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Jose Mourinho is finally no more at Manchester United, after club executives called time on the Portuguese manager’s reign of terror.
The 55-year-old has 27 trophies to his name and led the Red Devils back into the Champions League thanks to a Europa League triumph in 2017, but recent results have been a far cry from bringing the same taste of success to Manchester.
Since his first season at Old Trafford, even finishing second behind local rivals Manchester City has not been enough for the club to progress, and the root cause of their issues is the toxic environment Mourinho created.
Regularly he would blast his own players, make the situation about himself, and build pride in his warped sense of reality of still being a success in the modern game because he has won the Premier League more times than any current manager.
The final nail in his Manchester United coffin, however, was not the dark atmosphere hovering over the Red Devils, but the manager’s apathy in searching for victory at Anfield and letting Jurgen Klopp change the game in Liverpool’s favour.
Who’s most to blame for Man Utd’s poor season? FFC’s James Jones has his say in the video below…
With the score locked at one-all, the German in the hosts’ dugout sought to spark life into his side with the introduction of Swiss superstar Xherdan Shaqiri, who later went on to grab two goals that ensured the Merseyside outfit ended the day top of the league.
Mourinho, meanwhile, sat slumped in his seat, watching on as the game went begging and United suffered their fifth league defeat of the campaign – ending the day just one point better off than last year’s Championship winners Wolverhampton Wanderers.
At the time of his departure, the gap between the most decorated side in the English game and the top four is eleven points, the same difference that keeps his now-former side from being in a relegation scrap. Even worse, the gap to Liverpool resides at 19.
It took some doing for a manager so focused on his own success to sit back and watch on without a whimper, as his side lost a game that was there for the taking with the right selection.
Paul Pogba is instrumental in United playing to the best of their abilities, but the one-time most expensive signing in world football was wrapped in his coat and snood rather than lacing his boots to fire his side to victory.
Even the best passer of the ball in the Reds’ ranks, Juan Mata, sat benched until the game was gone and the Spaniard could not influence a turnaround.
Had he, or his World Cup-winning colleague, joined the action, Liverpool’s backline would have feared the prospect of Marcus Rashford, Jesse Lingard and even Romelu Lukaku running at them, as the correct service would have been there.
Instead, Klopp’s lethal offence took the game by the scruff of its neck and gained from the fortune that favours the brave.
Looking at Mourinho’s selection before kick-off, it was clear the Portuguese coach was trying to build on his old tricks in a game that no longer suits them. A makeshift backline and a midfield duo of Ander Herrera and Nemanja Matic was never going to be enough to fire United to victory over their greatest of enemies.
Bringing on Marouane Fellaini screamed of desperation, as United had to be playing well to control possession and fire the ball into the box for the Belgian to succeed – something they were at no point capable of.
If Mourinho truly wanted to win and take the game to Liverpool, why leave his game-changers on the bench? Why take dinosaur football to one of the top teams in the country? Why, in your hour of need, turn to Fellaini when your counterpart turns to the forward-thinking, elusive, Shaqiri?
Whoever takes the Old Trafford reigns will have a tough task reshaping the Red Devils into a winning side again.