Is the angry man in a big coat affecting United’s luck?

MANCHESTER UNITED’S Jose Mourinho is fond of setting landmarks as a manager but becoming the first individual to be sent off twice in this season’s Premier League is not one he will covet.

No player in England’s top flight has yet been shown two red cards this term but now an angry man in a big coat has beaten them all to it following Mourinho’s dismissal during United’s 1-1 draw at home to West Ham United on Sunday.

If all that is not of great concern to Mourinho then the plight of his expensively-assembled team, now 11 points off the pace and losing touch with the top four, definitely will be as United ponder their worst league start since 1990-91.

It was striking how Mourinho’s second sending off in a month – he incurred the wrath of referee Mark Clattenburg in a home draw with Burnley in late October – coincided with another disappointing United showing against lowly opponents.

Whether his ill-discipline at Old Trafford could be linked to United’s impotence in those two matches is open to question, but there is no doubt that Mourinho’s behaviour is becoming an increasingly expensive failing.

Last month, he was fined £50 000 by the FA after comments about referee Anthony Taylor before United’s match with arch-rivals Liverpool and his rant against Burnley led to a £8 000 fine and one-match ban. Now, the FA may consider another touchline ban.

All of which could mean more postmatch media work for assistant Rui Faria, who took a leaf out of his boss’s book when talking of United being unlucky after their fourth consecutive draw at home.

“The reality is that we are playing well,” Faria said. “We create the opportunities but we are not scoring the goals and we are suffering.

“We can say we are unlucky and in the last matches we should get different results. We all believe the results will appear.”

Not that Faria ever assumes the other managerial duties.

“I don’t take over,” he said. “The boss is Jose all the time and he passes on what is the best for the team and we just try to make it happen without having him there.”

That is something United are just having to get used to. – Reuters