Specialist in failure? How Mourinho is acting more and more like Wenger everyday

<p>The Portuguese is beginning to sound like a man running out of answers as Manchester United continue to struggle</p>, <p>“What did you think about the penalty incident?” “I didn’t see it.”</p>, <p>“What about the potential red-card offence committed by your centre-back in the first half?” “I didn’t see it.”</p>, <p>Those were not the words of Arsene Wenger circa 2006, but Jose Mourinho on Sunday. Leighton Baines’ late equaliser for Everton had hit the Manchester United manager so hard he suddenly found himself channelling his sworn enemy when asked to recap on the 1-1 draw in the post-match press conference.</p>, <p>But perhaps there is more to Mourinho’s mimicking of the Arsenal manager than just the refusal to acknowledge unfavourable moments in the game. For just as Wenger spent years refusing to contemplate a switch away from the 4-4-2 formation to which he was wedded for so long, the Portuguese revealed that his decision to throw on accidental game-changer Marouane Fellaini came out of a deep-seated belief that the only way to withstand a direct approach from the opposition is to call upon the tallest player on your books.</p>, <p>“I thought you would know more about football than you do because the answer is obvious,” he blasted when asked why the Belgian had replaced Henrikh Mkhitaryan for the final five minutes at Goodison Park. “Everton do not play beautiful football anymore. They are now direct. Their style is direct. Williams is direct. Everything is direct, and when they are losing they intensify their directness. When you have a player who is two metres tall you bring him on to deal with that.”</p>, <p>It was often the first reaction of Louis van Gaal to throw on Fellaini whenever he felt the slightest bit uncomfortable with an aerial challenge from the opposition, and Mourinho has fallen into the same trap somewhat since succeeding the Dutchman in the summer.</p>, <p>Yet during the course of the game it was United’s width which had won them time and space, which had stretched Everton and forced g