All quiet on the soap opera front.
You’d have been forgiven for expecting Jose Mourinho and Antonio Conte to use their respective pre-match press conferences on Friday to stoke the flames of their engrossing feud.
But, ahead of Chelsea’s visit to Old Trafford to face Manchester United on Sunday, there were no fiery soundbites, no thinly-veiled jabs, no inflammatory remarks about match-fixing or ‘little man’ syndrome.
No, perhaps to the dismay of tabloid headline writers, it was all quiet on the soap opera front. Mourinho and Conte, between whom there is clearly no love lost, decided to keep it disappointingly diplomatic as they fielded questions from reporters.
Let’s rewind. In December, Mourinho hit out at managers who act like ‘clowns’ on the touchline. Although he did not name-drop Conte, the broad consensus was that he was taking aim at his Italian counterpart.
And so the war of words snowballed spectacularly. Conte, in an extraordinary retort, suggested that Mourinho may have been suffering from senile dementia, with the Italian clearly befuddled by the United boss’ comment considering his own track record of touchline sprints and technical area theatrics.
Then, Mourinho took it a step further. The Portuguese brought up match-fixing allegations against Conte dating back to his time managing in Serie A, from which he was eventually acquitted. Conte replied with a real knee-slapper, calling Mourinho a ‘little man.’
And so on. You get the idea. They don’t like each other.
When asked about the exchange on Friday, Mourinho was surprisingly unforthcoming.
“It’s in the past. Both of us say these things. For me, it’s OK and I’m not interested to speak about this topic.”
Conte was equally tight-lipped. When asked whether if he would shake Mourinho’s hand on Sunday, the Italian’s reply was a simple: “I’m not interested in this.”
Four weeks after the public spat with Mourinho was offering fireworks, Conte dampening everything today pic.twitter.com/o5Sv0Vwmt8
— Miguel Delaney (@MiguelDelaney) February 23, 2018
For Mourinho, it follows an intriguing twist in his media manipulation strategy. Following United’s whimpering 1-0 defeat to Newcastle earlier this month, the 54-year-old was alarmingly complimentary in his assessment of the Magpies, saying they were good credit for the win after ‘fighting like animals.’ It struck as both a sudden departure from the usual blueprint of deflection, derision and damning criticism of his own players.
But that’s not to say Mourinho wasn’t thinking of his own players. In lauding the spirit and mentality of Newcastle, it’s reasonable to assume that he wanted his United players to take heed. So insipid and despairing was United’s display at St James’ Park, you felt Mourinho had been let down somewhat.
While question marks over Mourinho’s formation and use of personnel – deploying Paul Pogba in defensive midfield and shifting Anthony Martial to the right to accommodate Alexis Sanchez – were admissible, it’s important to remember that, when the players are on the pitch, the role of the manager is dramatically reduced.
It may be an amusing image to imagine Mourinho like Farmer Fran from The Waterboy, chasing the players up and down the pitch in frenzied scare tactics, but there is only so much he can do from his vantage point in the technical area.
United’s response to the Newcastle defeat, a 2-0 win over Huddersfield to advance to the sixth round of the FA Cup, was enough to stem the rising tide of uncertainty surrounding the club’s stuttering form in recent months.
But a drab stalemate in Seville served only to raise those same exhausting concerns over the perceptibly joyless brand of football United play under Mourinho. And there was scant defence for the Mourinho case. Shutting out opponents before throwing on Marcus Rashford and Anthony Martial to stretch the defence and nick a goal late on is not how fans want their Manchester United to win football matches.
Of course, Mourinho, irredeemable pragmatist that he is, won’t change. The pursuit of the result, regardless of how easy it is on the eye, will always matter most to him. But the results haven’t been satisfactory recently, and that is the worry. Mourinho will know that. When wins become increasingly elusive, Mourinho doesn’t have the romantic notion of frenetic attacking football that Jurgen Klopp and Pep Guardiola are eulogised for, and his position therefore becomes increasingly precarious.
While comparisons between the current landscape at United and his time at Chelsea seem superficial, there is no question that the onus is on Mourinho to restore a more positive narrative.
If Chelsea beat United on Sunday, the Blues will draw level on points. If Liverpool beat West Ham on Saturday, the quest to secure Champions League football for next season suddenly won’t seem so straightforward. When United and Chelsea met at Old Trafford last season, a Rashford-led attack tore through the Blues. United won 2-0 but Mourinho’s controlled the game throughout, exerting a dominance and sense of authority that has often been lacking in recent weeks.
As we approach the business end of the season, and with continued Champions League and FA Cup commitments, Mourinho’s side must recapture that sense of superiority they enjoyed over Chelsea last April. Failure to do so will only gift precious ammunition to the anti-Mourinho brigade and intensify the growing sense of unease at United.
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