José Mourinho came to set records and he’s doing it in unprecedented time.
Just over three months have passed since the start of his competitive reign at Old Trafford and the new Manchester United boss has certainly made his mark.
Their 1-1 draw with West Ham on Saturday was special in more ways than one.
For the first time in the club’s Premier League history, Manchester United have failed to win in four consecutive home games.
Mourinho has masterminded four draws in his last four Old Trafford outings in the league and that hasn’t been done since 1980.
You’d have to go back to September 24 to find United’s last home win in the league – over two months ago. They beat Leicester City that day and looked for all the world like they might be turning a corner.
Then they failed to beat Liverpool, failed to beat Arsenal, lost to Chelsea 4-0 in between those results and let Stoke, Burnley and West Ham leave Old Trafford unscathed.
The sad reality for Mourinho is that, ever since the humiliation at Stamford Bridge, he has improved something – we’re still not too clear what the hell that is but something has changed. They should’ve beaten Burnley, they should’ve beaten the Gunners and beaten them well and, throw those together with a League Cup win over City, a European victory and three points in Swansea, United should have been well recovered by now.
But chances came and they went and the luck ran out. It happened again against West Ham and the manager could do nothing but watch on from wherever he was watching.
Marcus Rashford should score from here.
Ibrahimović should score here.
Mkhitaryan should score here.
Darren Randolph made a number of cracking saves in fairness and this was one of them. Mkhitaryan probably thought he had done enough to score but for the ‘keeper’s resilient reflexes.
Jesse Lingard also would’ve hit the net if it wasn’t for the Irish international. Paul Pogba too.
Then you get boys like Rooney coming on – record-breaking goalscorers – and they roll the ball into the direction Randolph is already falling into like it’s only a warm-up exercise.
It’s tough to legislate for that as a manager.
Rashford’s was a lack of composure.
Ibrahimović’s was a lack of hurrying the f**k up.
Mkhitaryan’s was a lack of sharpness.
Rooney’s? A lack of ability?
Mourinho is getting things wrong and he’s under pressure – anyone boasting a record like he is now should damn well be. But when he talks to the lads on the training field during the week, each of Rashford, Zlatan and Mkhitaryan should pull him aside to apologise.
The manager, in turn, should apologise to the rest of the team for throwing Rooney on and expecting him to do any better.
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