WHY SAY ANYTHING?

Manchester United got back to winning ways with a reasonably convincing win away at Bournemouth on Wednesday evening.

Mourinho rang the changes, as he said he would, but nobody really believed him when he said the players were playing for a place against Tottenham in the FA Cup semi-final.

If that was the case then Alexis Sánchez won’t be playing as he didn’t feature at all, despite sitting on the bench for the whole game.

Neither of United’s answer to Waldorf and Stadler played for one minute so can we expect them to be left out against Spurs. They should be using Mourinho’s logic as Darmian and Shaw did nothing wrong.

Phil Jones looked competent in defence while Chris Smalling looked reasonable in attack, especially when scoring the opener.

With Romelu Lukaku coming on and scoring his side’s second goal and Paul Pogba running the show from midfield only Anthony Martial, Jesse Lingard and Marcus  Rashford failed to rise above their usual average standards and continued to run around, headless chicken style, in ever decreasing cirlcles.

Martial, in particular, looks as though he has the makings of an excellent player but his attitude appears to be all wrong. He doesn’t seem to enjoy the game and mopes around the field doing very little until he actually receives the ball. Then it is a question of what he will do with it. At present, it is a toss of a coin between whether he will lose possession or beat a player and find a cross.

It is this inconsistency which could see him sold in the summer.

Rashford just needs to be given some direction by the coaches. It would appear that, at the moment, he is just told to use his pace and run in behind the defence.

The problem is that he then doesn’t know what to do! He invariably goes back and tries to beat a defender for the second time at which point he usually loses the ball.

So the younger players would benefit from some coaching. It seems Mourinho is just paying lip service to the history of United by including academy players in the team just so he can say he does.

Antonio Conte tries to belittle Sean Dyche’s achievements at Burnley…..

So Antonio Conte thinks it is easier to manage Burnley than to manage Chelsea. We here at WSA would love to see him given the opportunity to prove himself right!

His main point appears to be that smaller teams with smaller budgets only have to avoid one of THREE relegation places while poor old Antonio is expected to try and win at least one of the FOUR major trophies up for grabs each season!

His Chelsea team sit outside the top four with little chance of making it into the Champion’s League next season and they are only eight points ahead of Burnley, who have not only spectacularly avoided relegation, but are in a position which will qualify them for the Europa League next season along with guess who? Chelsea!

The point Conte appears to miss here is that managing a club like Burnley is not easier than managing Chelsea, even if expectations are decidedly lower. No, the point is that, this season, Sean Dyche has been a better manager than Conte by a country mile.

And finally…..

Now even the Tottenham players are admitting that they have an advantage in the FA Cup semi-final. Yes, it is certainly a favourable position when the neutral ground a) happens to be in your home city and b) is actually your home ground, albeit on a temporary basis.

Why not just give Spurs the trophy now as, if they beat United, they will then be at home in the final. Totally unfair and, from a Tottenham point of view, not a trophy they can look back on winning with any pride or sense of achievement.

Conversely, if they don’t win it, what a chance they will have blown! Imagine being given the massive advantage of being able to play a sem-final and final AT HOME and then not winning the trophy! How sweet would that be?

PS: Why can’t the FA be charged with gross misconduct when they allow such injustices to take place? They are pretty quick to charge others when it suits them.  The expression “do as I say, not as I do” comes to mind for some reason.