Time Jose Mourinho took himself on in the blame game
What do you do with a problem like Mourinho?
As a career mercenary he has profited more than most from the modern cult of the manager. He has pointed out and he was right at the time that he is a special one.
He has done some amazing things and each time he has milked the credit till the teat ran dry. Yet as he grows older his talent for blaming everybody else for anything which goes bad makes him the Benjamin Button of maturity.
Or the Donald Trump. They have a lot in common.
On Saturday West Brom journeyed up to Old Trafford. Mourinho, who made his name on his tactical prowess and flexibility, seemed surprised afterwards that West Brom had played defensively.
Jose meet Tony Pulis. Tony this is Jose.
Saturday’s draw at Old Trafford was United’s eighth home draw in 15 home Premier League games this season.
The brigades who travel a long way to eat prawn sandwiches and clink their glasses when United put another team of suckers to the sword don’t appreciate draws. especially of the sort United have been getting.
In those eight games (WBA, Bournemouth, Hull, Liverpool, West Ham, Arsenal, Burnley and Stoke) United have scored just five goals. Never more than one in a game and West Brom, Hull and Burnley each held United scoreless.
It’s not exactly the swashbuckling piracy that traditionally turns United fans on. So with a few weeks of the season left the slight embarrassment that is United being in the Europa League has become the most viable pathway into the Champions League next season. Failure to get that Champions League spot will define Mourinho’s time at United.
If Champions League football doesn’t happen global warming or Take That being a threesome will most likely be to blame. Jose won’t be putting his hand up.
On Saturday Mourinho accused a BBC reporter of asking a silly question (as if Jose doesn’t know that himself and TV reporters who ask silly questions are all part of the same entertainment package). He was annoyed at West Brom’s defending and he named names when it came to his own dressing room.
“In teams at this level, you need to be consistent. [On Saturday], for 90 minutes, [Antonio] Valencia was consistent, Ashley Young was consistent, Marcos Rojo was consistent, [Eric] Bailly was consistent, [Marouane] Fellaini was consistent, [Michael] Carrick was consistent, and the other ones were not consistent.”
Maybe it would have been one silly question too far but the BBC report might have asked Jose why he had played the game with two wingers (Valencia and Young) operating as full-backs.
He might have asked if Mourinho is being entirely fair picking on players in an average side for being inconsistent when they have strung 19 league games together without losing. If they aren’t playing with the panache and adventure that Manchester United are known for (but Jose isn’t), could it possibly be down to Jose?
Does Jose really think that the consistency of Fellaini and Carrick represents the future of his United project? On Saturday he had Carrick (36 this summer) paired with Fellaini (wondering about his future every summer) in front of the defence. Really?
In front of them Lingard seems to be a nice little playmate for Pogba but not much more. Martial and Rashford have visibly shrunk. Rashford has talent but you have to wonder about his body language this season. Sometimes he looks as if deep down he is afraid of his own shadow.
And Mkhitaryan, having got a lash of Jose’s tongue in an earlier blame session this season, has shown flashes of genius but he didn’t make the managers “consistent” list for a reason.
Basically, Jose Mourinho has done well to get an ordinary side to a position where it is hovering on the borders of a top four finish.
He is missing four top players at least. And why? He took the job last May and certainly he knew he was going to take it for a long time before that. He was handed fathomless riches and all he could put together was this hotchpotch. On Saturday he actually complained about how shallow his playing pool is.
“It’s such a small squad, I cannot be happy to play in two days without options,” he said. “I’m happy to play every game but, in this moment, I’m without options.”
Is he going to walk into the United boardroom this summer and pitch that argument at them if it has all gone pear-shaped by then?
It’s not Middlesborough you are managing Jose. They didn’t change the fixture lists this year just to spite you. Nobody abducted a clutch of your great talents. You were going to have to play a lot of games and you were going to need a lot of players. You ended up with what you paid for. You made your bed now lie in it mate.
Jose’s problem is that after so many battles the need to blame somebody - anybody - occupies his head as much as all the other worries a manager has put together.
His spending wasn’t stupid but he bought big names who would act as human shields if they didn’t produce and that he could take credit for if they did produce. Balancing out the rest of the team didn’t enter into the equation.
Now it’s a question of how the rest of the season plays out in these circumstances that Jose has created for himself. Can he afford to put all his eggs into the Europa League basket? Not really. He needs to fight on both fronts and risk failing on both.
If Jose doesn’t want any more silly questions how about these:
Do you make yourself look weak again and again by shovelling blame onto third parties?
Do you see a pattern in all recent jobs where eventually you are playing so many blame games, you have to move somewhere new and start the process all over again?
Might players have greater respect for a manager who puts his hand up over time and takes public responsibility for what his team is and does?
You are more experienced at this stage than any of the other top managers apart from Wenger, who seems to be on a waiting list for a place in a home for the bewildered, you have spent huge money on behalf of a club which has a culture of winning. Is blame the best you can do coming into the crucial home straight of the season?
Nobody will ask those questions but we’ll all be watching for the answers.
