The 'Special One' has always been able to set a team up to defend but largely leaves attacking plans in the hands of his own players
How many home draws are too many? Eight, if Jose Mourinho’s reaction to Saturday’s 1-1 against West Bromwich Albion is anything to go by.
It felt like the day the Manchester United manager’s patience finally snapped. The Red Devils may be on a 19-game unbeaten run but they’ve only won eight and drawn the other 11, eight of which have come at Old Trafford. The frustration – with not being able to put teams away, with not being able to get into the top four – is beginning to tell.
“It’s disappointing because it’s one more draw,” he said. “It’s an amazing unbeaten run - 19 matches in the modern Premier League is fantastic.
“But it is too many draws at home. Because some draws away from home are acceptable, positive, you can deal with it. But too many draws at home.”
The reliable players in the back were the guys “pulling the train” against West Brom - Mourinho said - while the front four went missing. There was no mistaking that Henrikh Mkhitaryan, Jesse Lingard, Anthony Martial and Marcus Rashford were the culprits for this bad result in his eyes.
“Today for 90 minutes Valencia was consistent, Ashley Young was consistent, Marcos Rojo was consistent, Bailly was consistent, Fellaini was consistent, Carrick was consistent, and the other ones were not consistent,” he said.
“The other ones were a flash of talent, a glimpse of talent, one good action, almost a goal. And we need to kill opponents. This is déjà vu all season.”
If it had been the case that United were peppering West Brom’s goal with shots, he might have had a point about the culpability of the attackers he was forced to choose from for this game due to a combination of injuries and suspensions.
But they only had three shots on target against West Brom. The problem was less in the taking of the chances – for which Mourinho can blame his attackers at a stroke – and more in the creation of them.
It’s extraordinary that a manager in Mourinho’s position would elect to blame Mkhitaryan (16 Premier League appearances), Lingard (41), Martial (48) and Rashford (34). There is often a message behind Mourinho’s contacts with the media but it’s difficult to ascertain what he was trying to achieve by singling out four so relatively inexperienced at this level.
“When you score a goal against these teams you don’t win 1-0,” he said. “You win three or 4-0 because the game is open and they have to play a different way.”
What Mourinho sought to mask with the blame game is this: when that first goal doesn’t come easily, the manager has no solutions. With no out-and-out striker on the bench, Mourinho turned to Marouane Fellaini to supplement Rashford in the second half. By doing so he played right into the hands of Gareth McAuley and Jonny Evans. West Brom’s centre-backs made 26 clearances between them on the day.
Mourinho was criticised throughout his time at Real Madrid for failing to implement a coherent attacking strategy. Whatever the likes of Mesut Ozil, Karim Benzema or Cristiano Ronaldo could muster in front of goal was largely their own work. It was the only part of the game plan that allowed for improvisation and only because Mourinho was so utterly dependent on skills he couldn’t impart.
He has never been a coach to improve attackers or help them develop innovation in front of goal. He’s the type of coach who can drill a defence but when it comes to forwards he’s helpless.
No comments:
Post a Comment