The club’s short-term approach has been completely found out.
Manchester United fell to a 3-1 defeat to Liverpool at Anfield on Sunday and it felt like the club’s lowest point in the post-Alex Ferguson era.
Jurgen Klopp’s side dominated the game from the first whistle to the last. United didn’t attempt to play football and instead hoped to capitalise on opposition errors.
In truth, that’s exactly how they played in this fixture last season and the campaign before that. It’s just now Mourinho’s approach has been completely exposed and Liverpool are a much better side than in previous seasons.
It appears even the most blinkered of United fan now realises that Mourinho’s time at the club won’t end well. It is a matter of “when” not “if” he will be removed from his post and it was always going to be this way.
However, it looks like Mourinho is in no immediate danger of losing his job. As reported by Miguel Delaney in The Independent, United’s owners the Glazer family aren’t likely to make any big changes over the coming months.
Talk of a potential sale of the club won’t go away. It’s also possible that the owners have a figure that they may be prepared to accept to sell the club.
According to the report:
- There have been rumours of a takeover by Saudi Arabian buyers and the talk has yet to go away.
- The official line from the Glazers is that they don’t want to sell the club.
- However, sources close to the club also claim that, if the owners were to receive an offer of £4bn (four-billion pounds), they could change their stance.
- There is talk that the sale may have even been discussed through back channels.
- This situation means that there are unlikely to be any significant changes over the coming months.
- So, don’t expect United to sack their manager anytime soon. And there are also unlikely to sign any new players in January.
If United’s owners are considering a sale of the club, they are unlikely to take any action regarding the manager. They are also unlikely to increase the wage bill by adding more players to the squad.
As many have suggested, United will not sack Mourinho until it is mathematically impossible for the club to qualify for the Champions League.
This was the case with David Moyes and with Louis van Gaal. There were evidently break clauses in their deals that meant if they missed out on qualification for the tournament, United could dismiss them and not pay off the entirety of their contracts.
It could be that Mourinho has a similar clause in his contract. If so, it just sums up the reactive, stale approach of the richest football club in the world over the last few years.
