WHY SAY ANYTHING?

José Mourinho has decided that Manchester United deserve more respect and admiration than they have been getting recently.

They will finish the season in second position in the Premier League and already have more points this season than their total of last. They are in the semi-final of the FA Cup where they have an historic away game to Tottenham Hotspur so their season, at this late stage, could be said to have been reasonably successful.

The negatives, however, cannot simply be ignored. Losing to Bristol City in a Carabao Cup quarter-final was seen, by some supporters, as unforgivable. Many of the supporters who did forgive that lapse were quick to reverse their decision when United went out of the Champion’s League to Sevilla in another game they were expected to win, but lost.

These are the games where United lost some respect! It’s fine for Mourinho to keep telling us how good his team is and what a good manager he is but he needs to prove it when playing the Sevillas and Bristol Citys of this world!

Finishing second is a laudable achievement after last season’s sixth place but it should also be remembered that United, to a great extent, sacrificed league position to try and win the Europa League last term. This is a fact of which Mourinho likes to remind people when it suits him!

He should also be a little more humble when addressing the fans after being knocked out of a tournament. To immediately go on the offensive about how good he is and how the expectations of a club like United are too high is a little ridiculous. Expecting to beat teams like Sevilla at Old Trafford and Bristol City away are hardly asking the earth of, supposedly, a top team with a top manager!

If the season ends with an FA Cup win and second place confirmed he will have won back a little of the respect he has managed to lose by his previous actions and words. If not, the season would be seen as one of standing still with the net result, that of Champion’s League qualification, the same as last year.

Meanwhile, in the blue bit…..

Pep Guardiola has deduced that the Premier League is harder to win than the Champion’s League. In other words, two very different tournaments, one a knockout competition involving a maximum of 16 games and the other a meritocratic league with 38 games, are being compared directly with each other. Pep is one of the very few managers who would compare apples with oranges but, in fairness, we know what he means.

The problem with his comparison is that it is true about any cup competition when compared with any league!

To win a league takes consistency. The most consistent team over the course of a season will, providing they have the talent to go with it, win the league.

To win a cup takes talent, consistency and luck. The luck of the draw, the luck with injuries and suspensions and the luck with refereeing decisions. If any of these go against a team in a cup game then they are out of the competition. No ifs, no buts, that’s it, game over!

So we agree with Pep Guardiola that the Premier League is harder to win than the Champion’s League but then so does everybody else because it’s just plain logic.

The games…..

Newcastle United v Arsenal

Stubborn Old Man’s incentive to win games in the Premier League is currently to remain five points ahead of Burnley and three points behind Chelsea. A loss or a draw on Tyneside would close the gap on both sides.

An entertaining first-half ended with the score tied at 1-1 and, at this stage, it was difficult to predict a winner, or even if there was to be one.

Despite having the majority of the possession in the second-half Arsenal couldn’t do anything with it whereas Newcastle, on one of their few sortées into the Arsenal half, did manage to score the winner meaning that they are now safe on 41 points.

Manchester United v West Bromwich Albion

In the first-half of the late game Manchester United huffed and puffed but were unable to create anything of note against West Brom. In fact it was 40 minutes before the first corner was awarded and that went to the visitors!

So 0-0 against a team of players already relegated and with nothing to play for except pride and a move to a club still in the Premier League!

Hopefully the second-half would provide us with the evidence to support Mourinho’s claim that he and his team deserve more respect!

It didn’t. If anything United were worse, West Brom scored and the title went to Manchester City. Congratulations to them.

As for Mourinho and United, they have a lot to do to convince anyone that they deserve respect. This performance was awful, the substitutions made were naive and, the fact is, that United have too many average players to threaten the best.