Manchester United crashed out of the Champions League last, losing 2-1 to comparative minnows Sevilla at home, but that doesn't meant the fans have turned on the manager just yet.
Despite two seasons of what has generally been regarded as poor quality football from the red devils, the fans haven't turned on the manager just yet. Jose Mourinho has never been known as a man obsessed with creating the perfect attacking aesthetic, but he does deliver trophies. Last season returned a Europa League and League Cup, while the club can still win an FA cup this time around.
Whether that's enough to keep fans content in the long term remains to be seen, but United We Stand's editor Andy Mitten joined Off The Ball AM to discuss the side's European exit, and he claimed that the people calling for a new manager aren't the people who go to the games as Old Trafford's regulars are still in support of Mourinho.
"He's going to have setbacks, that happens every football manager, but the only talk I saw last night of getting rid of Mourinho was anonymous people on social media. I walked up and down the stand last night at half-time, I was around at full-time, I was soaking in opinions".
"There was a weariness, people were really annoyed but nobody was saying, like they did under the last days of Van Gaal, that the manager has to go. They're frustrated with him, they think he got the tactics wrong, but what's the Plan B, get Pep Guardiola in? It's not going to happen".
Mitten said that while the loss to Sevilla wasn't an acceptable result, he noted that the side's home form is far superior to the record of the previous two managers, and that this result wasn't indicative of their performances at Old Trafford during Mourinho's reign.
"I've spoken to players who've played against Manchester United post 2013, usually in private, and they've told me they cannot believe how poor Manchester United are, they can't believe how easy it is to play at Old Trafford. That's changed a bit under Mourinho, United have only lost one game in the last 15 months at Old Trafford, and that was against Manchester City, and the previous defeat was against Manchester City. Manchester City have a better team than Manchester United at the moment, I don't think anybody denies that".
Despite that run of form at home Sevilla were able to turn United over with relative ease, with many seeing United's lack of attacking intent as the reason for the Spanish side's dominance. Mitten agreed with that conclusion, though he considered the idea that the lack of energy from both players and fans created a spiral of tension within the stadium.
"I don't think N'Zonzi could believe the space that he had, and how Manchester United did sit back, and that came from the fans, there was a nervousness from the fans as well. I don't think they knew too much about Sevilla, I think they expected United to go at them and when that didn't happen there was like a hush of 'oh no, what's happening here', and that transmitted into the players and maybe vice versa as well".
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