José Mourinho chose his words carefully. “I think,” he said and paused. “It hurts me a little bit to say this, I want to give 99% credit to (Erik) Ten Hag, the beautiful work he did with this team. But I have to be critical in one per cent.”
“I think in this second half, he has to play more,” he told beIN Sports.
“As a coach there are matches where we don’t play, there are matches where we play very bad, but there are matches where we play very well, and Ajax in that second half needed him to play very well.
“And I think he played like his team, not very well.”
The Portuguese managerial great was speaking in the aftermath of Ajax’s last-minute loss to Tottenham Hotspur in the 2018/19 UEFA Champions League semifinal, which saw the English side book their place in their first ever Champions League final.
On Saturday, Mourinho would have given a nod of approval for the way his former team dispatched of Southampton at the St. Mary’s Stadium despite creating few chances of note after scoring the winning goal in the 55th minute.
United manager Ten Hag too had few complaints with the 1-0 win. “I think here in the Premier League are the best coaches and the best players and the highest intensity and always in a different way so that is quite interesting and you have to adapt to it and also find a certain way to win games and that is what we did today,” he said in the post-match press conference.
United’s win over Southampton – their first after seven straight defeats on the road in the Premier League stretching back to February – built on the outstanding victory over Liverpool last week but also threw up a few interesting asides. They are:
1) VARANE-MARTINEZ IS UNITED’S NEW FIRST-CHOICE CENTRE-BACK PAIRING
One year and 9 days after signing for Manchester United, Raphaël Varane finally played like a world champion on August 23. The 6 feet 3 inch centre-back stretched every inch of his frame against Liverpool as he dominated in the air and snuffed out threats inside United’s box even as they appeared.
“He has been European champion with Real Madrid four times already and has more than 50 matches with France,” Laurent Blanc, a France great and former United defender himself, said once about Varane.
“This is something that had hardly been seen in any French player and less in a defender,” Blanc told Spanish newspaper Marca.
“It’s an honour to be compared to him.”
While last season – his first in England after 10 years in Spain with Real Madrid – Varane struggled to justify his reputation, this year he has found a new centre-back partner whose spikiness and aggression is redolent of a former partner of Varane’s in Madrid – Sergio Ramos.
Lisandro Martínez, who was sensational against Liverpool last week, was again rock solid against Southampton on Saturday. Standing at only 5’7, the Argentine responded to withering criticism of his height in the media by winning multiple headers during the game against Southampton and torpedoing opposition attacks before they started to threaten United.
Varane and Martínez talk to each other often on the field, making sure both are on the same page all the time. They also have much more pace than Harry Maguire can boast of, which means the United skipper will have to sit on the sidelines for the foreseeable future.
This setback could also work as a blessing in disguise for Maguire, who has endured sickening taunting and bullying – both in person and online – following his below-par performances for United in the recent past. A spell on the bench could help him work on the deficiencies that have crept into his game.
2) CRISTIANO RONALDO IS NO LONGER AN AUTOMATIC STARTER
In Greek mythology, Sisyphus, the king of Ephyra, was punished by Zeus for cheating death twice by forcing him to roll an immense boulder up a hill only for it to roll down every time it neared the top, repeating this action for eternity. Cristiano Ronaldo has cheated Father Time this far – but his time as one of the elite players of the world may be nearing its end.
In the 82nd minute of United’s match on Saturday, Christian Eriksen played Ronaldo into space inside the Southampton half. The ball was there for the taking and Ronaldo, if he got to the ball, had only the goalkeeper to beat. Ronaldo could not reach the ball. Even as the Portuguese legend went after the ball with gusto, Southampton centre-back Mohammed Salisu raced after him and chased him down. Ronaldo is 37, Salisu 23. Ronaldo could not pull away from Salisu when he had to and Southampton eventually got a goal kick.
Ronaldo had been on the pitch only since the 68th minute and he would probably have come on much later, if at all, had Anthony Martial been fit. Martial has suffered an achilles injury and it is unknown for how long he will be sidelined.
The Southampton fixture was not the first time this season that Ronaldo was overlooked by Ten Hag.
Against Liverpool, the Portuguese superstar was snubbed twice, first before kick-off, when Ten Hag benched him in favour of Anthony Elanga in United’s starting line-up, then right after half-time, when Ten Hag sent on Martial as a substitute instead of Ronaldo when taking off Elanga.
Ten Hag, sadly for Ronaldo, was proved right on both counts. Elanga and Martial set up the goals that helped United beat Liverpool for the first time since 2018.
Barring injury to Elanga or Marcus Rashford (who started as the centre forward against Liverpool and Southampton), it’s hard to see Ronaldo back in United’s starting 11 anytime soon.
Ronaldo was United’s top scorer last season, netting 24 goals in 39 matches. He has always scored goals and provided he gets a decent amount of playing time, will likely continue to do so.
Ronaldo, who wants to leave United, is still a very effective goalscorer and would do well in teams that play to his strengths. Few clubs, however, are capable of paying his wages.
However, it was hard to fault Ten Hag’s rationale behind choosing Elanga over Ronaldo – United’s pressing throughout the match against Liverpool was forceful and in the first 20 minutes, ferocious. Against Southampton too, whose starting line-up had an average age of 23.7, it’s hard to imagine how effectively Ronaldo could have pressed had he started the match.
The Portugal captain has already asked to leave United this summer because he wants to play in the Champions League. He is still a very effective goalscorer and would do well in teams that play to his strengths. Few clubs, however, are capable of paying his wages. The handful that can, have chosen not to sign him so far.
Asked if he thought Ronaldo can fit into United’s new system this season, Ten Hag said after the Liverpool match, “I think he can. In his whole career, he, under several managers, he did in several styles and systems. He always performed, so, why he can’t do this? For me, his age is not an issue. If you are young, you are good enough, and when you are old and you still deliver the performance, you are also good enough.”
Rumours of Ronaldo leaving United for Atletico Madrid persist despite denials by Atletico’s president Enrique Cerezo and the Portuguese legend himself. Recent reports suggest that Ronaldo has been offered to Napoli by his agent Jorge Mendes, with the neopolitans signing Ronaldo on loan and selling Victor Osimhen to United for a hefty sum in the process.
The United Number 7 promised last week on Instagram to respond to “lies” being spread about him in an interview he said was scheduled to be held a “couple weeks” away. That puts it in and around transfer deadline day of August 31, so it promises to be compelling.
3) UNITED CAN STILL COUNT ON DE GEA
In the decade following Sir Alex Ferguson’s retirement as Manchester United manager, United fans have had few rays of hopes to cling on to, and De Gea has arguably been the brightest. Between 2014 and 2018, his superlative form won him 4 Manchester United Player of the Year awards in 5 seasons, even as the club spent hundreds of millions of dollars on big-name signings that yielded little by way of trophies.
In the past few years, however, De Gea’s sky-high standards slipped and he looked a shadow of his former self, making howler after howler and costing United bagfuls of points in the process. He finally lost his place in the United first 11 towards the end of the 2020/21 season, with Dean Henderson usurping him and impressing between the sticks.
When everyone expected United’s then manager Ole Gunnar Solskjær to stick with Henderson for the 2021/22 season and consign De Gea to the bench, Henderson contracted Covid-19 in the run up to the new season. He ended up suffering from ‘prolonged fatigue’ due to his Covid infection and this allowed De Gea a way back into the United first team.
De Gea has been a man transformed since.
He gradually captured his old form and and started hitting his previous heights. Henderson could not force his way back into the starting 11 again, later hitting out at United at the “criminal” treatment meted out to him after assuring him that he would start the 2021/22 season as the number one pick between the sticks.
With Henderson having left on loan to Nottingham Forest this season and no real challengers for the number one spot, De Gea has continued to build on last season’s heroics.
After a horror-show against Brentford in United’s 0-4 loss, in which De Gea was at fault for two of the goals conceded by his team, the Spaniard asked to be delegated to face the media and apologised for his part in the defeat.
“I think I cost my team two points. It was a poor performance from me. I think so. That can happen in football,” De Gea said.
“We are not like other teams. We see teams concede a goal and then win 5-1. For us I made a mistake and it may have changed the result,” the Spanish number one said.
Against Liverpool and Southampton, De Gea was once again his superlative dependable self. The agility of old was back, as were the lightning quick reflexes that sometimes make him look like a human ball of kinetic energy.
De Gea is still only 31, which historically means he’s entering his prime years as a goalkeeper.
“I feel maybe in one of the best shapes of my career. I feel very well,” De Gea said about his excellent form in December 2021.
“Maybe some people think I’m older because I’ve been in the game for many, many years, but I’m still young for a goalkeeper. I’m still learning every day, giving 100% in training, so like I say, hopefully there are more years and more games to come.”
De Gea at his best is a boon for any club in the world. Ten Hag, however, would be well-advised to sign a number 2 who can challenge the Spaniard for a spot in the first team. What better way to motivate a competitor like De Gea than to provide him with intense competition?