Manchester United’s manager finally finds himself in the right TV chair and after four days with RT at the start of Russia 2018, he will phone in his thoughts on the finalHaving seen José Mourinho slumped at a desk at Selhurst Park on Monday evening, looking as if he had been stuck on a coach for 72 hours at Dieppe, imagine my surprise when I got home and logged on to the RT YouTube channel. Yes, there he was, the Manchester United manager, clean shaven, in a fashionable fleece, and – could it really be – actually smiling. “Drop the cliché,” he joked as the voiceover announced The Special One was joining the channel as a World Cup pundit. The...
Jürgen Klopp has given Antonio Conte the template: Chelsea must banish defeatism and be ‘hungry, alert and aggressive’ in season-saving Champions League second leg at Camp NouPeople are predicting the end of the Premier League as we know it just because Chelsea showed so little ambition against Manchester City when they had a chance to at least lay a glove on the champions elect.It is one thing for a team such as Newcastle to attempt to keep the score down against top sides in the hope of a favourable goal difference at the end of the season but if the defending champions are now at it the game has obviously gone. Related: Why Chelsea’s supine surrender at Manchester City should...
Little came off from Manchester United’s two big purchases in a poor first half at Crystal Palace as both tried to play killer passesIn American sports there is the phrase “franchise player”. It refers to an individual who is deemed not just to be a good player but someone around whom a business can be built, endorsement deals struck, season tickets renewed. The franchise player does not have to be the most effective on the team, though it does help, but they will certainly be paid as if they are.Paul Pogba is a franchise player. His extra-curricular role has been a tricky one for Manchester United to accommodate, one made no less complicated by the arrival of another such player,...
The Sevilla stalemate drew mention of betraying United’s identity. José Mourinho is entitled to play the way he believes will get results but football should be about more than successSome Manchester United fans saw a wonderful game in Seville, it just wasn’t the one their team played in. A handful of supporters made the most of their team’s Champions League match, travelling to Spain early, and on Sunday they were at the Benito Villamarín with 50,000 others to see Real Betis lose 5-3 to Real Madrid. Three days later and three-and-a-half kilometres away they were among the 40,000 who watched United draw 0-0 at the Sánchez Pizjuán, on a night when their team had one shot on target.There is something...
United manager’s omission of France midfielder from the starting XI suggests relationship is still subject to turbulenceWell, we got there in the end. Grudgingly, belatedly and against the manager’s better judgment. But with 17 minutes gone in this Champions League first leg, on a breezy, boisterous night in Seville, José Mourinho found himself forced by circumstance and bad luck into playing his most talented midfielder in his favourite position.It is, of course, important not to be drawn too deeply into another Mourinho psychodrama. On a scale of one to Ramos the current half-glimpsed friction with Paul Pogba is hardly likely to rate a top-10 mention in the all-time annals of toxic José-dom. Related: Manchester United overrun by Sevilla but David...