Roy Keane and Jamie Carragher examine whether Jose Mourinho is the man for the task
Monday 17 December 2018 15:38, UK
Manchester United’s 3-1 defeat at Anfield left them 19 points adrift of bitter rivals Liverpool.
As the dust settles on United's abject performance, thoughts now turn to how the chasm to the top can be bridged.
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Is Jose Mourinho the man to lead the United revival, or does the future lie in the hands of another manager?
Former United captain Roy Keane and Jamie Carragher offered their take on the situation in the Super Sunday studio...
"The biggest decision for Manchester United is the change of management and whether it is before the end of the season or at the end of the season.
"Watching them throughout the season, are they a team that are good enough to win the league? No. Are they a team that should be sixth in the league? No.
"Liverpool just have the edge but there isn't a massive gulf in the quality of players Liverpool have compared to Manchester United. But is Mourinho getting enough out of the players? No, he's nowhere near.
"He is a top manager but things haven't quite gone well for him at Manchester United. His cycle as a manager has always been two or three years, he absolutely rips things up in the first 18 months and then he probably wears people out.
"The only way it will change for United is a change in the hot seat."
"It's hard to disagree that Jose is not getting the best out of his players. There's more to it than that, though, it's easy to look at the manager and get him out of the door.
"His CV warrants time, whether that be to the end of the season or another year. He certainly shouldn't go before then.
"People talk about Pep Guardiola and Jurgen Klopp being geniuses. Pep won nothing in his first season at Manchester City and he went to the board and said he needed four defenders, not one. They backed him.
"Looking at Klopp's Liverpool over the last few years and we've said they are not bad but they were desperate for a goalkeeper and a centre-half and they went and got them. Now, all of a sudden people say Liverpool are going places, but they are still to win a trophy.
"Mourinho is in a position now where they shouldn't make a bad situation worse by persevering with these players. Manchester United bought players before when Alex Ferguson was there, and it hasn't worked out. You move them on, that's the name of the game.
"I don't care about how many points United are behind Liverpool and Manchester City, that's going to get bigger, that's not their problem. The problem is getting back to being a really good team, winning football matches and having a solid foundation."
