Is Pep Guardiola’s Success Exposing How Football Has Left Jose Mourinho Behind?

Jose Mourinho looked quintessentially Jose Mourinho as he stood pouting on the Vicarage Road touchline. Smartly turned out, silverly hair slick, trench-coat symmetrically off-setting a neat black tie against a crisp white shirt. But the Manchester United team Mourinho watched slump to a 3-1 defeat at Watford wasn’t a Mourinho team.

In fact, United on the basis of their performance against the Hornets are the antipathy of Mourinho’s identity and mould as a football coach. They are unorganised, unsure of themselves and decidedly flaky. Everything the Portuguese wants from his side, the Old Trafford team are delivering the opposite.

But Sunday’s loss to Watford wasn’t an isolated case of catastrophic tactical failure. The result means Mourinho has now lost three successive fixtures for the first time since February 2002, when he was Porto boss.

More worryingly, he has now won just seven of his last 21 games in the Premier League, stretching all the way back to last season when his demise at Chelsea betrayed all logic. 

“Some individuals probably feel the pressure and responsibility too much,” Mourinho said after the loss to Watford, attempting to rationalise his team’s dismal display, as per BBC Sport. “We started the season very well. But was I thinking that my team was ready, perfect, unbeatable? Not at all. I was completely aware that we were not perfect, with lots of players who are not end products and can make their own mistakes.”

Indeed, Man Utd are far from perfect. Perhaps it was naive to expect that Mourinho could raise a side that finished outside the top four last season to a title challenge, but there is fundamental concern over the team’s progress under their new manager, even at this early stage of the campaign.

Their players are underperforming, at least since the Manchester derby defeat to City, but much of the blame for United’s recent form must be shouldered by Mourinho. Once European football’s go-to-guy for instant success, everything about the former Porto, Chelsea, Inter Milan and Real Madrid boss is now under scrutiny.

Is it possible …

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