Jose Mourinho found himself having to take a long walk in to Old Trafford last night where there are still many United fans wishing he’d take a long walk away from the ‘Theatre of former Dreams’.
United lost 1-0 to Juventus and their recent tactic of deliberately going behind to wake themselves up finally failed.
Cristiano Ronaldo and ten others might have arrived a bit later than the United players themselves (traffic problems, apparently), but that did not stop them controlling the game like a well-drilled policeman waving his arms around conducting the flow of cars.
Having spent nearly £500m putting this team together, guess what Jose’s reason for losing was? Got it in one: lack of investment.
Apparently, Juventus were always going to win because they are hungrier to improve in the transfer market. Poor Jose is having to make do with the rubbish he has on a daily basis – players like Victor Lindelof (signed by Jose), Romelu Lukaku (signed by Jose, I think?), Nemanja Matic (signed by Jose) and Paul Pogba (signed by Jose). All that said, Jose cannot be blamed for the fact that Chris Smalling is at the club.
Mourinho did a lovely post-match job of saying his players are nowhere near the level they need to be to compete in the Champions League before praising them for being the best they can be (which just happens to be not very good).
Here’s a cunning idea though, Jose. How about continuing to develop the players that you have? It’s not as if Lukaku is a complete cart-horse now, is it? Martial’s next club when he leaves United is unlikely to be Sheffield Wednesday, so there is probably something there, no? Marcus Rashford, when you remove the English hype, can play a bit so maybe stop throwing him under the bus?
Yeah, I know. I said on Monday that I was starting to like Jose again. Now it’s Wednesday and I am not so sure again.
If you looked at the smile on Peppy G’s face you would struggle to believe that he had just spent a day in Ukraine. Manchester City, led by the returning Kevin de Bruyne and the evergreen David Silva eased their way past Shakhtar and put themselves back in control of their Champions League destiny.
Chelsea boss Maurizio Sarri has taken several looks at Alvaro Morata and is still trying to work out how he has been employed by Real Madrid, Juventus and now Chelsea. Sarri needs a replacement so in a non-lazy piece of scouting has googled ‘Serie A’s top scorer’ and learned it is Genoa’s Piatek. Expect a bid to go in before January.
There could be more good news on the way for Chelsea too. Antonio Conte is being primed to replace Julen Lopetegui at Real Madrid and there is no way whatsoever Eden Hazard is going to put himself through that ordeal again.
