Jose Mourinho Must Take His Share of Blame for Manchester United's Shortcomings

Jose Mourinho responds to the suggestion he may be as culpable as his players.Matthew Lewis/Getty Images

The famed neurologist and author Oliver Sacks once told a story of a white-winged butterfly that, during the Industrial Revolution, quickly turned soot-coloured on being exposed to the grime of the city. He called it "accelerated evolution."

Watching Manchester United being put into a sleeper-hold via accumulative ennui in Saturday's goalless draw with West Bromwich Albion, and then recalling Sir Alex Ferguson signing off 26 years at Old Trafford with a 5-5 draw against the same opposition, the phrase that came to mind was accelerated devolution. 

It's a little less than two months shy of four years since Ferguson swapped the dugout for the directors' box. United haven't scored five in a league game since. It would be to indulge in revisionism to claim they were always as pure as the driven snow under the Scot, but in comparison, watching them now can feel like trudging through grey sludge. In flip-flops.

Ferguson did not oversee a single goalless draw in his final 116 games in charge. Saturday was a fourth of the season for Mourinho. Between him and his predecessors—the twin disciples of dour, Louis van Gaal and David Moyes—some 18 have played out since Ferguson's retirement.

It would be generous to say the jury is still hung on whether Mourinho's United are closer to Van Gaal's or Ferguson's.

Mourinho will point to mitigating circumstances at the weekend. This was an understrength United. Chris Smalling and Phil Jones both picked up injuries while away with England, while Paul Pogba and Juan Mata are likewise bound for the treatment room.

When you throw in suspensions to Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Ander Herrera, United were deprived of players responsible for 27 of a paltry 42 league goals they have managed this season. That's the same as Bournemouth and only three more than West Brom. No wonder Baggies boss Tony Pulis was laughing so much on Saturday.

Having to work around injuries and suspensions in April is hardly universal to United, though. Given this was a first of nine games in 30 days, it seems likely it could prove the most trying of months for Mourinho and his players.

For clarity, before the criticism rains forth, it's worth stating this writer thinks overall Mourinho is doing fine. No more, no less. If he can deliver the Europa League, on top of the EFL Cup, it should be deemed a successful season.

There's little doubt United have shown an improvement on the previous three campaigns. The football is on the whole quicker and better, and in the acquisitions of Ibrahimovic and Pogba, he has at least addressed a need to add a little glamour to a Theatre of Dreams that was only putting on kitchen sink dramas—even if at times the results have been mixed with the latter.

Given it's his first season at the helm, allowing a little benefit of doubt seems just about fair—even if United started it as second favourites for the title.

Yet at the same time, any rictus exclamations about United "being back" have had about as much conviction as New Year's Eve revellers telling one another they're having a great time, despite having spent £35 to stand in a Wetherspoon pub in a seaside town they forgot to pull down.

Similarly, just as was the case on a game-by-game basis last season, more than the odd United supporter must have daydreamed about a bottle of wine, the sofa and Netflix when sitting through another laborious home stalemate on Saturday.

Pulis' game plan followed a similar blueprint to one that has allowed Stoke City, Burnley, West Ham United, Hull City and Bournemouth to leave Old Trafford with a draw this season. Opponents all term have routinely ceded possession to United, but left no space, before leaving through the back door with a point.

Post-match, Mourinho attempted to throw the whole of his forward line, along with BBC reporter Conor McNamara, under the same bus Pulis had parked on arrival in Manchester.

"I think in football, especially in teams that want to win things, you need consistency in the individuals," Mourinho said when later speaking to the written press. 

"In some other clubs where you play for top 10, a player with talent is always welcome even if that talent is not consistent, even if that talent is one day yes, one day no. But in games at this level, you need to be consistent.

"But you see how many goals during the season (Marcus) Rashford, (Jesse) Lingard, (Henrikh) Mkhitaryan, (Anthony) Martial, score. See how many goals they score. Zlatan and Mata are the ones with more goals."

It would be tempting to say the writing is on the wall for the quartet, were it not for their blindfolded presence against it obscuring any daubed message. In fairness to Mourinho, his withered assessment was not based purely on the weekend­.

Rashford, Lingard, Mkhitaryan and Martial have scored just 10 Premier League goals between them all season. West Brom's 37-year-old centre-half Gareth McAuley has managed six on his own, which is at least double any of the aforementioned have managed, the same as Mata and two more than Pogba.

Mourinho naysayers who voiced misgivings on his appointment with regards a dubious record developing young talent will point out 19-year-old Rashford and Martial, now 21, have taken as many steps backwards this season as they did forward last.

Rashford has not scored a league goal in six months, while Martial wears a look borrowed from Kevin De Bruyne and Romelu Lukaku during their respective spells at Chelsea. Ibrahimovic has been almost as influential a leader for Mourinho at United as Didier Drogba was for him at Chelsea, but Martial in particular does not strike as being willing to play second fiddle indefinitely. 

Mourinho is fast in danger of turning into football's Willy Wonka. He'll reluctantly accept kids on to the premises but invariably can't help himself from teaching them a lesson. Don't be surprised if it transpires Luke Shaw, left out altogether, wasn't available for the weekend because he had fallen into a chocolate river and was still drying off. When Martial's agent over the summer leaks a story that his client has been turned into a giant blueberry after something he ate at Carrington, Mourinho's game will be up. 

"This is deja vu all season," Mourinho complained, yet still he doesn't seem to see it coming. Derek Acorah has nothing to worry about.

Mourinho inherited a Manchester United side from Van Gaal that could not break opponents down at Old Trafford. Saturday was an eighth home draw of the season. West Brom and Burnley are among nine other teams to have won more points at home than United have procured from 15 Premier League matches at Old Trafford. Of the 15 sides below United in the table, nine have scored more home goals, including a Hull City outfit currently in the relegation zone.

In those eight draws, United have averaged just shy of 65 per cent possession and had 154 attempts on goal, which works out at a hearty average of 19.25 a match. How many of those shots were taken from range, through frustration as much as optimism, after opponents had time to pitch a camp in their own box and start a little fire while waiting for United to stop shuffling the ball sideways, is another matter entirely.

Over the same period, United allowed their opponents just 50 attempts in total, at an average of 6.25 per game.

McNamara's phrasing was a little clunky when he asked if it was a meeting of two evenly matched sides that had essentially cancelled one another out, but it was hardly worthy of the umbrage it stoked in Mourinho.

The Portuguese painted a picture of profligacy being United's sole issue in a game in which they, for wont of a better word, enjoyed 75 per cent possession. If profligacy is a fancy word for playing poorly, then he's got a point.

However, given it took until the 67th minute for either side to have a shot on target, and West Brom actually went the closest to scoring when David De Gea fumbled a Darren Fletcher shot from range on to the crossbar, McNamara's line of enquiry hardly seemed the "silly question" Mourinho labelled it as.

Mkhitaryan's chipped effort when through on goal was probably United's best opportunity, but it had neither the purchase nor precision to unduly worry Ben Foster. It was one of only three of 18 attempts on goal the former United goalkeeper had to busy himself with. A couple of decent strikes from Rashford that were parried away late on counted as the other two.

In fairness to United's misfiring forwards who want the ball early, Rashford and Martial would probably be better off posting it themselves via Royal Mail. Apparently they do same-day delivery if you pay a bit more. Both have let Mourinho down with their finishing; both would argue a lack of playing time has eroded their confidence.

To play Rashford on his own up front, as Mourinho did on Saturday, and expect a like-for-like performance as the man he replaced, Ibrahimovic, without tailoring United's play whatsoever is like feeding a seal canned tuna. Ibrahimovic would have loved the innumerable amount of crosses United put in, Rashford less so. Maybe next time a footrace might better suit Rashford against McAuley, a man 18 years his senior.

Mourinho can justifiably claim United's goal-shy forwards are effectively shooting him in the foot, but he's doing himself a fair bit of self-harm by setting his side up to be so fussy and fastidious in their buildup play. He has to take culpability for any style issues. And there are several to iron out. 

Throughout his career, Mourinho has always fostered a "them" and "us" mentality at the clubs he has managed. "Them" tend to be the opposition, or referees, or journalists. What felt different at the weekend was his rhetoric sounded familiar, except it seemed to pitch United's defence against its attack. By extension, it felt as though he absolved himself and his "phenomenal" back six of any blame, while laying it squarely at the door of the front four.

"And then we have four creative players that we need to score a goal and they didn't," added Mourinho.  

"They had flashes, moments, they didn't have consistency and we dropped two points for that.

"We have consistency in those six guys, consistency in defensive organisation and consistency in the buildup. But when we go to the finishing moments—we have to score." 

Herein lies the issue. Mourinho accepted only one side wanted to win the game but couldn't work out why his four attacking players struggled to find gaps between the 11 West Brom sat in front of them. Pulis has his teams so well drilled at any point over the 90 minutes his players could probably have reached out and joined hands as a group without the need to stretch.

Against such minded opposition, did United really need to field two holding midfielders in Michael Carrick and Marouane Fellaini? Wayne Rooney might not be the long-term answer, but when the club's all-time leading goalscorer is on the bench, it seems a little foolhardy to keep him sat there until 16 minutes to go. And then to take off Mkhitaryan for him was more Fergie-lite than Fergie-like.

United are now 19 league games unbeaten, the longest of any such run in Europe's top five leagues. The problem with such records is they can become entities in their own right, mini-obsessions that need constant tending despite ultimately being less useful than they sound impressive.

Mourinho could extend that run to 29 matches by the end of the season, but if United finish outside of the top four, it will be about as useful as the world record for stuffing straws into your mouth and holding them there for 10 seconds. It's 400, for those interested or considering an attempt.

Depending on whether you are a glass-half-full or glass-half-empty Manchester United supporter, the butterfly at this delicate juncture in the season could still be seen as either white-winged or soot-coloured.

Those that have already drained the contents of the glass may argue United have yet to even find their way out of the cocoon post Sir Alex Ferguson.

All statistics worked out via WhoScored.com