United divided in victory
Cantona dubs Mourinho ‘not the right man for the right woman’ as old club underwhelm
In front of the watching Eric Cantona, Manchester United scored the kind of winning goal that would have had their idol puffing out his chest and turning up his collar to accept the adulation.
It was Cantona-eque as another Frenchman, Anthony Martial, curled a superb first-time shot around Seamus Coleman to unsight goalkeeper Jordan Pickford and defeat Everton 2-1.
But despite this possibly being United’s best attacking performance of the season, it remained far from the imperious swagger that Cantona brought to the Theatre of Dreams.
United moved into eighth with the win, while Chelsea climbed to second with a 4-0 thrashing of Burnley and Arsenal lost ground with a 2-2 draw at Crystal Palace.
Cantona was at the match as he undertakes his own theatrics, a tour with his “Audience with. . .” series which includes two shows at the Lowry Theatre, a short walk from the stadium he graced. He has also had his say again on the state of United under Jose Mourinho, telling a supporters’ event that “it’s not the right man for the right woman”.
That sense of unease prevails and it felt wholly in keeping that despite taking a two-goal lead, despite looking like scoring more, the final whistle was met with Martial slumping to his knees and staring at the turf in contemplation. A sense of relief swirled.
Mourinho had berated Martial seconds before the end, tearing out of his dugout to implore him to track back, while there were cryptic comments from the manager afterwards suggesting the forward — like other young players — has been held back in the past by the “entourage” that surrounds him.
It must also be remembered that Mourinho wanted United to sell Martial in the off-season, having given up
on the 22-year-old. The club resisted, fretting that Martial might come back to haunt them in the way Kevin De Bruyne and Mohamed Salah were allowed to leave Chelsea when Mourinho was manager.
Maybe Mourinho is right. Maybe tough love continues to be the correct approach, but there is that nagging sense that if only he continues to allow his team to play to their strengths — the attacking power at his disposal is undoubtedly far greater than the defensive assets — then it might, just, work. Or at least be better.
“It’s almost impossible for us to keep a clean sheet even with a
phenomenal goalkeeper and to score is really difficult,” Mourinho later said.
That summed it up. There is certainly no Cantona confidence.
United now sit nine points behind leaders Liverpool and still look unlikely to be challenging for the title this season. Chelsea could be there for the long haul, though.
Even without Eden Hazard, Maurizio Sarri’s team had far too much for Burnley at Turf Moor. Ross Barkley set up goals for Alvaro Morata and Willian, either side of scoring himself, before Ruben LoftusCheek added a late fourth.
Chelsea are unbeaten and in
second, two points behind Liverpool.
Arsenal had almost forgotten what it felt like to not win, with 11 straight victories in all competitions since mid-August.
The run is over, however, after a 2-2 draw at Crystal Palace, who claimed a point thanks to the second of two successful penalties by Luka Milivojevic.
Granit Xhaka, with a thunderous free kick, and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang scored in a five-minute span to put Arsenal ahead by the 56th after Milivojevic’s first penalty gave Palace the lead in first-half stoppage time.