Jose Mourinho facing another big meltdown at Man United – just like he did at Chelsea
Banished to the stands, the Special One can't get his biggest stars to perform... it's all beginning to sound very familiar
JOSE MOURINHO looked like he was cracking up at Chelsea a year ago.
At Manchester United none of those problems were expected to return, certainly not within two months of the season starting.
Yet a bizarre week ended with him being sent to the stands and facing more FA action.
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Definitely a case of deja blue for the not so Special One.
Mourinho looks like a man walking into another nightmare.
He calls his current set-up staying at The Lowry hotel without his family a “disaster”.
The same word could he used to describe his day yesterday.
Now facing a stadium ban after clashing with ref Mark Clattenburg, the reservations senior figures had at Old Trafford about his appointment because of his behaviour look like being an ugly truth.
What will also concern them is how a team boasting £89million Paul Pogba (below) and £260,000-a-week Zlatan Ibrahimovic can fail to see off a battling Burnley, despite the hosts being reduced to 10 men for the final 22 minutes.
They were facing a side that had shipped three goals in each of their three previous away games in the Premier League this season.
A team whose starting XI cost £25m — the price of Pogba’s left leg.
Seeing the world’s most expensive player fail to run the show against Sean Dyche’s men is worrying.
So, too, is 35-year-old Ibrahimovic’s body language after missing chance after chance.
The striker is now goalless for over NINE hours — including six Premier League matches.
The Swedish star is on his most barren league run since 2007 with Inter Milan.
Even more bizarre is Mourinho’s No 2 Rui Faria saying the United boss was happy with the performance.
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Sure, they created 37 chances but they could not get past Tom Heaton — the keeper who started his career at Old Trafford — and did not look like they would either.
Heaton was fantastic — his Peter Schmeichel-style scissor save to thwart Ibrahimovic was the pick of the bunch.
Faria said: “Everyone should be pleased with the performance. The players were fantastic.
“They deserve to be congratulated. Jose is not here to say we are very happy with the players’ performance.
“We tried and we created many chances. Their keeper was the best player on the pitch.
“Things didn’t happen. I believe better days will come. The team did fantastic work from the first second.
“We are dominant with 11 men, we are dominant with ten. We fight from the first minute and showed fantastic mentality, especially after a game in the middle of the week. I think we need to wait.
“If we don’t create, if we don’t have chances, that is something we should be worried about.
“Sometimes you create one or two chances and you win — here it was 37 shots and we couldn’t score.
“People believed the goal would arrive but it didn’t, so I repeat we need to be happy with our players.
“They were fantastic. They put a big effort to get the result.”
United were not helped by Ander Herrera getting sent off for two bookings, the second on 68 minutes when he appeared to slip as he challenged Dean Marney.
Faria added: “I just want to say fantastic work from the ref.”
Danny Blind was one of THREE left-backs in the backline — a move forced on United after Antonio Valencia fractured his arm against Manchester City and needed surgery.
He said: “There is not much more we could’ve done. We were on top of them, we played attacking football and only missed goals today.
“Even with 10 men — a sending off makes it difficult but still we created chances. It’s the story of the game. We have some great strikers and midfielders at the club who can score.
“We will score goals, I’m not worried, we see it as one of those days.”
Burnley boss Dyche hailed Heaton, saying: “Tom was superb. The shape of the team was very good.
“We tried to make the game awkward by getting the ball forward and it worked in patches.
“United are a top side and they never stopped trying.
“We have a long way to go with the ball but to come here and get a point is very pleasing.”