2017 has not ended well for Manchester United or José Mourinho. Three draws in a row in the last week, away to Leicester, and at home to Burnley and, tonight, Southampton.
It sees them fall behind Chelsea in the table at the turn of the year.
Tonight, they again did not play well. They lost Romelu Lukaku to an early and disruptive head injury. Even then, they had the chances to win the game, and should have done so.
Unfortunately, it was Shane Long who probably had the best chance of the game though, forcing another great save from David De Gea, and it's 29 Southampton games without a goal now for the Irish striker.
Instead of lamenting his team's lack of clinical finishing, the United manager again insisted on making the performance of the referee the subject of the his post-match media appearances.
"What do you want me to talk about?" ?
Jose Mourinho isn't happy with the officials following Man Utd 0-0 Southampton ?@deskellybts ? pic.twitter.com/raluBfxNlT
— Football on BT Sport (@btsportfootball) December 30, 2017
In truth, they should have had the penalty in the first half for a handball in the box by Maya Yoshida, but United had plenty of time to deal with the missed opportunity, and a team firing on all cylinders would have.
His post-match complaining, so typical of his behaviour lately, has not gone down well with fans and media alike who watched the game.
Pretty pathetic performance from Manchester United...Jose Mourinho may try and find someone else to blame again, but it's going badly wrong for him and I'm not sure he has the answers #MUFC pic.twitter.com/NThy2Uzhs2
— Kevin Palmer (@RealKevinPalmer) December 30, 2017
Mourinho making a beeline for the referee at FT so predictable and pathetic. United shouldn’t need a penalty to beat the league’s 15th-placed side. #mufc
— Samuel Luckhurst (@samuelluckhurst) December 30, 2017
Boos around Old Trafford. Cynical fouls? Lack of transfer funds? Interesting to see who or what Mourinho blames for this one.
— James Pearce (@JamesPearceLFC) December 30, 2017
I hate to say it….but that performance suggests Mourinho is losing the dressing room. Pogba spent the game walking around. Something fundamental is collapsing at #MUFC. A truly terrible game, worst I’ve seen at Old Trafford for a long long time. Much worse than the Burnley game.
— Rob Blanchette (@_Rob_B) December 30, 2017
Mourinho will blame the referee for the penalty deflecting away from a horror show. It’s getting embarrassing of late.
— Hesham Bilal-Hafiz (@hesham786) December 30, 2017
I’m not Mourinho out. I’m Mourinho wake-the-fuck-up. Manchester City’s full-backs aren’t stopping us from being predictable.
Playing the same formation every week. Attackers scared to try things. It’s worrying.— Jordan (@FourFourJordan) December 30, 2017
