Can Mourinho mastermind much-needed statement win when United host Spurs?

On Sunday, after Marouane Fellaini had committed what by now feels a very typical error born of clumsiness, Jose Mourinho tried a typical piece of deflection. “When my teams are playing pragmatic football and winning matches and winning titles you say that is not nice and not right,” the Portuguese argued after Manchester United’s 1-1 draw at Everton.  

“Then my team play very well - and is a huge change to the last two or three years [at United] - now you say what matters is to get the result no matter what. In this moment we have teams getting results that defend with 11, kick ball and attack the space on the counter-attack... it is phenomenal, it's beautiful. You have to make a decision.” 

One obvious response would be that, before Mourinho starts talking about how other sides are treated, he has to get a win himself. Otherwise, it just makes his comments sound so much hollower, so much more transparent. Because, in truth, the Portuguese’s recent record is not really something that can’t be deflected from. It is not just that he has only managed two league wins in the last 11, and not won two consecutive matches in any competitions since September. 

It is also about who he has beaten, going right back to the start of that landmark failure of a 2015/16 season. Since the start of that campaign at Chelsea, Mourinho’s teams have only claimed league wins against the following sides: West Brom, Arsenal, Aston Villa, Norwich City, Bournemouth, Southampton, Leicester City and Swansea City. 

That’s just eight wins in 30 games and, bar the victory over Arsenal - who at that point in September 2015 still had such a significant complex about both Mourinho and Chelsea - they’re all over sides who have spent a lot of time since then in the lower half of the table. In other words, Mourinho has only really beaten teams he always should beat. One of many problems has been that he doesn’t claim the big wins that he should, that really embolden a side. 

Many could fairly point out that there is too much of a difference from the Chelsea situation for that to be relevant to United now, and the Old Trafford hierarchy also firmly believe that there have been enough positives from recent performances to dismiss concerns about early results. It is just that it is precisely because the level of the defeated teams has remained so constant - and most have been so poor - that it feels like there could be a fundamental issue here with the current coaching, rather than the clubs. 

Even the patterns of the performances have been similar. As bad as it got for Chelsea in the league last season, one of the greater frustrations was that many overall displays weren’t actually that poor. Chelsea would be right in a match and have chances - like, say, in the 3-1 defeat to Liverpool - only to be undone by a conspicuously porous defence and so many moments of “bad luck” where just nothing seemed to go their way. Sound familiar? 

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That is why this recent poor run has posed bigger concerns than performance. That is why this match against Tottenham Hotspur on Sunday is so important, for more reasons than just cutting the gap to fifth. 

Mourinho needs to get a statement win again. He needs to beat a properly good team in the league again, to foster the sense that performances do suggest an upward surge; to prevent this endless need to refer to chances or luck or whether they deserved to win but didn’t. It could also mark a juncture moment, something that finally jars United out of this pattern; something that restores a ruthlessness and vigour. 

There is one positive backing the United hierarchy’s view. At the very least, the attacking stats - for this has been one of the main concerns - are marginally better than Chelsea’s under Mourinho last season, and more in tune with his last title campaign. United have had 1.4 clear-cut chances per match compared to
Chelsea’s 0.8 for the first 16 games of the 2015/16 season and 1.7 for the 2014/15 campaign. Those have come from 16.4 shots per match and 5.5 on target for United, against 14.1 to 4.1 for Chelsea 2015/16, and 14.8 to 5.5 for Chelsea 2014/15. 

There’s also clearly a bit more penetration to their play, given they’re playing 12.1 key passes per game - just as Chelsea played 12.3 in winning the title - and the defending champions played just 11.6 last season. So, it’s not that familiar to 2015-16 in terms of the pattern of the games. Mourinho just needs to ensure it’s different in terms of the pattern of defeated teams. He needs to get that big win again. 

Then, no deflection will be required whatsoever.