Manchester United built house of pain while Liverpool moved on up

Aditya Devavrat 11:47 15/12/2018
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Mail
  • Pinterest
  • LinkedIn
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • WhatsApp
  • Pinterest
  • LinkedIn
  • Jose Mourinho

    The blame game continues at Manchester United.

    A turbulent week has seen them lose to Valencia after a timid display that cost them top spot in their Champions League group, and the potentially easier draw that would have come with it, while fans and manager Jose Mourinho alike seem apprehensive about their visit to league leaders Liverpool on Sunday – the game United hate losing the most.

    The gap between the two sides is starker than just the 16 points that separate Liverpool and sixth-placed United in the Premier League table.

    Jurgen Klopp‘s rebuild of the team began only in October 2015, and though those of a United persuasion are quick to point out that the three-year period since then has seen no additions to the Anfield trophy cabinet, there’s no doubt that Liverpool have risen above a slumping United since Sir Alex Ferguson’s retirement in 2013.

    The Reds reached last year’s Champions League final, and are now genuine title contenders in the league – two achievements that seem beyond United under Mourinho as things stand.

    And Mourinho seemed to be twisting the knife further into his own club on Friday with his pre-match comments saying that his side are far from a team playing in his image, before offering a damning explanation.

    “A football team is like a house,” Mourinho said.

    “A house is not just about buying the furniture. You have to do work in the house and when the house is ready, then you buy the furniture, you spend money on the best possible furniture and then you are ready to live in an amazing house.”

    It’s a stretched analogy that amounted to one thing: United’s manager doesn’t believe his team have invested enough to be competing with England’s, and Europe’s best. And he doesn’t just mean how much money has been spent, but where and how.

    Mourinho was crying out for a centre-back all summer, believing his defence was not capable of providing the backbone for a trophy challenge. According to the reports that have emerged since, all his targets were blocked by a board convinced that the players Mourinho was coveting weren’t improvements on what United already had.

    Phil Jones’ own goal against Valencia on Wednesday could not have been more perfectly timed.

    Only five teams in the league have conceded more goals than United’s 26, and all five of those are mired in a relegation battle. For what it’s worth, the gap between United and the relegation zone is the same 16 points that separate them from their table-topping rivals.

    United are being linked with a defensive signing in the January window, and all the evidence of this season has suggested that they need one, desperately. Victor Lindelof has improved, Eric Bailly has looked good on his return to the side, and Chris Smalling has done a passable job of holding the fort, but United are breached too often to be taken seriously as a threatening side.

    But will any signing actually happen?

    The rift between Mourinho and club chief executive Ed Woodward over defensive reinforcements is threatening to break open completely.

    A Telegraph report this week suggested that the manager was annoyed that nobody from the board was in attendance during United’s loss to Valencia, though by now they must have seen Jones’ calamitous moment anyway – and even if they haven’t, they don’t need more evidence that the United defence needs improving.

    The same report also claims that Mourinho has zero faith in any signings actually taking place, because, according to an unnamed source close to the manager, the club “are not working on selling players, they are not working on buying players.”

    And then the most damning quote of all: “Jose believes this is not the best way to rule a football club.”

    Mourinho blames the players and the board, the players and the board blame him, and the cycle continues with no improvement in sight.

    It must hurt anyone connected to United to admit, but how they wish they could be more like Liverpool at the moment.

    Recommended