Mourinho at a crossroads as he plots pursuit of City
Jose Mourinho was not keen to celebrate finishing second in the Premier League and Manchester United ’s fans have lost all sense of what to be happy and cross about. As Watford head to Old Trafford tomorrow, United’s followers are in two camps: the realists who care only about upward movement and romantics who think the team need to be adventurous in line with tradition. To call this group “dreamers” would insult them. They see themselves as guardians of the noble aims laid down by Busby and Ferguson.
Simply, United are currently nine points and four positions better off than last season. Whoop-de-frickin-do, the sceptics will say, after soporific performances against Brighton and West Ham (since Ferguson retired in 2103, United have posted a joint-high 19 0-0 draws). From the opposing corner, Mourinho’s supporters say he is on one of his long marches to power. Month by month, they claim, he is correcting the errors of the David Moyes and Louis van Gaal years, rewriting the culture so that United can be masters of English football again.
The first complication is the 19-point gap to Manchester City, who are unlikely to regress next season. Liverpool’s rise is another looming threat. But there is another, deeper question, that goes to the heart of Mourinho’s style of play. He let it be known this week that he doubts whether some of his players are going to “make it” at United, which is no place for passengers. This tallies with what we see on the pitch. Some, such as Anthony Martial, lack conviction and are not consistently threatening. Is that evidence of weakness in their characters or are they disengaged because the play is often so dull?
A strategic manager who distrusts art for art’s sake, Mourinho is getting his rear end kicked aesthetically by Manchester City. Understandably, he is not looking to be in a beauty contest with them. He does, however, have to live with the accusation that City, Liverpool and Spurs have taken the game somewhere he is not prepared to go: to a world of speed and risk and free expression. Maybe in 10 years fashion’s wheel will come back round to Mourinho’s conservatism and cunning. For now, though, he is the head of a one-man religion.
Second in the league and an FA Cup win would constitute a good campaign, arguably better than last year’s Europa League and League Cup victories. Yet Paul Pogba has lost his way, Alexis Sanchez has been (mostly) a waste of a high salary and Marcus Rashford and Martial have been up and down. Mostly, the brief they are given does not lend itself to entertaining football. Gifted players look functional.
So Mourinho can cast his eye over his United squad and plan expulsions and upgrades. He can give up on fringe players who seem to just walk around the pitch. He can bring new ones in, even after a net spend this season of £160 million. He may even hang around long enough to impose his ideas in every area. Where there is room for doubt is whether new players would also be stifled and United’s fans would just keep on yawning.