Manchester United are the defenders of a lost art under Jose Mourinho... he is rebuilding the spirit of Old Trafford from the back

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All the wailing and moaning about Jose Mourinho parking everything from a bus to a battleship in front of Manchester United’s goal goes to the heart of the malaise in English football lurking behind the false facade of this week’s Champions League results.

When it suits Mourinho, United are the defenders of the lost art.

The lost art of defending in our national game.

Jose Mourinho took a swipe at those who question his tactics as Manchester United manager

That is a deficiency which makes it unlikely that any of the Premier League moneybags currently sitting atop their Champions League groups will actually go on to lift the European crown.

With the possible exception of… United.

Mourinho has been charged with all manner of offences, from killing football to betraying the spirit of Old Trafford.

Now he is asking: ’Is it a crime to defend well?’

It is a question well put.

United put one foot in the knockout stages of the Champions League with victory at Benfica

To the dewy-eyed romantics. Because nothing – not sport, not marriage, not bringing up the kids – can be solely about romance. Battles have to be won in every field of human contact, bills for the candlelit suppers must be paid.

Rightly asked, also, of the rival managers who cast aspersions on Mourinho’s methods. Antonio Conte, for one, could have done with stationing at least a Ford Fiesta in Chelsea’s penalty area when they were two up against Roma on Wednesday night, only to end up drawing 3-3. Nor would his declining champions be below Watford if they had not let in four times as many Premier League goals as United.

Mourinho is not the cosiest personality in the managers club but his knockers have short memories and myopic vision.

Lest they need reminding, United began this season with a glut of four-goal victories. In case they need glasses, the league table tells us that in eight Premier League games they have scored 21 goals, six more than Spurs who are London’s self-professed high priests of attacking football.

Mourinho is not killing the spirit of Old Trafford at Manchester United — he is rebuilding it

The Portuguese has kept a tight ship at one end despite a host of injuries in the squad

Mauricio Pochettino is wittering on about being short of top players – er, Kane, Alli, Eriksen, Loris? But the evidence suggests that Mourinho has only turned defensive of late when deprived by injuries of a serviceable quota of midfield men.

That was the case in the 0-0 bore at Liverpool, where Jurgen Klopp remarked that he would not want to play Mourinho’s style.

Well, gentlemen, if you don’t like it do something about it.

Sticking seven past a team of Mars bars in Slovenia does not excuse Liverpool’s laboured failure to turn possession into so much as a single goal against United. Not when you’ve only scored one more Premier League goal than you’ve let in this season.

The greatest teams are built from the back. Always have been. That is the unlearned lesson which is finally catching up with the most honourable Arsene Wenger.

Pep Guardiola appears to have caught on. He has only unleashed the full force of Manchester City’s mega-millions attack now that they, too, have closed the door at the back. Conceding just four league goals has as much to do with him being two points clear of Mourinho as the 29 they have scored.

Even Manchester City's Pep Guardiola appears to have accepted Mourinho's way of thinking

Guardiola only unleashed his all-star attackers once the defensive system was mastered

There is nothing reprehensible about good defending. It is half the game. The shortage of that quality in this country is one of the failings dragging at England’s heels when it comes to World Cup and European Championship finals.

Playing against weak defending does nothing to develop high-class attacking.

Greatness, so many seem to need reminding, is about being able to execute the highest skills under the severest pressure. That takes practise, on a weekly basis.

The best football in this country is presently being played in Manchester. But not only at City. United are doing their bit, too.

Add in their Champions League matches plus a League Cup tie apiece and the records this season reads:

City – played 12, goals for 39, goals against 6.

United – played 13, goals for 34, goals against 6.

That gives City a goal scoring ratio of 3.25 per game, with United on 2.62.

Jose Mourinho is not betraying the Old Trafford tradition. He is rebuilding it. And not only from the back.

May he linger several more winters, before taking a one-way Eurostar to Paris. 

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