Jose Mourinho said before his side’s match against West Ham United that he found it hard to believe their league position. He will have also found it hard that he was sent off for the second time in three home games.
This time, Manchester United’s manager kicked a water bottle. He chose to watch the rest of the game from the dressing room rather than again be a focus of attention in the stands. Mourinho now has as many sendings off at Old Trafford in the league as he does home wins.
The Portuguese has been convinced that United have been playing well, his players “brilliant” while drawing their three previous home outings. He pointed out in his programme notes that the draws against Arsenal and Burnley were so one-sided that David De Gea made only one save in 180 minutes.
“Unfortunately,” he said, “luck can play a big part in football.” It can and he is entitled to feel that United have been unlucky — especially as rival goalkeepers appear to save their best games for when they play at Old Trafford — but there are patterns in United’s play in a stop start season that need changing if they are to finish in the top four.
For the second time in little over a month, United conceded a very early goal in a Premier League game three days after scoring four in the Europa League. United have lost four of their five games after Europa League encounters.
Against Chelsea a month ago, they never recovered and lost 4-0. Against West Ham, United were a goal down after Diafra Sakho lost his marker Zlatan Ibrahimovic within two minutes to head in a Dimitry Payet free-kick.
Ibrahimovic found redemption of sorts with a 21st minute equaliser. It came when a Paul Pogba ball over top of the defence was headed in by the Swede, the culmination of a 22 pass move involving all 11 players.
United were so dominant that it was a surprise the score stayed level. Ander Herrera completed 61 passes in the first half; West Ham’s entire team managed only 76.
United may not be winning at home, but they are playing well, the games are exciting and there are roars rather than groans from the fans. The team are creating chances, there are some fine individual moments, but United will be judged primarily by results and they are failing to be decisive enough in the league for victory. They are creating chances and youngsters Marcus Rashford and Jesse Lingard should have scored for United. It’s so unlike the winning machines long associated with Mourinho.
“We were the best team on the pitch,” assistant manager Rui Faria said. “We didn’t have any tactical issues, we created chances to win the comfortable way. It’s not happening and we get a bit frustrated by that.”
The “you’re not special anymore” chants from the visiting fans to Mourinho are, for the tome being, taken in jest, but the facts are stark. It was the first time since 1989/90 that United have gone four home league games without a win. Then, fans were demanding a managerial change after three years under Alex Ferguson.
Nobody thinks Mourinho should go, but United are sixth and have fallen further behind the pack they are hoping to close in on. They are now nine points behind Arsenal in fourth after only 13 games. There is no serious injury list; any team which can bring off Juan Mata and Marcus Rashford and replace them with Wayne Rooney and Henrikh Mkhitaryan is hardly devoid of options.
Unlucky though United may have been against Stoke, Burnley, Arsenal and West Ham, three of those teams were closer to the relegation zone than a European place.
“Fortunes Always Hiding,” sang the 3,000 travelling fans at the end of the game. It is for United at present.
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