United come good with red-hot finish
THIS time, Jose Mourinho used a strong sense of injustice to help produce a memorable late comeback for which a previous Manchester United manager was renowned.
Earlier in the season, a raging Mourinho had twice been sent to the stands where he was powerless to stop Burnley and then Arsenal from leaving Old Trafford with undeserved draws.
Not on this occasion. Mourinho stayed at his post even when United hit the woodwork twice, had a goal from Zlatan Ibrahimovic controversially chalked off by referee Lee Mason and were then hit by the sucker punch of Grant Leadbitter’s 67th-minute opener for Boro. Mourinho reacted to the setback by jumping to the edge of his dugout area to cajole his players with fervent hand-clapping.
And finally, the Portuguese was rewarded as Anthony Martial and Paul Pogba turned the match around in 86 seconds five minutes from time.
The crescendo of noise inside Old Trafford at the end must have brought back happy memories for former manager Sir Alex Ferguson, who looked tanned and healthy on his 75th birthday following a winter break to South Africa.
This is Jose time now and after a poor start, United have now gone 12 games unbeaten, the last six of which have been wins.
Given the competition at the top, they remain in sixth place but if the form of Martial and Henrikh Mkhitaryan continues like this for the rest of the season, they will be strong Champions League contenders. Even Chelsea, 11 points ahead, might not be out of reach.
‘We did something that is amazing, which was to bring the fans to the pitch,’ said Mourinho. ‘For the last 20 minutes, we played with
70,000 people. And it was too much for a very well-organised team like Middlesbrough.
‘We dominated. I wished Sir Alex a happy birthday before the game and I think our victory was a fantastic tribute to him.’
Boro manager Aitor Karanka, who worked under Mourinho when he was at Real Madrid, was — understandably — gutted by the defeat.
He said: ‘You can imagine our reaction to the result.
‘I don’t like to lose but our performance against a top team was good. We competed in a way where we’ll win games.’
Mourinho took a risk with his team selection, resting Phil Jones and Michael Carrick with tomorrow’s visit to West Ham in mind, and starting Marcos Rojo on the bench.
Their absence led to early hesitation that saw Ander Herrera concede possession to Adama Traore after only two minutes, with the Middlesbrough winger wasting a three-againstone break. But that was the best the visitors got for an hour.
Pogba hit the post with a bicycle kick from Mkhitaryan’s cross and Marouane Fellaini failed to beat Victor Valdes with a free header.
And then the game exploded into life after 39 minutes. Martial hit the woodwork with a 20-yard drive and then crossed for Ibrahimovic to raise his right leg and stab the ball in for what he thought was his 51st goal of an exceptional 2016.
After he had made contact with the ball, though, Boro goalkeeper Valdes continued his challenge and collided with the striker before rolling on the floor in ‘agony’.
Mason judged it was dangerous play on Ibrahimovic’s part, a decision that former World Cup Final referee Howard Webb described as ‘a crazy call’.
Valdes received treatment and was booed by the United fans, but performed superbly to later keep out shots by Martial and Ibrahimovic.
Mourinho said: ‘For sure, Lee Mason will be disappointed because now he knows (he got it wrong).’
Karanka defended Valdes against the accusations he wasn’t really injured. ‘I asked him at half-time and he didn’t know if he could play the second half,’ said the Boro boss.
Overall, United were good value for the points, taking their impressive winning run to six games.