Ah, the usual suspects are at it again - takes only one or two bad results for the hyperbole to rear its head. Anyway, no one will hold Mourinho accountable because he's not culpable for the players' profligacy in front of goal - like Varun pointed out:
He cannot put the ball in the back of net for our players. Way too many chances missed, that's not on the manager. His job is to set us up in a way that enables us to create chances and stop the opposition from creating them. Something we've done all season long.
That's spot on. A manager can build a structure to bring said players into positions to score (we should've realistically been 4-0 up by half time, if not more), but the onus is then on the individual(s) and their quality/composure to provide the finishing touches - no amount of cajoling by the manager can rectify that because he can't fundamentally retool the players. That's based on the cumulative evidence over the last 3 seasons - and will take more than just one window to resolve.
We've tried several different combinations in the league over the course of the current season, and the one consistent theme there is that when Zlatan has a poor game, more often than not - the others don't pick up the slack. Our reliance on him is quite staggering - and part of the problem because he's now rescued so many points or
lost cause situations for us after 75 minutes, that subbing him off doesn't make statistical sense even when he's having a poor game. Something similar is happening with Mkhitaryan - every time he's not on the field, we miss that extra bit of inventiveness from midfield and attacking midfield areas. Or Herrera - we miss his
snapping on the oppositions' heels presence and verve in the center of the park in more evenly contested affairs.
It's an imperfect set of personnel, with the imperfections being highlighted every so often - which shouldn't come as a surprise. Hope we now refocus on the Europa League (were doing so already, but it should now be our primary objective for the current season - because with our fixtures in the league, and the frequency of games - Top 4 will be more than an uphill task in realistic terms), and then use the summer as a springboard for greater consistency come next season.