London: At Old Trafford last weekend, in Manchester United’s first home league appearance since being humbled in the Champions League by Sevilla, Jose Mourinho used his programme notes for the game against Swansea City to put the club’s position into some kind of perspective.
“It is clear for everyone to see that this club is in a moment of transition,” he wrote. “The rest of this league season has to be dedicated to keeping ourselves in second place in the table. This is our reality. Of course we want to be the top team in the Premier League but that is not realistic this season, so we must do all we can to secure second place because that is a big move forward from last season’s sixth-place finish.”
So it is and, if United do finish second, they deserve to be congratulated on staying ahead of Liverpool and Tottenham, who have both had excellent seasons, not to mention Chelsea and Arsenal, who both finished in front of them last year.
Mourinho is right: that is progress, even if the elephant in the room that is Manchester City running away with the league is likely to be standing on its hind legs doing circus tricks when United travel the short distance to the Etihad on Saturday.
The thing to remember here is that Pep Guardiola has been in Manchester exactly the same length of time as Mourinho. In addition, City finished empty-handed last season, whereas United won the League Cup and the Europa League. Given that Mourinho has spent upwards of 250 million pounds in under two years at United, his plea for more time — which is essentially what claims of transitional periods boil down to — is not going to find favour with too many fans.
Louis van Gaal was shoved out of the exit door for much the same reason. United are not the sort of club who want to hear about three-year plans or gradual transitions, particularly when the football on the pitch is sending everyone to sleep. Mourinho is not yet guilty of that failing — at times against Swansea his side played with confidence and verve — but going down to Sevilla without much of a fight is something that his detractors are not prepared to forgive easily.
Mourinho is looking forward to qualifying for next season’s Champions League, yet by his own admission United failed to emerge as genuine contenders this time. The manager offered a hostage to fortune when he claimed that the competition proper really starts only at the quarter-final stage and, if United found their route barred by a fairly ordinary Sevilla side, what guarantee can there be that they will be ready to take on Bayern Munich or Barcelona next year?
Doubtless Mourinho intends to spend some more money between now and then, though in all probability City, Spurs and Liverpool will be doing the same, as will the usual suspects in Europe.
Suddenly Mourinho’s track record with big-money signings, once so impressive, is under scrutiny. Nemanja Matic has been a great success, as anyone who saw him playing for Mourinho at Chelsea knew he would be. But, though Paul Pogba still has time on his side, his rehabilitation in Manchester has been far from seamless. While Romelu Lukaku has just about won over the doubters with his finishing, even if playing with a big man up front is being made to look primitive by the fluidity of the front lines City and Liverpool can field, Alexis Sanchez is still struggling to resemble the last piece of the attacking jigsaw his manager claims.
There is no doubting Sanchez’s ability, though the suspicion remains Mourinho moved for him principally to pique City
Maybe next season, Mourinho has said. And maybe next season Marcus Rashford or Pogba will have had enough of trying to fit in around the Chilean, particularly if they have strong World Cups. There is no doubting Sanchez’s ability, though the suspicion remains that Mourinho moved for him in January principally to pique City, who would probably have used him more sparingly anyway.
One of many subplots to what is likely to prove the coronation of City as champions on Saturday is Sanchez coming up against the club he could have joined — wanted to join, in fact. If he was dissatisfied with Arsenal’s lack of progress in the Champions League, what must he think of moving to Manchester just for a couple of appearances in the last 16? He probably thinks the same as everyone else, that casting your lot in with Mourinho’s projects nowadays is not the cast iron guarantee of achievement and improvement that it used to be.
The main Saturday subplot was supposed to be Guardiola underlining this new reality by using the Manchester derby to win the league a couple of months early, though that was before City’s fourth and easily most emphatic defeat of the season, at Anfield.
Now that there is considerable doubt over whether City’s serene progress in Europe can continue, it would not be surprising should some of the hesitation that cost them against Liverpool spill over into their next league game. Suddenly, winning the title by beating United seems relatively unimportant. City will have plenty more chances to wrap up the league, whereas they have only the one chance of Champions League redemption and a slim one at that. With the second leg coming up on Tuesday, Guardiola will do well to keep his players’ focus on the United game rather than the Liverpool one.
There is hope for Mourinho yet, though in fact the events of the last few days will probably depress United fans rather than encourage them. The most Mourinho can aim for is to spoil Guardiola’s day. Liverpool, without even mentioning the word transition, have just put themselves in a position to spoil his entire summer.
— Guardian News & Media Ltd, 2018
