Manchester United last taste of defeat in the Premier League was their disastrous visit to Stamford Bridge last October. Since then they have won 14 and drawn 11. They haven’t conceded more than once in the league in six months. Where has this miraculous run taken them? From seventh to fifth. What then is the point of remaining 24 games unbeaten?
A depleted Manchester United squad travelled to the Etihad last night with that record on the line. Michael Carrick, Ander Herrera, and Marouane Fellaini lined up in a safety first midfield, with Anthony Martial, Marcus Rashford, and Henrikh Mkhitaryan the lucky trio chosen to spin gold from straw in attack. Mourinho will argue that the absence of his top scorer and his most creative player forced his hand, but it also let him approach the game as he was most comfortable doing: in retreat. The match was reminiscent of his clashes with Pep Guardiola in Spain, when Pepe roamed the midfield with sharpened studs. Last night’s match lacked the casual violence and sniping of those 2011 encounters even with Fellaini’s two yellow cards in 19 seconds.
In the opening period Martial managed to slalom past Pablo Zabaleta twice and Rashford again showed the potency that was in evidence against Chelsea. While Manchester City hoarded possession their opponent’s threat was clear. Until it wasn’t. Henrikh Mikhitaryan recorded his side’s first shot on target in the 24th minute and it was to be their last. Rashford and Martial may have enjoyed the first half an hour but spent much of the remainder of the game in their own half supporting their full backs against waves upon waves of attacks. Mourinho will point to the absence of Pogba for the lack of creativity in midfield and there was no doubt his ambitious passing and willingness to drive up the pitch limited his side’s ability to counter attack. However it was clear that given United’s position in the league Mourinho was happy to leave with the point they’d arrived with. His side defended well but did little else to claim more than a single point. Despite the best efforts of Kevin de Bruyne Manchester City were unable to dissect the mass of bodies between them and the goal. The second half took up the monotonous rhythm of endless probing from the home side without any threat from the visitors.
Wind the clocks back to December 2014. Jose Mourinho is still manager of Chelsea, his side unbeaten in a mere 20 matches across all competitions. Back then draws were of less interest to the Portuguese:
“If you get 10 draws, you get 10 points. If you win five and lose five, you make 15 points. I’d prefer 15 points and lose matches than 10 points and be undefeated. If tomorrow we have a 0–0 with 20 minutes to go, we are not going to play for the 0–0 to be undefeated after 21 matches.”
Now managing Manchester United, Mourinho finds himself in the former scenario — 14 points behind his former side and with 13 draws from 33 games — more than any team in the league. In Diego Torres’ 2014 biography The Special One: The Dark Side of Mourinho the author distills his subjects strategy into seven bulletpoints, the two most important being:
- The game is won by the team which commits the fewest mistakes.
- By having possession you increase the likelihood of making a mistake.
This was in evidence on Thursday night. His approach has made them difficult to beat but has minimised the element of risk required to win the biggest games. As Mourinho’s first season at Manchester United comes to a close the Europa League offers him the best chance of returning the club to the Champions League. A second trophy in three months would make it hard to call the season a failure. However this fruitless unbeaten run is unlikely to live long in the memory.
Next season Jose Mourinho will have to work out how to win a little more, even if that means losing a little more.
