EMIRATES FA CUP FINAL SAFE ... Steve Bates
Risk-averse Jose pays high price for defensive overkill
JOSE MOURINHO got his excuses in early for this one – more than 24 hours ahead to be precise – after claiming defeat in the FA Cup final at Wembley would not define Manchester United’s season.
I’ve got bad news for you Jose, it does.
For this showpiece occasion witnessed plenty that is wrong with a United side which is light years from being able to offer the main challenge to neighbours Manchester City next season.
And if the United manager wants more grim news, it is surely that many more of these displays will mean his days at Old Trafford are numbered.
Wembley was once a playground for United, who won five FA Cups under Sir Alex Ferguson.
Yesterday’s final merely underlined the defensive deficiencies in their squad, and the lack of a real creative force in the mould of a Ryan Giggs or Paul Scholes.
Exposed
More than that, it exposed the fundamental gulf in philosophy that puts United at a disadvantage to teams like City and Liverpool.
Yes, United made a fight of it in the second half as they trailed to Eden Hazard’s 22nd-minute penalty – but the damage had already been done.
And it was done by Mourinho on the tactics board and in the strategy planning meetings at United’s Carrington training ground.
For where coaches like Pep Guardiola and Jurgen Klopp seize the initiative, Mourinho is risk averse.
And that is becoming hard to swallow for the natives.
United fans were prepared to go with it while the team were winning, but the goodwill earned by last season’s Europa League final win in Stockholm has run out with the Mourinho game plan fast becoming a problem.
How many times do United start matches slowly and end up having to chase them?
Instead of going gung-ho for a change to trigger the first goal, United played cat and mouse with Chelsea – and paid the price.
That has never been in the United DNA Mourinho promised to restore when he took over from Louis van Gaal two years ago.
But it is undermining the Red Devils’ hopes of competing with City domestically and also with the big guns of Europe.
This summer will be Mourinho’s fifth transfer window and the stark truth is that United are no closer to being a force capable of doing real damage. And chucking another £150 million at the market won’t be the answer either unless the tactics and mindset change.
For differing reasons it’s been a season that has brought grief for both managers. What should have