Mourinho told his players to explain fans why they went to missing. Nobody did
AN INCANDESCENT Jose Mourinho told his players that someone must articulate why, alarmingly, their passion and desire had gone missing. None of them did.
One by one they left Huddersfield looking vacant and headed for the coach expressionless, just half an hour after the final whistle. Ironically, Manchester United’s swift exit strategy was the only time they appeared in sync. They were negotiating the rapids on the M62 by the time David Wagner had finished celebrating such an historic win for Huddersfield.
No player heeded their manager’s desire for them to offer an explanation and it is no great surprise. Nobody wanted to take responsibility for the pig’s ear they had served.
What a strange day. United had arrived in Huddersfield primed to record their finest start to a Premier League season — and as such it would be churlish to write them off yet — but they departed looking worn out, beaten up and lacking focus.
United were atrocious and this was without doubt the worst afternoon of Mourinho’s reign so far. Huddersfield had not won since August 20. They had not scored since September 16.
The result and the performance, had been coming. Despite a sound defensive display against Liverpool last week, United were still unconvincing and a goalkeeping error gifted them victory in Lisbon on Wednesday. But it was the manner of the defeat here which distressed Mourinho.
He was taken aback, watching on with in torrential rain. Victor Lindelof’s poor defending for the two goals, the second of which an abomination, could have come from anyone, he said. United were that bad.
A lack of gumption — effort, even — had Mourinho seething and his players were left in no doubt of that.
He was curt in the immediate aftermath and there was a far fuller debrief at Carrington yesterday. Some egos were bruised as the lavish cars screeched away from the training ground after lunchtime. Home truths were dished out and the manager can only hope it serves as a wake-up call. Already five points behind rampant Manchester City, the alert needs to have an impact quickly.
Tom Ince suggested United are easy to plan for. ‘They don’t really play with the same fluidity as Spurs or Man City,’ he said. ‘They build up quite slow, they like to get it out wide and we felt we could win the ball back and exploit the space in behind.
‘We know Man United may have come here and thought they could roll us over, but we showed them otherwise.’ That was some accusation but one that is not unfounded. United were sluggish, and even complacent well before Aaron Mooy’s opener on 28 minutes. They only started playing once Lindelof had ducked out of the way of a long punt downfield and Laurent Depoitre rounded David de Gea. By then it was too late. Not even Marcus Rashford’s introduction could rouse them. Mourinho had hoped to start Rashford but the teenager’s knee issue had clearly preyed on his mind. Anthony Martial struggled in his place and was probably lucky not to have seen red for a number of fouls in the first half.
Rashford offered some spark as he came on at half-time, scoring to open up the game, but United created little. All of that enthused Huddersfield on a momentous day in their history.
A first win over United since 1952 and in front of old hero Denis Law. Frank Worthington waved his fists in delight at full-time, Wagner celebrated to such an extent that his glasses fell and chairman Dean Hoyle, sat next to his two sons Danny and Joshua, could not contain himself.
Depoitre’s goal sparked a melee in the directors’ box, as dignitaries fell over each other in a moment of unbridled joy.
‘Since we arrived, we have produced a lot of extraordinary performances,’ Wagner said, before toasting the day with a Pepsi at home and messaging Jurgen Klopp. Children looked at their fathers in awe, open-mouthed. A hugely memorable 90 minutes for them. Huddersfield Town beat the mighty Manchester United.
Although, as a concerned Mourinho will rightly tell you, that was not his Manchester United.
SUPER STAT: Jose Mourinho has failed to win all 19 Premier League games when two goals behind, losing 18.
HUDDERSFIELD (4-1-4-1): Lossl 7.5; Smith 7, Zanka 8, Schindler 8, Lowe 7; Hogg 7.5; Kachunga 6.5 (Van La Parra 39min, 7) Mooy 8.5, Williams, 8 Ince 7.5 (Malone 90); Depoitre 8 (Mounie 70, 6.5) Subs not
used: Coleman, Cranie, Hadergjonaj, Sabiri.
Scorers: Mooy 28, Depoitre 33. Booked: Smith, Mooy, Schindler, Williams. Manager: David Wagner 8. MAN UTD (4-2-3-1): De Gea 6; Valencia 6, Smalling 6.5, Jones 6.5 (Lindelof, 23, 4) Young 6; Herrera 5, Matic 5; Mata 5, (Rashford 46, 7) Lingard 6, Martial 5 (Mkhitaryan 46, 5.5); Lukaku 6. Subs not used: Romero, Blind, Darmian, McTominay. Scorer: Rashford 78. Booked: Young, Martial.
Manager: Jose Mourinho 5. Referee: Lee Mason 6.
Attendance: 24,426.