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With Manchester United down 2-0 at half-time and their rivals Manchester City on the cusp of clinching the Premier League trophy, Jose Mourinho delivered a half-time talk meant to change things around. "He said that we didn’t want to be the clowns standing there watching them get their title," match hero Chris Smalling revealed.
That simple messaged helped to inspire United to the best 45 minutes of football since Jose Mourinho joined the club. Two goals from controversial midfielder Paul Pogba brought the score level before Chris Smalling took advantage of Vincent Kompany's error in marking to bring the Red Devils in front.
With little remaining, Manchester City piled on the pressure. Manager Pep Guardiola was forced to resort to bringing in some of his better players, rested until that point. But De Bruyne, Jesus and Aguero's influence on the game was not enough to salvage anything from this derby. Manchester City are all but Premier League champions, but they will need to wait a while longer before it can be made official.
It's an important victory for United in their pursuit of second place. More importantly, Jose Mourinho finally seems to be living up to the records and reputation of Sir Alex Ferguson, the figure held in the highest esteem at Old Trafford.
In fact, United under the guidance of Mourinho had never come back from two goals down. It's a stark contrast to Ferguson's United, routinely able to return and save seemingly lost causes. In fact, during Fergie's last season in charge of United, the team managed to come back and win on 12 separate occasions. The team would go on to win the 2012-13 season.
United hasn't won the title since, a fact that is never lost on the fans. But Mourinho's 2017-18 season should deliver some consolation. The team is set to achieve the highest number of points since Ferguson left the club in 2013. They now have 71 points with six games remaining. It is by far an improvement on any of the campaigns from the 2013 to 2017 period.
Jose Mourinho's United have certainly underperformed in certain respects this season. They were knocked out of the Champions League by Sevilla, Mourinho has failed to win the League in his two seasons at Old Trafford and he has often seemed at odds with some of his players at times.
However, against Manchester City, the Special One proved that he can get through to his players when needed and have them perform at the level expected of players representing a team of United's stature. The stats also clearly show that Mourinho has managed to improve the club drastically from the last season.
As Mourinho himself commented at the end of the Manchester derby, "The team that people think we are, we're not as bad as people say we are. What we will try to prove is that we're the second best team in the country."
