Few will take Jose Mourinho after Man United pull the plug

Fresh revelations in the interminable saga with mercurial midfielder Paul Pogba, midweek defeat on penalties to the Championship’s Derby County in the League Cup and then a listless performance at London Stadium put in by players deployed in a bizarre 3-5-2 formation, from which rookie defensive midfielder Scott McTominay started at centre-back.

This approach was attempted last month with Ander Herrera in defeat against Tottenham. A trio of goals were also shipped then.

West Ham went ahead this weekend after five minutes through former United target Felipe Anderson. McTominay played veteran right-back Pablo Zabaleta onside to provide the cross.

Mourinho’s appointment was the desperate last roll of the dice from guileless executive vice-chairman Ed Woodward.

After the damaging failures of David Moyes and Louis van Gaal, a CV which contained 23 major honours blinded the desperate to glaring – and fresh – weaknesses.

But for the richly resourced Red Devils, there will always be other managers, other players.

The Old Trafford posting, instead, acts as the moment in time when Mourinho’s position as a contemporary great was ceded. Forever, if judged on the diminishing results and increasing internecine warfare witnessed since 2011/12’s high-water mark with the La Liga crown at Real Madrid.

It is, surely, now a matter of time until United jettison the tempestuous 55-year-old.

From there, what comes next?

These befuddling tricks on show at United came from the playbook deployed in his rollercoaster second spell at Chelsea.

The Blues dismissed him after a toxic implosion in mid-December 2015. Now, Mourinho might not even survive into mid-October 2018 as history repeats itself with a sharpened edge.

Claim and counterclaim surround reports of an attempt to end Zinedine Zidane’s sojourn sometime after Tuesday’s Champions League date with Valencia.

A worst start in 29 years for the club with the grandest revenues in football – plus, England’s largest collection of top-flight titles. United kept six clean sheets in their opening seven matches of 2017/18 – that number has dropped to one this term.

It is a squad stocked with talents procured at premium price but demotivated to play like downmarket castoffs.

When you castigate and malign your squad with the regularity, an unwelcome outcome seems a surprise to only one man – Mourinho.

Pogba has been cast as an ill-disciplined renegade. England left-back Luke Shaw suffered two years of vilification, prior to this term’s recovery.

The talent within France forward Anthony Martial has not been coaxed out. Instead, it has been locked in through a failure to make mistakes and a lack of faith in his obvious abilities.

Centre-backs which manned the division’s second-best defence in 2017/18 were repeatedly – and publicly – labelled as inadequate. This a unit Mourinho had previously spent more than £70 million (Dh335m) on improving, through Ivory Coast’s Eric Bailly and Sweden’s Victor Lindelof.

The former has reportedly been persona non grata because of April’s absence through injury against West Bromwich Albion. Lindelof has rarely impressed and was taken off at the Hammers.

Mourinho has spent £302m (Dh1.5 billion) at United. His outdated man management has contributed largely to only Belgium striker Romelu Lukaku representing a positive investment.

Forwards Henrikh Mkhitaryan and Alexis Sanchez are others not prosper at Old Trafford.

During Mourinho’s peak at Chelsea in the mid ’00s, ‘warriors’ such as Frank Lampard, Didier Drogba, Ricardo Carvalho and John Terry responded to his combative style.

Look around the best teams in England, you will find no such characters at champions Manchester City or Liverpool.

Defensive tactics gained success with Antonio Conte at Chelsea in 2016/17. This isn’t the glaring issue with Mourinho.

The psychological profile of the elite footballer has altered forever. Gifted players no longer find motivation through fear of belittlement.

They are lifted to greatness by the likes of Pep Guardiola and Jurgen Klopp.

Bete noire Guardiola came to Manchester at the same time. His City outfit rampantly broke records on the way to last term’s top-flight trophy, while United stuttered home to second.

Famously, Mourinho failed to gel with Kevin De Bruyne and Mohamed Salah at Stamford Bridge.

Prior to this, vast schisms emerged at Madrid with players from goalkeeper Iker Casillas to superstar forward Cristiano Ronaldo.

Pogba is the latest big name constricted and constrained by an archaic approach.

Mourinho’s record shows an inability to snap out of a tailspin. It isn’t by accident that during an 18-year managerial career, he’s failed to last more than three seasons in a post.

When he is eventually pushed out at United, where next?

The Premier League must be closed off to him after successive sackings, plus a usurpation by managers who present unalloyed progress.

Barca have previously shown a decision never to hire him, while Madrid president Florentino Perez would need to show true desperation to enact a reunion.

Paris Saint-Germain continue to reach for the stars and went with a young, relatively unproven head coach in Thomas Tuchel last summer. Mourinho does not fit with their methodology.

Only AC Milan in Serie A present the same air of desperation emitted by United in 2016.

Mourinho’s transformation from ‘The Special One’ to ‘Yesterday’s Man’ is almost complete.