LONDON. – Blaming luck is no longer an option for Manchester United. Another game drawn – six in their last eight in the English Premier League – and yet more points dropped in the dying embers of games.No other team has surrendered more points in the final 10 minutes of matches this season and the seven to have deserted United take on huge significance.

The ramifications of their consistent capitulations are such that United would be just three points off the top if matches finished after 80 minutes.

Jose Mourinho would also find himself level on points with old foe Arsene Wenger. As it is, they are nine points adrift of the top four and 13 back from leaders Chelsea.

For so long United were famed for their last-minute goals, opposition besieged as wave after wave of attack in pursuit of wins or draws came in the days of Sir Alex Ferguson.

Now their record in the last few moments is the worst of any top-flight side, even if Marcus Rashford did score a stoppage-time winner away at Hull in August. Of their rivals towards the top, none of Arsenal, Tottenham or Chelsea have dropped a single point. Manchester City two, Liverpool one – that coming at Bournemouth hours before Everton shocked Mourinho late on.

Yet while Everton’s rally did surprise, United’s incompetence in holding on to a lead did not. They are a team lacking concentration and the nous to see fixtures through.

Their mental fragility, borne out of three fairly disastrous years during which confidence has been shaken, is proving costly. United retreat to try and keep what they have, unsure of how best to see games out. There is certainly not that insistence on scoring more goals as games tick into the last 20 minutes.

On Sunday there was the highly questionable substitution of Marouane Fellani, whose mistake ultimately cost Mourinho, but also the pattern of their meek, wilting shape as full-time draws nearer. Misery on Merseyside was not a one-off by any stretch.

Arsenal, Stoke and Everton were all games they were in control of but failed to cling on and while missed chances can be pinpointed earlier in each of those, the common denominator is defending. Against Arsene Wenger’s side it was suggested that Mourinho had his pegs in the wrong holes, with poor Rashford stood up by Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain for Olivier Giroud’s equaliser.

Rashford was back in the left back position and unable to stop the winger flying past him, for Giroud to head in with one minute left.

Everton, too, saw Mourinho’s acumen questioned after he brought on Fellaini with five minutes to play. The idea was to own an extra body in central midfield, someone whose height would offer help when defending set pieces. In truth, the switch only served to push United a further 10 yards back. Panic set in, Everton weaved their way into the penalty box and Fellaini’s rush of blood in hauling down Idrissa Gueye gave the hosts a point.

Mourinho fiercely defended himself for the Belgian’s introduction. “Everton is not a passing team any more like they were in the past,” he said. “Everton is a team that plays direct: goalkeeper direct, Ashley Williams direct, Ramiro Funes Mori direct. Everything direct.

“When you have on the bench a player with two metres (in height) you play the player in front of the defensive line to help the team to win the match.”

The draw against Stoke came via an uncharacteristic David de Gea error but also was a by-product of missed chances and an afternoon to remember for Lee Grant.

Luck cannot be held up as the problem but Mourinho continued along those lines at Goodison Park.

“We are not getting the results we deserve,” he added. “We are getting draws but deserving victory.

“Opposition are leaving the stadium super happy with points they don’t deserve and we are leaving the stadium with a feeling we deserved more.

“When my teams are playing pragmatic football and winning matches and winning titles you say that is not nice and not right.

“Then my team play very well – and is a huge change to the last two or three years [at United] – now you say what matters is to get the result no matter what. In this moment we have teams getting results that defend with 11, kick ball and attack the space on the counter-attack . . . it is phenomenal, it’s beautiful.”

It is absolutely unquestioned that United are playing their best football since Sir Alex Ferguson retired in 2013. But unfortunately for Mourinho, teams do get what they deserve over a third of a season. One result can be excused, two careless, but their numbers so far are not to do with luck.

He needs new players, individuals capable of grinding out victories. There is no way 13 points would be the gap between themselves and the top if he did. – Mailonline.

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