■ Tottenham Hotspur v Manchester United, Sunday at 7.30pm UAE time
It does not make for good reading, whichever way you look at it.
Manchester United’s trip to Tottenham Hotspur on Sunday is their last remaining chance to score a goal against a fellow top-six side away from home this season.
They are the only club in the Premier League — including relegated Middlesbrough and Sunderland — who have not yet done so.
Last weekend’s 2-0 defeat by Arsenal at the Emirates Stadium was the fourth time they have failed to find the net in such a crunch clash on the road.
While there were mitigating factors involved for Sunday, at least — for starters, Jose Mourinho made eight changes ahead of Thursday’s Europa League semi-final second leg against Celta Vigo, which was negotiated unconvincingly — United’s approach in this type of encounter poses serious questions about the Portuguese’s suitability for the job in the long term.
Mourinho has won eight league titles, two Uefa Champions Leagues and eight domestic cup competitions in a managerial career which must be the envy of the vast majority of coaches.
It is likely that United supporters will not be overly concerned with the team’s style of play if he is able to significantly add to his trophy haul at Old Trafford, but it is difficult to ignore the fact that the fans’ deep-rooted preference for attacking football is rather at odds with the modus operandi Mourinho has tended to employ elsewhere.
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United may have managed only 51 goals so far this campaign, comfortably the lowest of the top six in the Premier League, but at Porto, Chelsea, Inter and Real Madrid, Mourinho’s sides were frequently either the highest or second-highest goal-getters in their respective divisions.
Deco, Cristiano Ronaldo, Frank Lampard, Eden Hazard and Wesley Sneijder are just some of the attacking players who have thrived under his guidance, and it would be a mistake to attach such a reductive label as a negative coach to a man who has always sought balance.
At the same time, though, Mourinho’s forte clearly lies in the defensive side of the game and, specifically, setting up his team to nullify the strengths of an opponent.
His crowning moment was Inter’s backs-to-the-wall 1-0 loss to Barcelona in 2010, a result that was enough for the Italians to advance to the Champions League final on aggregate despite completing only 67 passes to their opponents’ 555, and having only 14 per cent possession.
While undoubtedly an exaggerated example of his favoured methodology, it is no coincidence that it remains the match Mourinho is most remembered for.
There have been similar instances this term, too. The blunting of Chelsea as an attacking force last month featured a masterful man-marking job from Ander Herrera on Hazard, while United were also able to impressively contain an in-form Liverpool outfit at Anfield in October.
Such tactics can be tolerated — and even appreciated — when they bring positive results, but 6-3-1 formations are much harder to swallow after a 4-0 reverse at Chelsea in October or a 2-0 defeat at Arsenal on Sunday. Sir Alex Ferguson was certainly no stranger to reactive game plans at times, but defence-minded football was not his default approach in big matches in the same way as it seems to be Mourinho’s.
All of which is not intended as a criticism of the Portuguese, whose achievements speak for themselves. Yet if United fans’ commitment to attacking football is as non-negotiable as is often made out, something will ultimately have to give.
“When I arrived here … I knew that I needed to go in a certain direction,” Mourinho told France Football in March.
“To be attacking, to be dominant, to have the ball, chances, to not be fearful of conceding goals, to bring intensity, not to play with five defenders … to at least try to play positively.”
Against United’s rivals, though, that has not really been the case.
It was hardly the headline of the weekend, but Bournemouth’s 2-2 draw with Stoke City last time out was enough for Eddie Howe’s side to guarantee Premier League survival and extend their present stay in the top tier to a third season.
It is a tremendous achievement. Bournemouth, of course, were languishing in penultimate place in League Two when Howe first assumed his place in the dugout on New Year’s Eve 2008.
Their subsequent rise through the divisions was spectacular, culminating in promotion to the Premier League two years ago, but a top-half finish this term would surely rank as their greatest achievement yet.
Howe has probably already earned a job for life at the Vitality Stadium, although there will come a point when he decides he has taken the club as far as he can and seeks a new challenge.
Any potential suitors will be aware of the work he has done on the south coast so far, but Howe may need to improve his success in the transfer market if he wants to one day be employed by one of Europe’s biggest clubs.
Head coaches are rarely solely responsible for recruitment at such sides these days, although they still have a say in which players are signed and sold — and Howe’s history reveals a hit-and-miss record at best.
None of the five permanent acquisitions made last summer have really worked out, with the £15 million (Dh70.8m) spent on Jordon Ibe a particular disappointment.
Joshua King, a £1m signing in 2015, has proved to be a bargain, but many of the deals made in that transfer window — including Max Gradel, Lewis Grabban and Lee Tomlin for a combined £18m — were not particularly impressive.
For both Bournemouth and Howe himself, it will be important to secure some sounder investments this summer.
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