From ‘Special One’ to beaten one as Scholes puts boot in
ANOTHER match, another defeat for Jose Mourinho.
Sunday’s 3-1 loss at Watford was United’s third in eight days and sent statisticians scrambling to find out when the “Special One” had last been such a beaten one.
The answer was 2006. While Mourinho did lose three consecutive games in 2015 with Chelsea, one of those was after a shootout in the Capital One Cup.
After Sunday’s defeat Mourinho was philosophical, suggesting that luck will eventually shine on his team, but he will struggle to deflect criticism that United lack the discipline and order usually associated with his teams.
The uncertainty over Wayne Rooney epitomises his problems.
The striker started off playing a more withdrawn role against Watford, apparently to allow Paul Pogba to forge further forward.
But England’s top scorer seldom looked comfortable, mistiming passes and tackles on a frustrating afternoon. After the break he pushed further forward as United chased the equaliser and, when Marcus Rashford delivered it, appeared to have stumbled on a formation that worked until Watford proved otherwise.
Critics suggest that when Mourinho finds his best team it will probably not include both Rooney and Pogba, who like to occupy the same areas.
Although the £89m Frenchman hit the crossbar with one fizzing first-half shot, he was largely outshone in midfield by his compatriot Etienne Capoue, who joined Watford in the off-season for £83m less that United lavished on the former Juventus star.
Once again United were undone by individual mistakes, failing to track the build-up that led to Juan Zuniga’s goal and then giving away a soft penalty late on.
“The second goal was an individual mistake,” said Mourinho. “We know we have to press and not allow them in the box. We know the midfielders arrive like the first goal from behind so there is another individual mistake. I cannot control, I cannot improve the referee and linesman and I cannot be a critic. Luck — she will arrive.”
One problem for Mourinho is that across Manchester his great rival Pep Guardiola appears not to need any, having just notched up an eighth successive win in all competitions for City, who are playing with a freedom that reminds many of Barcelona. Already City have beaten United at Old Trafford and now sit six points ahead of them in the league.
Mourinho is not used to having such an embarrassing spotlight shone on his abilities and will require an immediate response when United travel to lowly Northampton in the League Cup on Wednesday.
Meanwhile former United midfielder Scholes, now a television analyst with BT Sport, did not spare his old side.
“The quality on the ball was as poor as you’ve seen from a United team, and that’s just the way it is,” Scholes said. “You’re not sure what you’re going to get. Rashford is probably the only shining light and he didn’t have his best game today, but he looked a threat.
“Individually it wasn’t good enough. In possession it wasn’t good enough. So sloppy, giving the ball away all the time.”
Scholes believes United have their greatest problems in midfield, saying former teammate Michael Carrick, an unused substitute against Watford, ought to start.
He suggested Marouane Fellaini was not the right player to sit alongside Paul Pogba in midfield.
“I thought Fellaini was all right, he does a job which stops the other team. But I think if you’re Manchester United you need more than that,” Scholes said.
“I think you need someone who can stop the play — but he needs to be capable of controlling the game of football as well, playing forward, passing forward. As well as he [Fellaini] has done in the first three or four games, I just can’t understand why Carrick’s here,” he said.
“It looked last year like he was leaving, he’s not been involved a minute of the season, so what he’s done I don’t know. Obviously [Bastian] Schweinsteiger — he [Mourinho] is not keen on him. They need to get a playmaker in there.”