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After the humbling loss to Manchester City at the Etihad, Jose Mourinho discussed the inclusion of Marouane Fellaini in his starting XI. The Red Devils’ boss said that he felt his game plan was ruined by the fact he had to start the half-fit Belgian, although multi-million pound signing Fred was curiously left on the bench.
What did he say then?
Speaking after his side were played off the park by a swashbuckling City team, as quoted by the Metro, Mourinho said: “One of the things that broke our plan a lot was the fact Fellaini had to start the game, because Fellaini is not in conditions to play 90 minutes.
“He was phenomenal in his effort but he was not in the condition to do it. And normally, I bring Fellaini to this game in the latest part of the game. Imagine this game with Fellaini coming on at 2-1 fresh with 25 minutes to go. That’s an important thing for us.”
What do his comments mean?
Obviously, we all know that the former Chelsea, Inter and Real Madrid boss loves to throw the 6′ 4″ midfielder on in the dying embers of games as he orders his players to load the box and hoof it long, but his reasons for not being able to do just that against the Citizens are baffling.
If he truly wanted to, Mourinho could easily have bought the former Everton man on when he wanted to; he had his very own big-money midfielder sat on the bench, fully fit and ready to start if he needed another option to deploy from the first whistle.
No wonder Ed Woodward didn’t want to back the Portuguese boss in the summer if that’s how he’s going to treat the signings he did manage to get over the line. Mourinho’s comments show he has no faith in Fred and the 25-year-old.
Whether the decision was tactical or had underlying meaning, the United manager is doing himself no favours in future transfer markets as he battles to negotiate with his own paymasters, let alone those at other clubs.
