MANCHESTER, ENGLAND – “Three years of excuses and it’s still crap.”
Manchester United fans must feel like they are stuck in a time warp. Sunday’s 3-1 loss to Manchester City evoked memories of Sir Alex Ferguson’s nadir, with Jose Mourinho fully meriting the pre-watershed edict directed at Old Trafford’s grandmaster from disenfranchised supporters as backward steps invariably followed progress.
Eight defeats from 16 matches prompted the unfurling of football’s most infamous bed sheet banner back in 1989. The current United side had only lost three from 11 prior to their latest trip across Manchester, but could conceivably find themselves with a similarly unflattering return of six defeats from 17 before Christmas, with clashes against a resurgent Arsenal and title-chasing Liverpool ahead.
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Now 12 points adrift, the Red Devils have ruled themselves out of a Premier League title race that they were never likely to even contest. Chants of “You live in the past” gleefully reverberated around the Etihad Stadium as the 20-time champions of England appear no closer to assuming their former mantle. If anything, they have regressed on Mourinho’s watch, keeping just one clean sheet in 12 league games and shipping 21 goals in the process. By the same stage last season, they had managed to record eight shutouts with only six goals conceded. Failing to register a singular shot on target from open play strengthened the case against the Portuguese coach, even if he refuses to believe it.
“The way people that don’t understand football analyse football is with stats,” Mourinho insisted post-match.
“I don’t go for stats. I go for what I felt and for what I watched in the game. The game was there until minute 80-something. I consider the performance of my team a performance with mistakes. It’s different than a bad performance. One thing is a bad performance, another is a performance with mistakes. We made mistakes, we were punished by these mistakes.
“But the performance, the mentality, the togetherness, belief, the fight until the end, was something that we are building and we are not going to lose that because a defeat.”
On and off the pitch, a clear gulf in standards sets Manchester’s two clubs apart.
Pep Guardiola has embraced life in the “Cottonopolis,” relocating to the city centre and opening a Catalan-themed restaurant alongside fellow Barcelona alumni Txiki Begiristain and Ferran Sorriano, now City executives. Across town, meanwhile, Mourinho exudes the air of a travelling salesman simply passing through by remaining holed up in a hotel. That self-imposed exile does little to suggest that an archetypal third-season syndrome will not rear an ugly head at the “Theatre of Dreams” in the not-too-distant future.
More than managerial lifestyle choices define the disparity. City’s Spanish midfield maestro and leading South American marksman were both among the scorers for the reigning champions and a cut above the toil of their opposite numbers. Juan Mata and Alexis Sanchez were never going to be able to upstage David Silva and Sergio Aguero from the substitutes’ bench, not least after the silver-haired striker regained his Midas touch to end a four-year goal drought against United early in the second half.
Falling behind has become the new one-goal lead for the visitors. Silva’s opener was the ninth time that Mourinho’s side have been forced to rally from a position of adversity. It was this which suggested they had turned a corner with a smash-and-grab Champions League win over Juventus in midweek that evoked memories of their famous victory in Turin during Ferguson’s treble-winning campaign two decades prior. Any hopes of Mourinho again borrowing from a time-honoured playbook disintegrated instantaneously at the Etihad.
Conversely Guardiola’s side continue to play on the front foot and win without frontiers; this was their 10th league victory and fourth in succession. Remaining unbeaten against four of their main rivals in the traditional top six, only an upcoming trip to Chelsea next month threatens to lay siege to their current streak. Few would bet against them recapturing the title at a canter again. But the City manager remains wary of the threat posed by that chasing pack, with Liverpool and Chelsea also yet to taste defeat.
“Right now, Liverpool, Chelsea, Tottenham and even Arsenal, I think they have the numbers to be champion – not just Man City,” Guardiola warned.
“We’re just two points in front. But last season we didn’t get points in Anfield – we drew [last month], and last season we lost here [against United] – we won. It’s good for the contenders [with] three away games; just one at home, and we got results. But at the end, the three points, the only difference is the contender.
“The important thing is we’re consistent and we play especially, most of the time, good and always I see many things that we can improve.”
Richard Buxton is a UK-based writer and special correspondent for Sportsnet. He filed this report from Manchester’s Etihad Stadium.
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