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Winning all that matters to Jose Mourinho at Man United, nothing else
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"The good fighters of old first put themselves beyond the
possibility of defeat, and then waited for an opportunity of defeating
the enemy." -- Sun Tzu, The Art of War.
No single quote better
encapsulates Manchester United boss Jose Mourinho's management style.
He is, first and foremost, a strategist. He can excel at the other side
of football management too -- he can harness emotions and loyalty in
others -- but strategy is his real strength.
Mourinho, perhaps
more than any other manager in the league, is able to strip away the
nonsense that surrounds modern football and reduce it to a battlefield
scenario.
And yet Mourinho seems genuinely stung by some of the
criticism he has received in recent weeks. The defining image of
United's 1-0 victory over Tottenham last weekend should have been
Anthony Martial wheeling away in celebration. Instead it was a
rain-soaked Mourinho with a finger raised to his lips, shushing his
critics.
As a result, the UK papers weren't filled with tributes
to an important victory over one of the best teams in the league, they
were filled with speculation that he had bitten off more than he could
chew by criticising the United supporters. Has Mourinho himself lost sight of the simple importance of winning?
Winning
is what he does. It's what he's always done. It's the reason that
United hired him. They tried preserving Sir Alex Ferguson's commitment
to youth by hiring David Moyes, who blooded so many players at Everton.
The job proved too big for him. They tried finding someone big enough
for the job and brought in Dutch legend Louis van Gaal, but that didn't
work either. And so they went for the man who had won a title on each of
his last five assignments with four different clubs in four different
countries.
Of course, he won them in a certain way; the only
surprising aspect of the backlash against Mourinho's way is that anyone
is surprised. It's not always easy on the eye, but what were the people
expecting? Even with lavish resources, did they really think Mourinho
would usher in a new dawn of total football? Did they expect to see a
five-man front line of diminutive playmakers happier to lose 4-3 than
win 1-0? That is not what Mourinho does. That's why he's won so many
league titles. He does everything he can to minimise the chances of
losing, while maintaining any route, however slim, to victory.
Mourinho
was pilloried for his negative tactics in the 0-0 draw against
Liverpool, but it was an understandable, justifiable plan. Away from
home against a team that can be devastating going forwards, he ordered
his men to stay back. They stifled the game, refusing to leave gaps for
Liverpool to exploit, because Mourinho knew that the Liverpool
supporters would grow impatient. They would call for Jurgen Klopp to
push harder, to remove a midfielder and go for broke with another
forward. Fortunately for them, Klopp was too smart to fall for it. And
so the plan failed and the game was drawn. But it was a good plan all
the same.
It was a similar story against Tottenham at Old Trafford
last weekend. United, while not as defensive as they had been at
Anfield, held themselves back, focusing first on stopping Mauricio
Pochettino's men from creating too much. Marcus Rashford, one of the few
United players to impress, was withdrawn and replaced by Antony
Martial, to the derision of some United fans and many neutral observers.
But Martial's legs were fresh and when Spurs made a mistake, he pounced
to score the winner. The plan succeeded and the game was won. This too
was a good plan.
Mourinho will have a plan for Chelsea too.
It is unlikely to invoke the spirit of Kevin Keegan and will almost
certainly be a variation on the frustrate-then-pounce theme (though it's
worth remembering that his United went for Chelsea's throats back in
April, pushing up and winning 2-0).
Much has been made of
Mourinho's record away at title contenders, and it's hardly surprising.
His teams have consistently struggled to score on the road and, since
April 2015, have scored just one goal in nine games without a single win.
By
the end of last season, Mourinho had effectively written off finishing
in the top four before the 0-0 draw away at Manchester City and a 2-0
defeat by Arsenal to focus on the Europa League, the semifinals of which
sandwiched the Arsenal clash. A creditable goalless draw at the Etihad
preceded the first of those semifinals by just a week. He was looking to
Europe for the crucial Champions League spot, not the league. It was a
gamble, a huge gamble, and had it failed to pay out he would have been
rightly eviscerated. But it did pay out.
His
gamble to shut up shop and taking any points on offer on the road, even
at this early stage, may yet pay out this season too. There seems
little doubt that Manchester City are the better team and they are
certainly the more entertaining team. Is there a neutral out there
anywhere who would rather have a season ticket at Old Trafford than the
Etihad? Almost certainly not. But these are not issues that determine
the destination of the trophy.
United are grim, but effective.
They are calculating, not swashbuckling. Mourinho can be snide and
petty, destructive and mean. But these are not issues that that
determine the destination of the trophy either.
Mourinho is in
Manchester to win. Not to win with style, just to win. That's all the
mattered to Sun Tzu. That's all that matters to him.
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