Manchester United fans were treated to another torturously banal display at Old Trafford as they watched their side fail to defeat lowly Hull.
The game was almost a microcosm of United's infamous stalemate at home to Burnley earlier this season, but despite making a number of solid stops - and a breathtaking second half save from Juan Mata in particular - Hull 'keeper Eldin Jakupovic didn't face the same intense pressure as was the case for Tom Heaton back in October.
United were instead laborious, and José Mourinho's substitutions, including the seemingly premature introduction of Wayne Rooney, stifled whatever momentum they had built in the first half. Juan Mata's replacement of Henrikh Mkhitaryan, too, was baffling, as United were reduced to pedestrian-paced, Moyesian football in the second half.
They still could and should have won the game, but didn't, and were met by the mild boos not of a fanbase disenchanted with its club's manager, but one who simply hadn't enjoyed their evening and didn't know what else to bloody do.
Mourinho, of course, is famed for his distraction tactics when shit hits the fan, and while his physical apologies to United fans as he trudged down the tunnel were made in plain sight of the cameras, he instantly attempted to deflect attention away from a nightmarish night at Old Trafford.
In a shock twist, his gripe was largely referee-oriented, but he did use a seemingly baseless feud with Jurgen Klopp to indicate United weren't getting their fair share of decisions.
Presuming his Klopp analogy is a metaphor for United's treatment at the hands of officials this season, it's worth pointing out that there really weren't any contentious decisions in the game whatsoever. When that was put to him by the BBC's post-match interviewer, Mourinho responded:
Well, if you don't know football, you shouldn't be with a microphone in your hand.
He then walked out of the interview without saying another word.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XFFnn30aUuo
Of course, as left-field and frankly nonsensical as his Klopp comparison may seem, when combined with his storm-out it will succeed in diverting at least some attention away from what was another botch-job by United in front of their own fans.
Perhaps Mourinho's gripe with the officials was born of Hull's incessant if understandable time-wasting, although two minutes were added on top of the five minutes of stoppage time. For what it's worth, Mourinho was complimentary of Marco Silva's side, telling the BBC:
We needed to score, we needed more time to play.
If you played 35-40 minutes in both halves, it is a lot. I think Hull City tried to see where they could go, the way they could behave and tried to see what the referee would allow them to do.
They had the feedback and were comfortable to do what they did. I am not critical of that. They are fighting against relegation and every point is gold.
It's worth noting that Hull may well have snatched all three points, with a lick of paint keeping Liverpool loanee Lazar Markovic's clever effort out of David De Gea's goal, and Pablo Hernandez making an absolute balls of a late, late counter-attack.
