Mourinho watches his side in pre-season action
Photo: Lyndsay Radnedge / Prost Amerika
West Ham worsen Mourinho’s woes, and the worst is yet to come
By Dylan Walsh
A changing room revolution is brewing, the fans have turned on him, and now his job is on the line following defeat to West Ham. Jose Mourinho’s third season blues has hit him at Manchester United.
Going into the season, United weren’t tipped to do anything great other than claim a Champions League spot in the Premier League table and maybe win one or two of the domestic trophies on offer for the Manchester giants. But nearly two months into Mourinho’s third season at the club, and things have never looked worse for the superstar manager.
Turmoil in Stratford
The defeat in East London adds to an ever-growing list of problems for Mourinho’s United. They are now winless their last three games and are three points off the top four, and six points behind arch rivals Manchester City.
The result in of-itself will have the English media buzzing with delight, but for Mourinho and Manchester United fans, the result just adds to the misery the club has endured so far this season.
United’s performance against Manuel Pellegrini’s rejuvenated West Ham side was woeful to say the least. The newly implemented 4-3-1-2 formation looked reasonable on paper, but in practice it was ineffective in the broadest of terms.
The lack of width made it easy for the Hammers to exploit the United midfield by using the free space to create chances, and it was no surprise to see not one, but two of the West Ham goals come from this area.
As well as a narrow formation that played right into West Ham’s hands, United’s players on the day looked disinterested and lazy throughout most of the game.
The midfield three of Scott McTominay, Nemanja Matic and Marouane Fellaini proved little to compliment the strike-duo of Anthony Martial and Romelu Lukaku, and Paul Pogba’s workload of trying to help the attack and defence whilst creating all the chances in the #10 role meant the World Cup winner’s quality was spread too thinly across the pitch.
The Mourniho – Pogba feud grows
United have been the number one talking point in English football for the past week, with two figures the main focus of conversation. Mourinho, and Pogba.
Pogba was stripped of the vice-captaincy after claiming United needed to ‘Attack, attack, attack’ in games, and then footage emerged from the training ground of what looked to be an altercation between the former Juventus star and his manager.
To the delight of sportswriters all over the country, the relationship between United’s two biggest figures worsened on Saturday as Pogba was brought off in the 70th minute of the game.
Mourinho needs to find solutions quickly if he is to regain the trust of both his players and fans, but with the Pogba situation spiralling out of control and the more vocal of fan groups calling for a new manager, ‘The Special One’s’ time at the biggest club in England could be coming to an end sooner rather than later.
