Manchester United vs Burnley match report: Jose Mourinho and Ander Herrera see red as Tom Heaton stands firm

Manchester United 0 Burnley 0: Zlatan Ibrahimovic missed a number of opportunities as the excellent Heaton ensured Burnley kept a clean sheet at Old Trafford

Ander Herrera is shown a red card by referee Mark Clattenburg (Getty)

Back in his suite at the Lowry Hotel, Jose Mourinho would once more have felt the elegantly-decorated walls closing in.

The man who gives the impression of being increasingly disillusioned by life at Manchester’s finest hotel and its biggest football club, watched the second half of what - but for the brilliance of the Burnley keeper, Tom Heaton - should have been an emphatic home victory from the stands.

It should have been a rout but it was not. Instead, Mourinho saw a club that had not won at Old Trafford since 1962 and that had not managed so much as a draw away from Turf Moor this season take two more points from his side.

Mourinho’s last home game in the Premier League had seen Stoke – who last won at Old Trafford as recently as 1976 – do much the same. However much Manchester United deserved to win both games, momentum is seeping relentlessly away.

Mark Clattenburg dismissed Mourinho after a histrionic protest from the Manchester United manager after Matteo Darmian appeared to have been tripped in the box by Jon Flanagan just before the interval. Mourinho charged back and forth along the touchline and then continued the row with the referee in the tunnel.

Clattenburg had been right. Darmian, taking the place of Antonio Valencia, who sustained a broken arm in Wednesday’s League Cup win over Manchester City, had dived. Since his attempt to cheat was directly responsible for his manager being dismissed, it was doubly stupid.

Mourinho was not the only member of the Manchester United matchday squad to be sent off by Clattenburg. Midway through the second half Ander Herrera was shown a second yellow card. The Spaniard might have been shown a straight red before the interval for a studs-up challenge on Dean Marney but he was unfortunate to be shown a second yellow for a clash with the same player.

From his seat in the Sir Bobby Charlton Stand, Mourinho had much the same view as he enjoyed while crouching down by the water bottles on the touchline. It was of Burnley hanging on and of Manchester United being continually denied by Heaton.

Zlatan Ibrahimovic missed a number of chances to win the game for United (Getty)

For the Burnley keeper it was appropriate that Old Trafford should be the scene of one of the games of his life. He had joined Manchester United as an 11-year-old and, although he failed to break into the first team, Sir Alex Ferguson was apoplectic when Heaton informed him of his decision to leave. This performance suggested why.

Herrera’s sending-off did not slow United’s assault on Heaton’s goal in front of the Stretford End. They did not so much attempt to batter down Burnley’s defence as go at it with a chainshaw.

It reached a crescendo when Paul Pogba’s superb diagonal ball was met by Zlatan Ibrahimovic at the far post, perhaps three yards out. He missed. Earlier, Juan Mata, captaining United in place of Wayne Rooney, had turned and driven a shot against the foot of the post.

Mostly, however, United were denied by Heaton. Most spectacularly, he spread himself in front of Ibrahimovic as he smashed a volley against his arm. Before the interval, he blocked Ibrahimovic after the Swede, who has now gone half-a-dozen games without a goal, had been put through by a delightful side-footed pass by Mata. Then, when the pair exchanged roles, Heaton was again equal to the shot.

Probably the best save of all came when a fine cross from Herrera found Jesse Lingard leaping almost from the penalty spot. The header was obviously destined for the top corner of Heaton’s net until his gloved hand pushed it away. Those same gloves then deflected a bullet of a shot from Pogba into the crowd.

Mourinho wass sent to the stands at Old Trafford during United vs Burnley (Getty)

It would be wrong to say it was Heaton against the world. Burnley, who had averaged one shot on target in each of their previous away games, defended with absolute resolve and attacked when and where they could.

As he paced his hotel suite long after the match, Mourinho would probably imagine himself the victim of another injustice, another slight. Perhaps he is right but there are those who believe that The Special One is getting exactly what his attitude deserves.

Teams

Manchester United: (4-2-3-1) De Gea; Darmian, Rojo, Blind, Shaw; Herrera, Pogba; Lingard (Rooney 72), Mata (Fellaini 72), Rashford (Depay 82); Ibrahimovic. Substitutes: Romero (g), Depay, Carrick, Young, Schneiderlin.

Burnley: (4-4-2) Heaton; Lowton, Keane, Mee, Ward (Flanagan 44); Gudmundsson (Boyd 85), Marney, Kendrick, Arfield; Gray (Barnes 60), Vokes. Substitutes: Robinson (g), Kightly, Bamford, Tarkowski.

Referee: Mark Clattenburg