Mourinho takes more flak as United fire blanks
They were all here to watch, the greats of Manchester United’s recent past in the directors’ box: Ryan Giggs, Gary Neville, David Beckham; as if called together by forces unknown to see what had happened to the club they once knew, and well aware that the news would not be good.
From the BT Sport studio in London, another of their number, Paul Scholes, delivered his most scathing attack yet on the Jose Mourinho years, describing the United manager as an “embarrassment” and expressing surprise he was still in a job. The United team bus turned up late, delaying the start of the game by five minutes and, if that was a gloomy portent of things to come then, at least by the end, Mourinho could say that his team did not lose.
They were not as bad as they had been on Saturday which all in all, was pretty thin gruel in a time for the club that looks terminal for the manager and the chances of a major trophy this season. Afterwards Mourinho was doleful, trying to pick the scraps out of another bad day while occasionally lashing out, darkly declaring that the Greater Manchester Police had not given the team their usual escort through the traffic and refusing to engage with Scholes’s earlier comments.
“I’m not interested,” he said, when Scholes’s pre-match remarks were read out to him. “Freedom of speech. Free country. You can say what you want.” In his television interviews, Mourinho suggested that none of his defenders had the technical ability to play out from the back at this level, which is an accurate assessment of his players, albeit not one his beleaguered back four would have wanted to hear.
By the end of his regulation Uefa press conference, Mourinho was already laying out his Old Trafford legacy by concentrating on what he viewed as his great over-achievement last season when he believed he had lifted a mediocre side to great heights. Second in the Premier League, FA Cup runners-up, Champions League group winners – “It was a fantastic season,” Mourinho said, “and I know why I was saying that.”
It sounded like a man who is gradually giving up the ghost. There were some strange moments in the match too, with Eric Bailly coming off for treatment in the first half to Mourinho’s displeasure and then, later in the first half, a wildly inaccurate volley from the defender that suggested his mind was not fully engaged. Bailly is one of those who has drifted in and out of favour at Old Trafford with his manager clearly far from convinced. There were others who might have done better too, including Paul Pogba who greeted his old friend Geoffrey Kondogbia with such warmth that their laughing and joking continued as the two No6s walked out on to the pitch. They progressed through the various France junior national teams together and no doubt share a long history but, given the seriousness of United’s situation, you had to wonder if it was quite how their highest-profile player might approach such a game.
It should be said that Mourinho was just as jocular with his opposite number Marcelino once they met by their technical areas. As for Pogba, he had a couple of moments but it was hard to ignore the fact that in the 90-plus minutes that followed Kondogbia was the better player, a key part of a Valencia team that might have nicked it had they had a cutting edge.
Valencia are 14th in the Spanish Liga, four places worse off than United in the Premier League, and should have been beaten by United who have not won in their last four games in all competitions. They surely cannot fail to do so against Newcastle United at home on Saturday. Mourinho had never before gone four home games without a victory in his managerial career.
The pressure came on Valencia at the end, as one sensed the growing desperation of Mourinho’s players. He said he was reassured by the greater effort but there was a lack of quality in their finishing and elsewhere on the pitch, when it came to turning the screw on the visitors.
The old insistence from the stands to attack was a hallmark of the Louis van Gaal era and the chant is back, chivvying the players on just as much as it contributes to their general unease. The victory over Young Boys in Switzerland last month means that United remain in second place in the Champions League’s Group H, behind Juventus who have two wins from two and are yet to concede a goal in the competition. After the international break, United face Chelsea in London and Juventus at home in the space of three days, something that is already on Mourinho’s mind.
They should have beaten Valencia, owned by the Singapore businessman Peter Lim who also has a stake in Salford City, the National League club part-owned by Gary Neville – briefly Valencia manager – and Giggs, Scholes and Nicky Butt. This was not a Valencia side with a lot of sharp edges, as exemplified by Gabriel Paulista and Francis Coquelin, imported from late-arsene Wenger Arsenal. Michy Batshuayi, on loan from Chelsea, looks like a player bound to orbit the parent-club mothership for some time to come. Mourinho embraced the Portugal international Goncalo Guedes warmly in the tunnel before the game, and he looked like his side’s greatest threat. Even so, he miscontrolled a ball through from Batshuayi in the second half when United had committed to an attack and were wide open.
Valencia had identified the right side of United, and Antonio Valencia in particular, as the simplest route in behind their opponents. The United captain struggled at times. Around the 52nd minute the United fans began their exhortation to their players to attack. Alexis Sanchez was more engaged than usual but when, with 14 minutes left, the fourth official punched his number into the board there was a roar of approval that Anthony Martial was coming on.
It had taken the bus 75 minutes to drive 2½ miles to Old Trafford from The Lowry Hotel, a place where United have stayed more often than Mourinho has ordered room service there. Mourinho did not divulge why the GMP had refused to accompany them. It was just one more thing that has gone wrong in a season that may already be beyond rescuing.
Manchester United unused subs Romero (g), Lindelof, Mata, Fred, Darmian, Mctominay.
Valencia unused subs Domenech (g), Vezo, Diakhaby, Wass. Referee Slavko Vincic (Slovenia).