Mourinho rediscovers Midas touch as Klopp suffers a blip
Of more note, perhaps, was the celebration which followed, the Belgian international racing straight to his beaming manager on the touchline for a full-on embrace which spoke of shared joy, mutual affection and, you’d have to imagine, not a little relief.
Just five weeks ago, Fellaini was being mocked by his own supporters when introduced as a late sub against Spurs, one week after he’d also been sprung from the bench only to promptly give away a clanger of a penalty at Goodison Park which allowed Everton to snatch a point.
That he should retain faith in the tall guy who became the fall guy, tells you something about Mourinho’s stubborn pragmatism. The faithful may never quite come around to the idea of Fellaini as a ‘Manchester United-type player’ — even if he has just been rewarded with a contract extension — but, late on in a game, if the manager feels the need to go a bit Route One and requires someone to attack crosses and corners — or defend them, preferably with less clumsiness than Fellaini showed at Goodison — he won’t hesitate to send for the big fella.
That the substitution came up trumps on Tuesday also fits with the overall change in fortunes and mood at United since Fellaini was being booed in early December. On that occasion, United succeeded in seeing out a 1-0 win over Spurs which turned out to be their first of six on the trot in the Premier League.
Indeed, United are now on a nine-game winning streak in all competitions, a startling change from their previous nine in which they’d won only four, drawn four and lost one. Fellaini may only have been a bit-part player in the turnaround but, as the jeers were replaced by cheers on Tuesday, it was hard not to see his contribution from off the bench as just the latest example of Jose Mourinho regaining his Midas touch.
It certainly seemed to have deserted him earlier in the campaign, his return to Stamford Bridge in October to see his side thrashed 4-0 by Chelsea, a nightmare reminder of the last season he’d stood in that ground and watched helplessly from the sidelines as everything fell apart. Even as late as the eve of that early December 1-0 win over Spurs, which now has a transformative feel about it, there were many, myself included, who wondered if it was simply the case that Mourinho’s best days as a manager were behind him, that the serial winner had finally and irrevocably lost his mojo.
But now a squad, admittedly assembled at huge expense, is finally living up to billing and, of even greater significance, doing so in a style which has Old Trafford purring. The electric Henrikh Mkhitaryan has come in from the cold, the inimitable Zlatan is doing what Zlatan does, Marcus Rashford continues to impress as one of the most exciting young prospects and, with his eye-catching combination of power and panache, Paul Pogba is finally beginning to look like silly money well spent — even if there is always a sense that he’s a player who tends to keep something in reserve.
Then there’s Wayne Rooney, no longer the main man, of course, but now just a goal short of eclipsing Bobby Charlton’s record, and so on the brink of rewriting the club’s history books. That’s appropriate too because there’s an argument Jose Mourinho hasn’t changed Manchester United as much as Manchester United has changed him, the manager now appearing more comfortable with sanctioning the kind of fast, fluent, attacking football which has long been the bottom-line vocal demand of the Stretford End.
But there is one significant caveat to append to this generally glowing picture of restored confidence, unity of purpose and even joie de vivre at Old Trafford, and it’s to do with the calibre of the opposition United have been beating on their hot winning streak in the Premier League. Since the Spurs win — a side which has gone on to reassert its own title credentials as well as helping other wannabes by dispelling Chelsea’s aura of invincibility — Mourinho’s team have beaten Crystal Palace, West Brom, Sunderland, Middlesbrough, and West Ham, none of whom belong to the heavyweight contenders bracket.
ll of which makes the return tomorrow of English football’s superclasico something to savour, a clash of the old Red Empires which, for the first time in a while, really does seem to merit the ‘Super Sunday’ billing. Or, at least, it will if Liverpool can get their own less welcome change in fortunes out of their system before kick-off at Old Trafford. It might, for now, be accorded the status of a minor blip compared with United’s struggles in 2016 but, ahead of a game that matters more than most to Merseysiders, it’s bad timing — to say the least of it — that a side which has only lost three times all season has now failed to win in three games on the trot since they beat Manchester City 1-0 on New Year’s Eve.
Of even more concern to Jurgen Klopp must be the uncharacteristically sluggish demeanour of his normally high-energy team in their League Cup semi-final first leg defeat to Southampton on Wednesday night, a game in which Daniel Sturridge was largely anonymous, the returning Philippe Coutinho looked understandably rusty and the absence of Sadio Mane, away on African Cup Of Nations duty, was keenly felt. We only have to go back to the run-up to Christmas to find Mourinho playing Mr Glum to Klopp’s Mr Happy. But even with United the team that’s still playing catch-up in the table, their vibrant form means Mour’s the merrier right now.
Of course, that could all change — and change again — over the course of what we’re entitled to imagine should be a rip-roaring 90 minutes at Old Trafford. Just don’t expect Klopp and Mourinho to be Chuckle Brothers at the end of it.
