As Jose Mourinho’s Manchester United players trudged back into the visitors dressing room at Ewood Park on Sunday following their 2-1 FA Cup fifth-round win over Blackburn Rovers, there would have been little thought of the squad being 12 games from greatness.
The immediate concerns would have been on switching the focus to Wednesday’s Europa League round-of-32 second leg against St Etienne in France and digesting the prospect of an FA Cup quarterfinal trip to Chelsea next month.
The EFL Cup final against Southampton may have been just a week away following the full-time whistle at Blackburn, but such is United’s workload right now, even a trip to Wembley has to go on the back-burner until it becomes the most important game by virtue of being the next one.
But with Mourinho’s team flying to Auvergne-Rhones-Alpes on Tuesday having secured a 3-0 first-leg advantage over Les Verts at Old Trafford on Thursday, United are now beginning to home in on silverware on three fronts, and the countdown can begin in earnest if they safely negotiate their match at the Stade Geoffroy-Guichard.
Sir Alex Ferguson’s 1999 Treble winners entered Old Trafford folklore having won the Premier League, FA Cup and Champions League in the same season. Even if they pull off their own three-trophy haul between now and the end of May, Mourinho’s team will not match Peter Schmeichel, David Beckham, Roy Keane, Paul Scholes & Co. in the history books.
When Gerard Houllier led Liverpool to a cup treble in 2001 by winning both domestic cups and the UEFA Cup, the achievement was mocked by United supporters who, having seen their club lift the three biggest trophies two years earlier, dismissed their rivals’ haul as the “plastic treble.”
But 16 years on, United are now threatening to match Liverpool’s achievement, and it is unlikely that anybody within Old Trafford will be quite so quick to diminish the magnitude of such success if Mourinho’s players can pull it off.
But there are plenty of obstacles in United’s way, with Antonio Conte’s Chelsea posing a formidable roadblock at Stamford Bridge when the two teams meet for the first time since the Premier League leaders inflicted a 4-0 defeat on United in October — their last loss in the league.
Fatigue may also overcome United in their attempts to win three major trophies, at the same time as attempting to secure a top-four finish in the league in order to guarantee Champions League football next season.
Including their 2-1 victory against Leicester City at Wembley in the Community Shield last August, United have now played 41 games in all competitions this term.
But if they are to win the EFL Cup, FA Cup and Europa League, Mourinho must somehow rotate his squad successfully enough for United to play another 25 games between now and the Europa League final in Stockholm on May 24.
The current breakdown (should United reach the final in each) is one game in the EFL Cup — Sunday’s Wembley clash with Southampton — three more fixtures in the FA Cup and eight in the Europa League.
Fellow heavyweights such as Arsenal, Manchester City and Tottenham Hotspur could block United’s way in the FA Cup if Mourinho’s men are able to eliminate Chelsea, while Roma, Fiorentina, Schalke and Lyon could all prove awkward opponents between now and late May in the Europa League.
Back in 1999, Ferguson’s team racked up 63 games in all competitions to win the Treble, using 29 players from August to May, and the Scot has since insisted that the intensity of the fixture list and requirement to play every three to four days ultimately helped keep his players driven and focused, and eventually pushed them over the line.
Two years later, Liverpool also played 63 games, with the last one being their 5-4 UEFA Cup final victory over Alaves, but Houllier spread the demands on his players, with no fewer than 37 members of his squad making at least one appearance during the 2000-01 season.
If United are to join Liverpool in the record books by achieving a cup treble, they will end the campaign having played 66 games, but Mourinho has so far used only 28 players, and there is little prospect of the Portuguese making that 29 or 30 due to the size of his squad.
United’s pool of players has already been diminished by the January sales of Memphis Depay and Morgan Schneiderlin, to Lyon and Everton respectively, so it makes it even more unlikely that Wayne Rooney will be allowed to leave Old Trafford for China this month — a move that would leave the team dangerously exposed in attacking options should Zlatan Ibrahimovic get injured.
And the prospect of players suffering injury or fatigue grows with every fixture, particularly when United may be forced to squeeze in 25 games in 94 days between now and May 24 — a ratio of a game every 3.76 days.
If United continue on all fronts, they will find it more difficult to schedule fixtures, with the Premier League games at Southampton and Manchester City still in the “to be arranged” category due to cup-enforced postponements of the original dates.
But that is the landscape that now lies before Mourinho and his players.
If they can somehow find their way through it to emerge with three major trophies this season, those United supporters who poured scorn on Liverpool’s achievement in 2001 may have to quickly swallow their pride.
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