Eamon Dunphy has compared José Mourinho to Republic of Ireland manager Martin O'Neill, and former manager Giovanni Trappatoni, after Manchester United's 2-1 defeat at the hand's of rivals Manchester City at Old Trafford on Sunday.
Mourinho, in his second season in charge of the Red Devils was thoroughly outclassed by his adversary Guardiola on Sunday, with City boasting 65% of the possession.
The big question was how would the United manager approach the match. It wasn't a big mystery how they would set up with their best defender (Eric Bailly) out, and best player, (Paul Pogba) unavailable, United would sit back, absorb pressure and counter-attack quickly with Marcus Rashford and Anthony Martial on either wing to supply striker Romelu Lukaku.
The plan didn't work. Lukaku was poor but he was also too isolated. Dunphy however was less than impressed with this current crop of the United squad, in particula, Marcos Rojo and Chris Smalling were singled out for criticism.
The RTE pundit was speaking on RTE's Game On 2fm tonight,
It's a frightening prospect but they don't have anybody. They've two wingers playing full back and Ashley Young is playing well but before yesterday they had conceded one goal at home and they were unbeaten at home, but it is such a poor league that the statistics can be very misleading.
They don't have a centre half partnership, Rojo? Smalling? No way.
And in midfield they don't have a good playmaker, he could have played Juan Mata and left (Ander) Herrera out because Herrera is no good. Mata wouldn't have given up possession and would have helped put pressure on City's defence, but a bit like Martin O'Neill and (Giovanni) Trapatonni, Mourinho is a coach in that mould, when it comes to brawn or brain, he prefers brawn.
The ultimate answer is, they have wasted money. (Romelu) Lukaku, he caused the second goal, he panicked in his own box, then he missed a sitter five minutes from the end.
On Friday, he predicted that, "Mourinho will find a way to stop them (Man City)," and that "He's not a likeable human being but he's a terrific coach." so that is quite the turnaround from the RTE pundit.
With City stretching their lead to 11 points from second place United, it will be intriguing to watch if Mourinho will put all of his egg's in one basket like last year, on their way to Europa League success. United drew Sevilla in the last 16 of the Champions League draw today where they will be confident of progressing.
Listen back to Eamon Dunphy on Game On 2fm here.
