Jose Mourinho has been heavily criticised for his tactics in Manchester United and Liverpool’s goalless affair at Anfield on Saturday afternoon.
So much so, that MailOnline columnist Martin Samuel claimed afterwards that the Portuguese’ chosen approach had effectively cost Man United a chance to win their first Premier League crown since Sir Alex Ferguson’s retirement in 2013. But does Samuel have a point here? We asked our writers what they think…
Christy Malyan
Mourinho will paint the draw as a victory but on the same weekend as Man City’s demolition job over Stoke, it’s clearly two points lost.
City have already beaten Liverpool at home and Chelsea away this season; that was United’s first big-six encounter of the campaign and they really should have been making a statement about their title intentions, especially considering Liverpool’s well-documented defensive problems and the absence of their most influential player, Saido Mane.
The top six mini-league will have much more relevance this term than previously with those clubs so far ahead of the rest of the pack. Anfield isn’t an easy place to go but United now need to make up the deficit at either Wembley, the Emirates, the Etihad or Stamford Bridge.
They took just one point from all four of those grounds last season.
Oliver Huddlestone
It’s too early to say that Man United, or Liverpool for that matter, have blown the title, but Mourinho’s first big test of the season proves that he needs to change his style of play when coming up against the top sides. Failure to do so will see too many points dropped.
Chris McMullan
There are some mitigating factors when it comes to how dull the North West derby was on Saturday, and not just the negative way in which Jose Mourinho set up his team.
Missing Paul Pogba, Marcus Rashford (for the first 65 minutes) and Eric Bailly in particular could be characterised as big losses, whilst Marouane Fellaini is clearly a player Mourinho would always like to be able to call upon. These absences mean we can be a bit more charitable.
But perhaps not much. United failed to trouble a Liverpool defence with the third-worst record in the Premier League, and settled for a point.
Whether or not you think that they did well to come away with what they came for, that decision to settle for a 0-0 draw starts to look particularly strange in light of what happened just hours later, when Manchester City walked off the pitch with a 7-2 victory over Stoke City, giving them a two-point lead over Mourinho’s side, and a six-goal lead on goal difference.
It’s that goal difference which could come back to haunt the red side of Manchester, just like it did in 2012.
