By Daily Sports on November 29, 2016

This is turning out to be one of the most exciting premier league seasons in the history of English football. It sounds cliche sort of. Last season for example, obviously could be described in the same words with the unbelievable rise of minnows Leicester city to the crown of premier league champion.

Nonetheless, this season is producing its own kind of excitement.

The big boys (talking about the traditionally big teams who’ve dominated the top sports of the league for years) are back. It’s a Yoyo tussle for number one position in the league at the moment  and, on Saturday three teams ( yes three ) held top spot at different times of the day .

Manchester city went top after their early kick off 1-2 win away at Burnley then Liverpool overtook them on goal difference with a 2 -0 home win over Sunderland. Chelsea then reclaimed the first position they held going into the weekend by triumphing 2-1 at their Stamford Bridge home against Tottenham Hotspur.

However, one big team that hasn’t found their feet this season are Manchester United. They are currently in the 6th position, 11 behind the leaders.

Surely now for United, their focus is on getting a champions league place and not on the title. We’ve seen strange things happen though, but there are too many top teams ahead of them and it’s hard seeing them getting 1st come the end of the season.

The draw against West Ham on Sunday evening was a very deflating one for the United faithful. It was their 4th straight home draw. It’s the first time this has happened to them for decades.

The big talking point of the game came in the first half when The Red Devils manager Jose Mourinho got sent off to the stands in the closing stages of the first half.

I had argued in a previous piece that Mourinho being sent off during games could be having a negative psychological effect on his players, and his dismissal in Manchester on Sunday and the subsequent draw reinforces this belief.

Manchester United were looking lively and their movement of the ball in the first half was a beauty to see at times.

Even after going one goal down in the opening seconds of the game, United regrouped and responded with hunger, good quality and anger. Mourinho was on his feet, urging his troops on, looking on approvingly and giving hand sings to his men in the field. United got back on level terms with a glancing Zlatan Ibrahimovic header and they were going for the kill. Then, Mourinho took center stage again during a game.

Ref Jon moss awarded a free kick against United after he judged Paul Pogba to have dived. Mourinho was livid and kicked a water bottle in anger and he was duly sent to the stands for dissent.

United’s fluidity went away with Mourinho afterwards. They looked flat on resumption of second half play and could count themselves lucky for not going on to lose the game because West Ham clearly dominated the second half and probably deserved all three points .

This is a delicate point for United, their confidence is fragile and the last thing they need is the distraction of the manager being red-carded every now and again.

I believe, if Mourinho was patrolling the lines in the second half he would have observed things closer and would have easily and much quickly passed messages to his players rather than relying on his assistant to do so.

United's second half display against Arsenal in the previous match before the West Ham game was fantastic. Mourinho could be seen making quick tactical notes and tweaking things quickly in favour of his team.

The boys needed that at that crucial moments against West Ham but I’m not sure a look at the face of Mourinho’s assistant Rui Faria could help them understand some things as quickly as they would if Mourinho had been there.

Anger management is an important aspect of the coaching business and even though I’m not arguing that coaches should remain sedate during matches, it’s important to give a reassuring presence to your players even when decisions don’t go your way sometimes.

Protest all you like but don’t cross the line by kicking bottles or else you would have to go and then put your team off balance.

Source Daily Sports

Posted November 29, 2016

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