It was a long ol’ season.
If Jose Mourinho would have you believing anything from the 2016/17 season, it’s that Manchester United players were put through mental and physical torture.
They were competing for achievements in the league, in the League Cup, in the FA Cup, in the Europa League and they started before anyone else did having won the Community Shield back in August too.
It’s no secret that the manager liked to point out the odd time that United had a lot of games to play.
The reality was very different than he painted it to the press though. Across the four competitions from August to May, only five Manchester United players actually started more than 40 games.
The next closest started 37 games – not even a full league campaign. Can you name the five to have started 40 games or more in the 2016/17 campaign for United?
You have three minutes…
All in all, Mourinho used 32 players throughout the whole of last season.
United, despite what many would tell you, have and had a good, big squad full of talent but, listen, maybe it doesn’t actually matter what the manager said or done in trivial things like press conferences now.
All that matters is that he achieved his objective – even if the goalposts moved from the start of the season. He won two cups, he won Champions League qualification and however he did it – whatever moans, whatever tactics, whatever else he used – won’t really be remembered.
History will remember the achievements and, in the long run, Mourinho will get to play in the top table of Europe once more a year sooner than what was panning out. In the long run, that could mean more success again and the good times coming back for Manchester United.
But it will also mean more games to play…
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