Manchester United finished Monday night’s game with 35% possession, the lowest for the Red Devils since Premier League records began.
This was clearly all part of Jose Mourinho’s plan. He came for a draw and he got one, and as he’s said before, he doesn’t want his side to have the ball. You score from your opposition’s mistakes, and your opposition make more errors when they are in possession, ergo it is better to let them have it.
That’s the theory, but it’s pretty painful to see players of the quality of Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Paul Pogba playing so defensively. Is this really the best Mourinho can do with the most expensively assembled squad in the world? Plenty of Manchester United fans would have been wanting more. Liverpool have been very dangerous this season but they aren’t exactly Barcelona. They have a dodgy defence, a bad goalkeeper and James Milner in the team. Surely United could have got away with pushing it to 40%?