Sometimes Jose Mourinho must feel he can’t win – even when his team does.
There has been a lot of hot air over style and substance in Manchester United’s win against Tottenham last weekend. And yes, it was a pretty dull game.
But given how Spurs dismantled Real Madrid at Wembley 72 hours later, was Mourinho a killjoy or tactically astute to approach the Tottenham clash with caution?
In a vital game for both sides, with the gap to leaders Manchester City extended to eight points for the losers, surely it was all about the result... and Mourinho found a way to win.
The last opposition player to score at Old Trafford in the league was Gylfi Sigurdsson – for Swansea, seven months ago.
If Mourinho had tried to take on Spurs with an open, gung-ho game plan and lost, he would have been absolutely crucified.
Paul Scholes hit the nail on the head when he said it’s four years since United sustained a title challenge, and it’s high time they were in the mix again.
Ask any Arsenal, Tottenham or Liverpool fan if they would accept duller football to be neck-and-neck with City at the top. I think I know how most of them would answer.
It’s fashionable to knock United because they are one of the biggest clubs in the world, but if that had been a Juventus shut-out marshalled by Giorgio Chiellini and Leonardo Bonucci, everyone would have said it was a defensive masterclass.
All I can do is to repeat what I tweeted during Tottenham’s brilliant 3-1 win against Real: Should people really be criticising United for the manner of their win against Spurs when you see what happened at Wembley?
One thing I would love to see Mourinho try – and there’s no chance he will attempt it at his old club Chelsea tomorrow – is to unleash Marcus Rashford, Romelu Lukaku and Anthony Martial as a front three.
Whatever the outcome, it wouldn’t be dull.