Jose Mourinho was right to park the Manchester United bus against Liverpool

After Liverpool versus Manchester United, there were people rightly bored off their nipples from what they had seen. Jose Mourinho had come to Anfield with a plan, and that was a plan to spoil the game. He clearly would have preferred a victory, but nevertheless he had his usual sick and willing embrace of wrecking the match as a spectacle. However, the objections to actually having to watch the game should not be with Liverpool or United fans, merely those paying to watch the harvested content. And even then, those who prop up the television fees with their own money could hardly be surprised - this kind of entertainment hasn’t been in the post as much as it has been delivered most weeks of the year.

But what should not stand is that fans of Liverpool or United should be particularly effed off with how Mourinho set up his side to perform. It recalls the self-regarding moans from Brendan Rodgers when Mourinho last showed up a Liverpool side as an absolute bunch of spoofers. Parking two buses, it was called then, despite the buses outscoring the opposition with not one, but two goals.

Clearly, Jurgen Klopp is probably no spoofer, and he reacted with acceptance of the situation rather than feigned indignation. He admitted that a scrappy game had suited United more than his own side, and that the biggest problem for his team was not the opposition’s approach, but his team’s failure to stick to a plan that had beaten most sides this season. Liverpool showed, as they grew into the game and made David de Gea work with two excellent chances, that they may well have won had they kept their cool and trusted their attacking talents. Instead, they were riled by a United side which was assisted by the snide presences of Ander Herrera, Marouane Fellaini and Zlatan Ibrahimoivc.

Liverpool fans, then, should accept that it doesn’t matter what the opposition do - unless it is gratuitous cheating - it matters only what your team does, should they have realistic ambitions of winning the league. If you can’t beat a team that is not certain of Champions League football, at home, who came to defend, then you aren’t ready to claim any kind of serious superiority. And, indeed, as Mourinho pointed out, having the workhorses of Emre Can and Jordan Henderson, to negate Paul Pogba, was indicative of a more cautious approach than had been taken in other games.

For United fans, they should keep in mind how they played for the last few years in general, and how they played under Alex Ferguson at Anfield. As Ferguson had asserted ever more authority over his United team, he stripped them of hardmen and filled them with wimps. Nani had the talent to beat Liverpool, but instead he burst into tears after some execrable Jamie Carragher roughhousing. Under David Moyes, they were calamitously awful against Liverpool. Under Louis van Gaal they were surprisingly effective, but away from these matches they were cowardly and dull. United were dull last night - but they weren’t cowardly.

As mentioned, Mourinho chose Herrera, Fellaini and Ibrahimovic, perhaps the players most given to understated violence at his disposal. But he has also raised the strength across the side. It would be foolish to think that Eric Bailly and Paul Pogba aren’t most useful for their brains, but they also bring with it the strength to back it up. Removing the fading Wayne Rooney from the side might, for a manager like Mourinho, be as much to do with his one-note fitness levels as much as anything else.

The side Mourinho has built has its problems, and they cannot be ignored, but as football becomes faster and more intense, Mourinho also maintains that his side cannot be afraid to boot people about, and also keep up with them as they sprint. By defending deeply when needed, keeping players close to one another, but also being prepared to play the long ball for a physical and mental relief, he took the pragmatic choice. Klopp has had a year to indoctrinate and train his players, Mourinho has had as many games as Klopp has had months. It makes little sense to show the initiative at this point.

If United fans are aggrieved that this was no match to enjoy, they should remember what the options that were realistically on offer. One was to grind out a draw and perhaps snatch victory. The second was to hope that a side yet to become well drilled, and with some fairly mediocre players still around, would be enough to beat the second most dangerous side in England. There is plenty of time left for disquiet if Mourinho is not able to fix what is still clearly wrong with the side he inherited and is only starting to reassemble. And there is plenty to fix.

He must find a more reliable partner for Bailly than the open-mouthed Chris Smalling. Antonio Valencia is no longer a skittering risk, but a club with the money of United should still aim higher in the January or next summer transfer window. It is not a classic Mourinho back four, and needs work if they are to be able to take on better sides than Liverpool with this approach. In midfield, Fellaini can be a necessary evil, but it should be able to locate a player with the positives of both him and Herrera, and fewer of the negatives.

Of the players he has bought, Pogba and Ibrahimovic are struggling. Pogba, probably because he missed a pre-season, and Ibrahimovic because the Premier League is a serious step up, with no guarantee he can find the energy to catch up. He looks too slow to do so at the moment. The next stage is to integrate Henrikh Mkhitaryan, Marcus Rashford and Anthony Martial, perhaps Juan Mata. They are talented enough, but there are never guarantees on alighting on the right combination for alchemy.

But right now, Liverpool fans cannot be surprised that their improvement means teams will negate them as a priority. United fans cannot be surprised that a duff side came to deny a better opponent a win. But both will be expecting more improvement ahead of their next meeting.