He responded, fairly and emphatically – but the answer is also what makes United’s predicament all the more curious. Is it a great contradiction of his career, or should it lead to a more correct perception of how he works? It emphasises how it was a campaign all about countering, but taken to its furthest and finest extremes by the manager. But I prefer to play with the qualities that my players have.”Not everyone at Real was completely enamoured with that pragmatism. That does feel very high for a season that was otherwise so high-scoring.And the principles behind that might be why United can still look so flat now.

Source: Economic Times May 10, 2018 03:45 UTC