Manchester United's Draw with Burnley: What the Red Devils Did Wrong

OLD TRAFFORD, Manchester, England — It would be easy to pin Manchester United's failure to beat Burnley on Saturday on the fickle hand of fate. After all, it was a game chock-full of mitigating circumstances.

United went down to 10 men under tenuous circumstances—Ander Herrera was booked for trying to pull out of a challenge then lost balance trying to stop himself for his second yellow. There were a few reasonable penalty claims—not egregious refereeing errors from Mark Clattenburg but decisions on the borderline.

And Jose Mourinho's team registered more shots than any United side has in a Premier League game since Opta began collecting data in 2003. They had so many shots that one feels compelled to write the number in full in brackets after representing it in digits to make clear the fact it is not a typo: United had 37 (thirty-seven) shots.

Filling in for Mourinho on post-match press-conference duties, assistant manager Rui Faria made clear that the party line was United had created enough and that the staff were pleased with the performance. To paraphrase, he essentially said it was was just one of those days.

Which it was. Tom Heaton made lots of saves, and a couple of them were pretty special. The referee got some things wrong.

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But United's undoing was not just outside circumstance, not just unavoidable fate. Ignoring everything the Red Devils were powerless to change, there were enough mistakes to suggest Mourinho's men could have got a result—or at least increased their chances of doing so.

Let's take a look at some of those.

The Form and Fitness of Zlatan Ibrahimovic

"He is phenomenal. I have to manage him. I cannot expect from him what I expect from [Marcus] Rashford and [Ander] Herrera. ... It’s a pity you sometimes cannot stop the clock."

Mourinho's own words there, taken from his Friday press conference. But he was not talking about the 35-year-old Zlatan Ibrahimovic. Rather, he was talking about the 35-year-old Michael Carrick.

Carrick has played 12 minutes of league football this season. Ibrahimovic has played 900. 

There has been the odd rest in the cup competitions but absolutely no rotation in the highest-pressure games.

Whether as a consequence of a lack of rest of not, Ibrahimovic's form has dropped off a cliff. No goals in five games and one in his last 10 appearances. Against Burnley, he almost scored a truly spectacular bicycle kick, but none of his 12 shots on Saturday resulted in a goal.

And just before the end of the match, he missed a sitter, the kind of chance United had been desperately crying out to create all game. Paul Pogba's assist numbers would look a lot better if Ibrahimovic had been on form in recent weeks.

Managing a striker whose performance has dipped is a tricky issue. Dropping forward players who are not firing can risk seriously damaging their confidence. But given the Swede's age, Mourinho could surely play the rotation card.

Having removed the problem of Wayne Rooney from United's attack, the United boss has a second underperforming superstar causing him major issues.

Mourinho's Substitutions

Juan Mata was United's captain yesterday and performed just about as well as could have been expected, barring a couple of finishes. Yet once Herrera was sent off in the 68th minute, Mourinho removed Mata from the fray, sending on Rooney and Marouane Fellaini in place of the stand-in skipper and Jesse Lingard.

Incidentally, given Mourinho was in the stands at the time, having himself been sent off, there was an amusing moment in the buildup to the subs. Timothy Fosu-Mensah—in the ground as an observer rather than part of the matchday squad—was dispatched as a messenger to the bench.

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He stopped halfway between Mourinho and the bench to attempt to relay the instructions, presumably thinking a staff member would travel the rest of the way. Mourinho stood up and pointed angrily toward the bench, indicating Fosu-Mensah should finish the job himself.

He did, and when he got back to his seat, he was rewarded with a grateful pat on the back from his manager.

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However, when the board went up to announce the substitutions, some fans were left hoping there had been a communication error. Bringing on Rooney and Fellaini fairly predictably reduced the fluidity of United's play.

Although with 10 men the increased solidity they brought made sense, United were so dominant they could reasonably have continued with the pattern of play that had them so clearly on top. A lot of guile left the pitch with Mata in particular.

United had 31 of their 37 shots before the changes, which took place in the 72nd minute. The game lasted a total of 95 minutes, meaning they had just 16 per cent of their shots in the last 24 per cent of the match.

Perhaps being down to 10 men could explain some of that drop-off in chance creation, but they were hardly under the cosh. The visitors had just one shot in that period. Indeed, United could reasonably have been expected to speed up the chance-creation process as they pushed to earn three badly needed points.

Rooney, incidentally, missed his one good chance, though he was obviously not alone in that.

Then Mourinho chose to replace Rashford with Memphis Depay. A fan told Bleacher Report that it was at that point supporters around him got up to try and beat traffic. Little else needs to be said about that decision.

Mourinho Getting Himself Sent Off

After the game, BBC Sport's Chris Bevan wrote:

"

Nobody seems quite sure exactly why Jose Mourinho was sent off. Even if his assistant Rui Faria knows, he was not telling anyone afterwards, while Burnley boss Sean Dyche claimed he did not even notice Mourinho was gone until the game was over.

However, it is pretty safe to presume that Mourinho's half-time comments towards the officials that earned him his dismissal were connected to Matteo Darmian's failed penalty appeal just before the break, because the United boss was visibly incensed by that decision while the game continued.

"

"

Mourinho makes his way up the stands @br_uk pic.twitter.com/M7U2rZAv4U

— Paul (@UtdRantcast) October 29, 2016"

Whatever the reason for United's manager getting himself sent to the stands, it hardly seems likely it was worth it. His presence on the touchline might not have made any telling difference, but in a game of such fine margins, surely holding on to anything that makes your team's victory incrementally more likely is worth doing?

Marcos Rojo Shooting from a Long Way Out at a Bad Time

The reaction inside Old Trafford when Marcos Rojo decided to shoot from at least 30 yards out in the 90th minute cannot be repeated in polite company. He had plenty of talented attacking players between him and the goal, and his wayward hit deflated building pressure. It was a remarkably ill-advised time to take such a low-percentage punt.

It might seem odd to single out one such error, but rarely has a player made a more frustrating decision.

This was far from the worst performance seen at Old Trafford in recent years. Indeed, in terms of chances created and excitement, it hugely outweighed most of what was served up under either David Moyes or Louis van Gaal.

None of the above is intended to signify panic or to suggest that progress is not being made. It is just to say that given United have had more than their share of "those days" in recent times—games they feel they should have won but did not—it is probably worth focusing on what the team and management can do differently rather than pointing the finger at fate.

Burnley manager Sean Dyche made clear in his post-match press conference that he believed United had a talented group of players, something which is hard to argue against.

And there was plenty of evidence from the Burnley game that better things lie ahead of United—Pogba's performance as the game continued being a particular highlight. But Mourinho, as he surely knows only too well, has plenty to keep him occupied as he strives to make the Red Devils truly successful again.

It is all well for the party line to be that the staff were satisfied with the performance, but behind closed doors, there is a lot of work to be done.

All advanced data per WhoScored.com.