BY CARLINGTON SAMUELS
Manchester United crashed out of the Champions League yesterday after an embarrassing 2-1 loss to Sevilla at Old Trafford. Since the first leg in Seville, both teams have gone on completely different streaks. Sevilla lost two of their previous four, including a 5-2 thrashing by Atletico Madrid while United had won their last three including wins against Liverpool and comebacks against Chelsea and Crystal Palace. Needless to say, United were the team in form.
Jose Mourinho’s time at United has been disappointed for the most part. Simply put, he hasn’t matched United’s ambition. A year ago, one would argue it’s insulting to suggest Jose’s time has been disappointing. In his first season in charge of the club, he won the Community Shield, the League Cup and the Europa League, which got them into this years Champions League. However, if you look back to United’s Europa League run, it was not all that impressive. In fact, if it not wasn’t for a John Guidetti horror show over the two legs, United would have been eliminated in the semi-finals of last year’s competition
Since taking over from Louis Van Gaal, Mourinho has spent $5.6 billion on very quality players. But two years in, and the team looks just as mediocre as when he arrived. Paul Pogba arrived at United on the back of his inclusion in the UEFA Team of the Year. That same summer, Mourinho also managed to get Zlatan Ibrahimovic on a free transfer from Paris Saint-Germain –Ibrahimovic was Ligue 1’s top scorer the previous year. To add to that, they also brought in Borussia Dortmund’s talisman Henrik Mkhitaryan. With all that talent, United only managed to finish sixth in the Premier League.
One of Jose’s best, and damning qualities throughout his career has been his ruthlessness. That ruthlessness hasn’t transcended to his time at United. There was obvious deadwood remaining at the club when he took and over and Mourinho hasn’t only spared them a spot in the squad, he has called upon them at starters. In their defeat against Sevilla Tuesday evening, Mourinho started Ashley Young, Antonio Valencia and Marouone Fellaini.
On the contrast, Pep Guardiola learned from his mistakes in his first season in England with Manchester City. Pep shipped out Joe Hart, Eliaquim Mangala, Samir Nasri and Martin Demichelis. He brought in immediate and better replacements for those players. They cost the club an enormous amount of money, but they’ve already had lodged a trophy in the cabinet this year and are well on their way to winning the Premier League title being 16 points clear of everyone in the table.
Mourinho’s reluctance to get rid of players he knows aren’t good enough might be down to the fact of how his last couple months went at Chelsea. The players essentially forced him out of the club. They weren’t playing for him anymore and part of the reason was because of their feelings towards Mourinho as a coach. With this United team, he seems to be trying to create harmony within the squad in hopes that he doesn’t find himself in a similar situation as he did at Chelsea.
Looking back to the two legs against Sevilla, Mourinho’s approach to the matches were terribly negative. Much like his approach to most big games he’s managed in. The difference here is this is one of the worst Sevilla teams in the the last 4 years. They were on a bad run of form. They’ve also conceded 5 goals this season to Atletico Madrid, Eibar and Real Betis so United only managing 1 goal over 180 minutes is abysmal to say the least.
This loss was Mourinho’s loss. It’s on him. He set up so negatively against a side with not nearly as much quality as his. The game plan in both legs looked like it was to protect a non existent lead. In his post match presser, Mourinho spoke as if the Old Trafford faithful should be grateful that he manages the team. Quotes that didn’t sit well with much of the fans.
All in all, the team looks disorganized. The players look lost on the pitch. There were no scapegoats for Mourinho this time around. It was his “soldiers” in Ashley Young, Fellaini and Valencia who were on the pitch for the majority of the match. He can’t point fingers at the likes of Anthony Martial or Luke Shaw or even Paul Pogba anymore as he’s done in the past. This is one all on the boss.
With all but the FA Cup to play for, you have to think of how much further this team could go under Mourinho. Does Ed Woodward and the board keep handing him money in hopes he fixes it? Or does he follow Pep and get rid of players who aren’t good enough to play for the club and replace them with quality players? But even then, this Manchester United team doesn’t need that much more to compete with the likes of Manchester City, but who cares about competing with their noisy neighbours when they can’t even get over hurdles like Sevilla.
Woodward needs to sit and think long and hard from now until the end of the season. The pressure lies on him again and not with Jose. Most fans want him out now more than ever. The team doesn’t seem to be improving and his brand of football doesn’t bode well with the Old Trafford faithful. Manchester United is a machine made for winning, a footballing juggernaut defined in part by its success in Europe. If Mourinho has hit a buffer here then buying another Sánchez, another Pogba, won’t solve a basic issue of coaching, the point where defensive control becomes a more risky hand, less likely to bring victory than trusting his team to play in those tighter moments with a little winning freedom.
yougotthejuicenow 