Midfielder Nemanja Matic was the only Manchester United player to escape getting thrown under the bus by manager Jose Mourinho yesterday after the team’s 2-0 win over Brighton & Hove Albion in the FA Cup quarterfinals. In a harsh rant, the Red Devils boss absolutely slammed his own team, save the Serbian who had a goal and an assist against Brighton.
Today we learned that United will have Tottenham Hotspur next in the FA Cup semifinals. This tournament is the club’s only chance for a trophy this season. Asked if winning this competition would define this campaign a successful one for United, Matic responded:
“I think no, because I always want to win more and more, but in the Premier League you have six or seven teams who want to win the league.”
United have won 12 FA Cups, most recently in 2016, Louis van Gaal’s final season. Last year, Mourinho became the first manager in Manchester United history to win a trophy his first year on the job, as he claimed the Community Shield, EFL Cup and Europa League. Thus in order to have defined progress in year two under Mourinho, the club needed to win bigger trophies, and that didn’t happen as the Premier League title and Champions League title are both out of reach now.
“It is not possible to always win, but if we win the FA Cup it is good, but not perfect,” Matic added.
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank.net and TheBank.News, which is partnered with News Now. Banks, a former writer for the Washington Times, NBC Chicago.com and Chicago Tribune.com, currently contributes regularly to WGN CLTV and the Tribune company’s blogging community Chicago Now.
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