Manchester United’s 3-2 loss at Brighton on Sunday afternoon exposed everything that is wrong with this team. And not only team, but also everything that is wrong with the club as a whole. Not much was needed into the new season for things to go south and it is a theme that was somewhat expected ever since Jose Mourinho’s first press conference of the season, back in July.
So, why are Jose Mourinho and Manchester United feeling like partners in a broken marriage? They seem to be stubborn enough to stay together, but it is hard imagining for things to improve drastically in the near future.
Mourinho’s Lack Of Results And Surplus Of Excuses
One of the obvious reasons is Mourinho’s lack of results. Sure, he won League Cup and Europa League in his first season. The former is not really a priority for a club like United and should not be taken too seriously, while Europa League win was just a prerequisite if the team was to actually star in the Champions League the following year. The team improved from sixth in the league to second, but the way the team played did not really improve that much.
After all, Manchester United are averaging 1.61 goals per match in Premier League since Jose Mourinho took over. No wonder that challenging for the title seems like an impossible feat. Also, there are his constant excuses of Man City spending more, of other teams doing more in the market and his team not being good enough. The fact is that the side has stagnated despite the new signings and overall improvement of the squad quality. This team currently plays far below their possibilities and Mourinho’s excuses should not really be considered in a proper argument.
Ed Woodward’s Puzzling Policy
Ed Woodward is a really odd man. He had the gut not the support his manager in this summer transfer window. Which is a logical thing to do when you are unsure about your manager. Similar things happened to Manuel Pellegrini in his last season at City. But then everyone expected Guardiola to arrive.
With Woodward it is a weird situation as just little over 12 months ago Jose Mourinho was given a new, improved contract. If you are giving your manager full trust for the future, why would you not support him in the market the following summer? It is hard seeing things being repaired after everything that happened this summer.
Things Have Gone Too Far
The feeling is that things have gone too far. Jose Mourinho’s pride must be aching in recent weeks as his own employees did not believe him enough to back him in the market. And then again, Mourinho’s sour behavior in the past few months also gave away plenty of messages he had “sent” to the board through media.
With a season starting the way it did, Man United and Mourinho would really need to make drastic improvements if the things are to truly work out for all sides. But they have not worked out in the past two years and the third season syndrome could truly kick in.