All the talk before the match was about the past, and Juventus showed how behind the times United are.
Before the Champions League tie between Juventus and Manchester United, the focus was on Cristiano Ronaldo and the history of the fixture. The Portuguese forward was making his second return to the club he joined 15-years ago as a skinny teenager and left six-years later as the most expensive footballer in the world.
In truth, United haven’t been the same since he left. Alex Ferguson’s genius ensured that the club still won trophies after Ronaldo departed for Real Madrid.
A great coach and above all a wonderful man. Taught me so many things inside and outside the pitch. Great to see you in good shape, Boss! pic.twitter.com/Ql4dcuJvCW
— Cristiano Ronaldo (@Cristiano) October 24, 2018
But the team’s performance against Juventus on Tuesday night summed up the flux the club has been in since the Scot left in 2013.
United were passive and muddled, an expensively assembled collection of footballers playing without a plan.
The current United manager has been bypassed, both in terms of tactics and his approach. That is painfully obvious.
Jose Mourinho is not the messianic figure the club’s supporters are searching for and the continued support for him by some is peculiar. Paul Scholes said as much after the match.
Paul Scholes and Didi Hamann made the same point about Man United's fans https://t.co/6wk0DBkIzV
— SportsJOE (@SportsJOEdotie) October 24, 2018
The Juventus defeat showed how out of touch Mourinho is.
Compared to the home side, the Italian champions played football from the future. They were slick and aggressive, fluid and flexible and tore through United at will, especially in the first-half. The 1-0 scoreline didn’t reflect the gulf between the teams.
Juventus’ forwards interchanged positions throughout and baffled the cumbersome United defence. They had the freedom to exploit the space behind United’s lumbering midfield and played with an attacking verve beyond anything we’ve seen from Mourinho’s team.
Their one and two touch football was excellent at times. Juventus fizzed the ball at each other the way Roy Keane would smash it towards his teammates to test their first touch. The only time United played two touch football was when it came to Romelu Lukaku, who took one touch to try to control the ball and another to lose it with a wayward pass.
When Mourinho’s side were in possession, there was little or no movement. No ideas. No plan to hurt the opposition.
It may have been bad under Moyes and Van Gaal, but United at least tried to attack under their previous managers – they just didn’t do it very well.
The current team just hangs on and hope to capitalise on a mistake that they are too meek to force.
It was United’s approach when out of possession that best summed up how outdated Mourinho’s methods has become. United were stunningly passive. They retreated and sat off their opponents. Juventus pressed and harried when they lost the ball, the way modern teams do. They defended by winning the ball high up the pitch or in midfield, not by camping on their 18-yard line.
No other top team plays like United and for good reason.
The club played like Juventus over 10-years ago under Ferguson. That’s how out of touch Mourinho is.
Jose Mourinho is "waiting to be fired" so he can return to Real Madrid https://t.co/FJ1vFs8TGg
— SportsJOE (@SportsJOEdotie) October 24, 2018
Over a decade ago, Ronaldo, Wayne Rooney and Carlos Tevez rotated positions the way Juventus’ front-three – Ronaldo, Juan Cuadrado and Paulo Dybala – did on Tuesday night.
Paul Scholes and Michael Carrick brought the control and bite to Ferguson’s team that Miralem Pjanic and Rodrigo Bentancur bring to Juventus.
The defensive pairing of Giorgio Chiellini and Leonardo Bonucci were as assured as Rio Ferdinand and Nemanja Vidic were in Ferguson’s last great side.
Even Mourinho doesn’t think he’s going to get out of this mess. He wants a way out and will get it soon enough. Meanwhile, United could be cut adrift, out of the Champions League with the biggest wage bill in the Premier League.
United have spent hundreds of millions on new players and wages in the last decade only to regress on the field. That shows that it isn’t all Mourinho’s fault, and some of his complaints are legitimate. However, that doesn’t excuse the issues that stem directly from him.
In injury time, when United scored so many goals under Ferguson, Mourinho stood goading the away supporters by holding three fingers in the air. He was probably reminding them of the treble he won with Inter Milan in 2010. But he just confirmed that he is stuck in the past.
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