Mourinho sent his side out with defence at the forefront of their minds and they weren’t capable of staging a comeback following the defender’s error

Not even the comeback kings were able to get Jose Mourinho out of the mess he found himself in at Wembley on Saturday as Manchester United went down 1-0 to Chelsea in the FA Cup final.

Poor starts by United this season against Crystal Palace, Manchester City, Tottenham and even Chelsea turned out to be only the platform from which spectacular comeback wins would be recorded.





But Mourinho couldn’t coax another out of his side in Saturday’s showpiece as his decision to focus more on stopping Chelsea than unleashing his own players left United chasing shadows for the majority of the first half.

Jones, meanwhile, had added to his growing collection of memes with his inept attempt to make up for his initial poor defending. His selection had had many United fans scratching their heads from the start, and this intervention only intensified the derision at Mourinho’s decision not to start Eric Bailly in his stead.

United continued to be restrained by their own shape throughout the remainder of the first half, with their only real chance coming seconds before the break when Pogba finally broke into some space and Sanchez’s ball into the centre eventually found Marcus Rashford. This was not to be the young England striker’s afternoon, though, as he scuffed the opportunity and Chelsea cleared.

Ultimately, though, Manchester United's defeat could be traced back to how Mourinho set up his side as the Portuguese suffered defeat to his bitter rival Antonio Conte.