Man United might not have best team, but Jose Mourinho has strongest squad in the Premier League

First came victory, then mockery. Manchester United’s 3-1 win at Middlesbrough was fresh in the memory when, courtesy of photo-editing software, a picture appeared of them on a fictional open-top bus parade to celebrate moving into fifth place.

Nor is it just the more mischievous elements of other clubs’ fanbases who have taken a pot-shot against paragons of stability. “They are enjoying a long unbeaten run in the league stretching back to October,” proclaimed Chelsea’s website before the two clubs met in the FA Cup. “It has lifted them all the way from sixth to sixth.”

It was not actually true – United had gone from seventh to sixth – but it nevertheless highlighted the strange sense that they had progressed without progressing, that they appeared to be heading in the right direction while standing still.

Claim and counter-claim can abound where United are concerned. Jose Mourinho contributes. Even though United were depleted and suffering from the heaviest workload of any Premier League club this season, his suggestion that he would have been happy with a draw at the Riverside defied credibility.

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Mourinho can be incorrigible. He can also be targeted. Roy Keane, no stranger to taking aim at big names, speculated playfully on Thursday that United may be too big for him. When the Portuguese brought on Marcos Rojo on Sunday, it prompted suggestions that he was fielding six defenders against the league’s lowest scorers.

Mourinho’s age-old rationale, that the ends justify the means, has been amended at Old Trafford. He has tried to position himself on the side of the footballing angels, arguing United are an attacking team, bemoaning the supposed defensiveness of others and ignoring the reality that the rest of the top six have each scored at least 12 more league goals.

He has used United’s packed fixture list to argue others have had an easier ride, without acknowledging the main reason Chelsea have no European football is because he left them in 16th place in December 2015. He has looked tired himself by the relentless nature of their season and, whatever the employees of the Chelsea website think, United deserve credit for the resolve they have shown in going 18 league games unbeaten and only losing twice in 31 matches in all competitions. Their season has been an illustration of determination. Their football has been rather more mixed.

Yet Sunday showed the depth of their resources. Mourinho may have attempted to portray United as underdogs at Middlesbrough. They ventured north without Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Paul Pogba and Ander Herrera and with Henrikh Mkhitaryan only deemed fit to be an unused substitute.

They prospered largely because of players who, to varying degrees, have been on the fringes. The three goalscorers were Jesse Lingard, making a first league start since January 2, Marouane Fellaini, in his first for eight weeks, and Antonio Valencia, in his first as anything other than a right-back.

Mourinho identified the adaptable Ashley Young for praise after just his third league start. He also namechecked the underused Michael Carrick, who has featured in under half of United’s top-flight games. Marcus Rashford has only begun two as a striker but, in Ibrahimovic’s absence, he troubled Middlesbrough with his pace.

Bench strength may not seem much of a factor in a season when a group of 13 players are set to secure the title for Chelsea. It has not felt as crucial as it was in previous title races. There are reasons, too, to argue that the finest football has been played by Tottenham Hotspur and Liverpool when they have been able to pick a fresh, fast first XI, blessed with an understanding that has come from continuity.

Injuries and packed schedules have made it harder for United, Manchester City and Arsenal to emulate them. Yet amid the mass of contradictions that surround United and Mourinho, big-spending club and superstar manager taking the long route back towards the Uefa Champions League via the backwaters of the Europa League, the paradox is that, despite their Galactico fixation, they do not have the best starting XI in the country, but they might have the strongest squad.

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