We are still coming to terms with how far behind Manchester United looked last night against Serie A champions Juventus.
While the scoreline shows the Reds lost by just one goal, the performance levels provided more discomfort for the spectating fan, and it’s no secret that United are years away from competing at the pinnacle of club football.
READ MORE: Gary Neville takes issue with the Glazers and slams Woodward for not supporting Mourinho
United were beyond passive in the first-half but managed to push further forward after the interval, yet Juventus goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny only had to deal with one dangerous opportunity which came from a curling effort from Paul Pogba.
Paul Scholes was his usual vocal self on BT Sport saying that Juventus were simply way better.
“They [Juve] were a step above Man United,” said Scholes, according to Goal.
“The sad thing is there feels like there is a bit of an acceptance to it, not just from United and the players but from the fans also.
“It seems like where they are at the minute, there doesn’t seem to be an improvement in performance over wat is his third year now.”
This was backed up by United fan and author John Ludden after the match. He argues that Mourinho is getting some leeway.
Mourinho is getting some leeway. 10th in his third season? Spent a fortune, fell out and blamed everybody except Fred the bloody red. But, the cult of the manager appears bigger than even Manchester United these days. #mufc
— John Ludden (@Johnludds) October 23, 2018
However, on RTÉ, former Liverpool and Manchester City midfielder Didi Hamann was also left unimpressed. He laid into Mourinho’s conservative style of play in a post-match Facebook Live (see video below).
He also had a go at the fans for not being more vocal in their opposition to the manager’s tactics.
“This is a situation that has gone on for too long,” he started by saying, as per Balls.ie.
“We don’t know what the relationship is between Woodward and Mourinho, it’s certainly not healthy.
I’m surprised the fans keep relatively still. If I’m a United fan and I have to watch that dross for 90 minutes, I would have made my feelings known well before the end….
“…Simply, this can’t carry on. I don’t care who bought the players. These are all international players. Probably most of the team he bought. And there is probably still a fair portion of players there he didn’t buy and he may not want some of them.
“A manager is there to get the best out of his players. The personnel he’s got at his disposal, he’s got to get the best out of them.
“And they are nowhere near. I don’t even think he gets half out of the players that he’s got.”
