Did Mourinho Get His Tactics Right Against Liverpool?

Did Jose Mourinho get his tactics right against Liverpool? The Sunday Supplement panel give their views, with Neil Custis saying he was "spot on".

Many of Sunday's back pages have criticised the Manchester United manager for his game plan at Anfield - which ended in a 0-0 draw - with some arguing that he is "killing football".

However, Custis, The Sun's chief northern football writer, and James Ducker, The Telegraph's northern football correspondent, believe that Mourinho did use the right tactics on Saturday afternoon and do not think he should shoulder all the blame.

The Daily Mail's chief sports writer, Martin Samuel, had a slightly different view and does not think that the goalless draw at Anfield will be good enough for Man Utd this season.

Read on to see what the Sunday Supplement panellists had to say...

Neil Custis

I think he got it absolutely spot on. I can't remember a time when going to Anfield was a given for any away team, no matter how good they are. This man is supposed to be anti-football but has scored four goals on four occasions in the last seven games.

There were two chances in that game - Manchester United one and Liverpool had one - but it's Mourinho's fault that it was 0-0. Mourinho was inviting Klopp to take a risk yesterday - but he didn't take one. Klopp claimed all of his substitutions were positive, but they were like for like. He didn't take a risk by taking out a midfielder and putting another forward up so he was as concerned about Mourinho as Mourinho was about Klopp.

When you talk about parking the bus, I think of desperate defending. This is Man Utd's seventh clean sheet in eight games. They were totally comfortable defending yesterday. Where the plan fell down, for me, was with Romelu Lukaku. He couldn't hold the ball up when it came out. Yes, he had men around him and what have you but if he holds the ball up, he can then feed it off to people and they can play on the break. Lukaku was poor yesterday and Henrikh Mkhitaryan went missing but that's not Mourinho's fault.

Sir Alex Ferguson's last six visits to Anfield finished with four defeats and one win but of course, with Man Utd traditions, he played it the right way and what have you but Mourinho got it spot on and stopped Liverpool at Anfield in front of a passionate crowd.

It's easy to criticise him, it's easy to blame him but Klopp wasn't taking any great risks yesterday either. He's got a great PR team and he can come out afterwards and be the defender of all that is great in football, but he has had one win in eight. Look where they are and look where United are. I think Mourinho did the right thing for Manchester United yesterday.

James Ducker

We've spent the last few months lauding United's expansive, attacking football and now they draw at Anfield and suddenly it's all doom and gloom and they can't attack at all. I think they could have played a slightly more expansive game, taken a few more risks and still have been very secure defensively. It was there for the taking and I would say it was probably the best chance you'll get of going to Anfield for a while and really turning them over.

But in Ferguson's last 16 visits to Anfield, they scored 14 goals. It was a 0-0 draw in September 2005 when he came out and said 'this game is now too important for Man Utd to lose'. This is not just a Mourinho thing, Ferguson would regularly be very pragmatic and all of these people who are saying 'Ferguson was caviller all the time at Anfield' - it is absolute nonsense.

We are very quick to denigrate teams who are defensively chaotic. Arsenal and Liverpool this season for example, we're moaning all the time about how poor they are at the back. If Wenger and Klopp could organise a defense like Mourinho, they'd have a far better chance at winning the title.

Call him an enemy of football, but he's won 25 trophies in 17 years. I think sometimes it's a very easy tag to throw at him. Also for the second time running, Klopp's plan A has been found wanting against Mourinho's low defensive block. There has been very little criticism of him. I think he had eight shots on target against United in 180 minutes and they haven't found the net.

Martin Samuel

Liverpool did make the game and I don't agree that they only had one chance - I would say three or four. If you draw 0-0, you've failed with the point of the game which is to score goals. Simple as that.

Man City put five past Liverpool, who were down to 10 men, at home but there are different markers. A 0-0 draw at Liverpool is, in most seasons, a really good result but it might not be this year and you might actually be short. When Man City go to Liverpool, they will try and do what they did at the Etihad Stadium which was wipe them off the pitch.

Man Utd are behind the count. They are two points behind Man City now, the goal difference is going to slip away and they are going to have to be ahead of Man City on points at the end of the season because they are never going to win the title on goal difference or on goals scored. City are changing what is a good result.

Credit: Skysports.com