Jose Mourinho
Embarrassing and humiliating, and neither term is in any way hyperbolic. Before Sunday, the most shots Liverpool had managed in a Premier League game this season was 22 – they beat that total by 14. It was the most shots Manchester United had allowed in a Premier League match sine Opta started collecting such data in 2003/04. If a 3-1 result and scoreline that was in the balance until the final 20 minutes suggests some degree of parity, that presents an inaccurate picture for those who did not watch the game.
The worst fears of Manchester United supporters were wholly realised. Their team never tried to win the match at Anfield, instead sitting deep and launching long balls forward that were at best hopeful and at worst aimless. Jose Mourinho has managed expectations down to the point that some supporters have alleviated him of some responsibility for making the mess, but no reasonable fan could be proud of that performance. United were so passive that there were signs of rigor mortis visible to the naked eye.
It is a message that needs repeating, because plenty disagree with it: This is not a bad group of players. It is not an ideal squad, of course, but then nor is Tottenham’s or Chelsea’s. Most of this squad have succeeded at Manchester United or elsewhere before joining them. Paul Pogba won the World Cup in the summer. Romelu Lukaku and Victor Lindelof excelled at the same tournament. Marcus Rashford is one of England’s brightest young lights. Eric Bailly, Nemanja Matic and Fred excelled enough at previous clubs to persuade Mourinho to part with more than £110m for them.
The squad was also good enough to win five of its first six matches last season to initially keep pace with Manchester City, and beat each of the top six in at least one league game in 2017/18. They have not all lost their ability.
But all of them succeeded outside a toxic environment and within a consistent system that helped them flourish. They are a group devoid of confidence, made miserable by their habitat. And the responsibility for that lies with the manager. If one or two key players were in abject form, it would be on them. If every member of the squad is, it suggests that the system itself is broken. Mourinho’s man-management has not worked. His constant tinkering with formations and personnel has not worked. His siege mentality has not worked. Nothing is working.
To those who believe few managers could do better: We have seen this before. In 2015/16, Mourinho took the league champions deep into the bottom half before being sacked because he lost the respect of those players with a series of strategies that no longer worked. On commentary on Sunday, Gary Neville said that United do not possess a midfielder who can pass it ten yards. That’s nonsense, just like it was nonsense that Chelsea’s players turned lame over the course of a summer. Great management is about fostering a spirit that spurs a team on to succeed. Those teams have organisation, fluency and discipline. Manchester United are nought from three. They are taking the lead from their manager.
Mourinho may well consider that he has been short-changed by those above him, but that does not excuse the piffling output that has the club with the highest wage bill in the country 19 points behind the leaders and closer in points to 14th than fourth. Even his expectation management cannot deflect the tidal wave of criticism that Sunday’s performance will and should bring. If the flak feels more fierce than with other managers, that is because Mourinho long demanded to be judged in those terms and was quicker than most to label others as failures.