“There’s a lot of performances that are exactly the same but get swept under the carpet.”
Manchester United crashed out of the Champions League on Tuesday night at Old Trafford in embarrassing fashion. Sevilla punished Jose Mourinho’s team for their ultra-cautious tactics with two goals from Wissam Ben Yedder. Romelu Lukaku pulled a goal back, but it was too late. The Spanish side were through to the quarter-finals of the competition, and United supporters were left wondering how the team could only manage four shots on target across the two legs.
Following the game, the focus inevitably fell on Alexis Sanchez’s poor performance and the inability of the United players to beat such modest opponents. This was the main talking point on BT Sport. Host Gary Lineker tried his best to steer the conversation onto Jose Mourinho’s turgid, stifling tactics, which resulted in the United team playing within themselves, waiting for the opposition to make a mistake.
Jose Mourinho is to blame for Manchester United's Champions League exit | @RobRedmond10 https://t.co/TuqdgyH02L
— FootballJOE (@FootballJOE) March 13, 2018
However, Steven Gerrard and Rio Ferdinand didn’t really have a bad word to say about Mourinho and turned the focus back to United’s underperforming players. Gerrard said none of Mourinho’s big players “turned up for him” – ignoring the fact it was his choice to start Marouane Fellaini ahead of Paul Pogba, and his choice to play like late 1980s Wimbledon. The former Liverpool captain then said United need to give Mourinho even more money to spend on players.
Ferdinand’s focus was primarily on Sanchez, saying that he almost has sympathy for a player who earns a reported £600,000-a-week.
Rio Ferdinand: "Sanchez looks a shadow of the player he was, he looks a stranger in this team. In some ways, I feel sorry for him." #MUFC
— Devils Latest (@Devils_Latest) March 13, 2018
However, thankfully for the viewers who pay good money to subscribe to the channel, Paul Scholes was there to tell it like it is about Mourinho.
The former United midfielder wasn’t as harsh on Jose as he was with Louis van Gaal, but he still had some interesting things to say. Scholes criticised United’s tactic of playing for knockdowns from Fellaini and questioned why Mourinho shifted Rashford from the left wing after he scored twice in that position against Liverpool on Sunday.
“We can’t use the fear of an away goal as an excuse, you have to say they’ve been poor,” Scholes said.
‘When it seems your main plan is to knock the ball up to Fellaini at the back post and play for knockdowns, that’s not good enough in the last 16 of the Champions League. You have to be better than that. Rashford was so exciting at the weekend against Liverpool on the left-hand side but he’s been put out on the right in order to get Sanchez into the team.’
Scholes also said that Saturday’s victory over Liverpool had an element of luck, that United “got away with it” and that more money for new transfers won’t solve their problems.
Scholes: "They approach every game conservatively. As good as they were on Saturday, they didn’t play great football. They got away with it because of the win. There’s a lot of performances that are exactly the same but get swept under the carpet." #MUFC
— Devils Latest (@Devils_Latest) March 13, 2018
Scholes: "United keep spending money and yet you hear they are supposedly three or four players away. There are players in that squad to play good attacking football." #MUFC
— Devils Latest (@Devils_Latest) March 13, 2018
It’s just as well Scholes was on hand to provide this view, because his colleagues on the night largely gave Mourino a free pass for the terrible result and poor tactics.
You can watch the three pundits speak here:
Rio: "Worst Sevilla team in last 3/4 years."
Scholes: "It was difficult to watch."
Gerrard: "None of them turned up for Jose."
There was no holding back after that Man Utd performance last night 😬 pic.twitter.com/jAa9CoZz1h
— Football on TNT Sports (@footballontnt) March 14, 2018
