We’ve been here before with Manchester United.
A familiar pattern has developed in recent weeks with Jose Mourinho’s side, exemplified by Sunday’s 1-1 draw with Everton.
They play well, take the lead, fail to build on that lead and drop off. The opposition, who rarely pose a threat during the game, land a sucker punch in the dying stages of the game and it ends as a draw.
In the process, Mourinho becomes angered by a referee’s decision and bemoans the team’s luck after the game. Or he criticises the opposition, or their manager or gets sent to the stands.
However, despite creating more chances in games than last season under Louis van Gaal, it is difficult to make a case that the team have been unlucky under Mourinho when they have drawn six of their last eight games.
You can’t be unlucky all the time.
United have dropped seven points in the last 10-minutes of games this season, more than any other in the Premier League.
If games ended after 80-minutes, they would be level on points with Arsenal and three points off Mourinho’s old team Chelsea at the top of the table.
Instead they’re sixth, a point ahead of West Brom and nine points back from Manchester City in fourth, and 13 points away from Chelsea.
Here’s how the top of the table currently looks:
And here how it was at the end of August, a month that saw United rack-up three impressive victories.
Following the international break at the start of September, United hosted City at Old Trafford and lost 1-2 in a very entertaining game.
Since then, it’s as though United’s confidence, or more specifically, Mourinho’s confidence, has been punctured. The United manager has arguably overreacted to a number of poor results
Following the defeat to City, he was critical of Luke Shaw and Henrik Mkhitaryan.
He was sent to the stands against Burnley after protesting a decision to book Paul Pogba, and he seemed to write-off any chance of United overturning an early goal against Chelsea. Then he took issue with Antonio Conte’s celebration after the game.
He also questioned Chris Smalling’s mentality and desire to play through the pain barrier.
Something isn’t right, and it can’t be all down to luck or the fault of others. Mourinho’s side, since that defeat to City in September, have been on a serious slide.
The scale of United’s struggles has been laid bare by this revealing statistic.
Since August, Mourinho’s side have won less points than the team coached by this man:
That’s right, Crystal Palace manager Alan Pardew, who was reportedly on the verge of being sacked following his side’s 5-4 loss to Swansea City last Saturday, has earned more points over the past three months.
Alan Pardew, who was on the verge of being sacked, has more points since August than United.
— Rich C (@RichRedVoices) December 4, 2016
Here’s the Premier League table based on the past 11 games:
United fans could easily argue that their team have been unlucky, and because they have been playing well in games, the wins will eventually come.
However, the stretch of poor results is in keeping with a worrying pattern for Mourinho. Over his past 30-games as manager, for United and Chelsea, Mourinho has earned just 36-points.
Jose Mourinho has now taken just 36 points from his last 30 games in the Premier League:
DLWLLWDLWLLLWDLLWWWLLWDDLDWDDD pic.twitter.com/ozMShdBSNI
— Squawka (@Squawka) December 4, 2016
Something needs to change for United, and a good place to start would probably be if Mourinho stopped blaming others.
Catch up with the latest episode of Football Friday Live:
