Manchester United made a real statement over the summer by acquiring the services of Jose Mourinho, a man who has achieved great success wherever he has been.
This appointment, combined with the financial power that Mourinho had at his disposal, meant they were able to spend a massive £149m on restructuring the squad and injecting some much-needed quality in the form of Henrikh Mkhitaryan, Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Eric Bailly and Paul Pogba.
This intent from United got fans excited that their days of mediocrity and the club’s willingness to accept finishing in the top four were over, and many were predicting that it would end up being the ‘Battle of Manchester’ to see who was crowned Premier League champions by the end of 16/17.
The honeymoon period for Mourinho is well and truly over, though, with United losing three successive games for the first time in fourteen years. Both clubs went into the Manchester Derby full of confidence and hopeful of maintaining their unbeaten starts but, what was clear in the aftermath, was the gulf in class between the two teams; that early season positivity surrounding United was evaporating with further losses to both Feyenoord and Watford.
Over the summer A lot was made on whether Mourinho was a suitable candidate for Manchester United, with many questioning if he was the right person to deliver the “United Way” of playing and o play fast attacking football, which goes against everything that has made Mourinho’s teamS successful over the years. He is known for his pragmatism and how his teams are built upon defensive solidarity.
Mourinho is clearly struggling to achieve a balance between adopting a more expansive style of play, whilst getting the best out of the players, which he has at his disposal; hey have looked disorganised and disjointed, often not knowing what positions they should take up and what their roles are.
Jose is struggling to fit his key players into his preferred system of 4-2-3-1. It’s like trying to fit square pegs in to round holes.
He’s deploying Pogba, who has been seen as United’s saviour, in a pairing with Fellaini, which is one of the main factors contributing to his poor performances as he’s not tactically aware nor sufficiently disciplined to play in a two-man midfield, often vacating central areas and leaving Fellaini exposed.
Pogba was at his best at Juventus when he was used as part of a three-man midfield with Pirlo, who had the creativity to find him, and Vidal who had great energy to get around the pitch and mop up any defensive errors in areas that Pogba was neglecting.
Rooney’s position in the team stifles Pogba, as his ill-discipline means he often picks up the ball so deep that he becomes ineffective and Zlatan Ibrahimovic drops into the hole where Rooney should be. This, though, is also the area that Pogba wants to exploit, which means United lose their focal point up front and therfore making United more predictable and easy to play against.
The appearance of Marcus Rashford in the last two games has been much-welcomed, but he is being deployed on the wing and his pace and athleticism is needed up front in order to give United’s attacking play a new dimension and make them less predictable to defend against.
You can see that the price tag is having a bearing on how Pogba is performing on the pitch, most notably when the game isn’t going his way. He tries harder to influence proceedings, leaving his teammates exposed on the counter attack. When he was given the No.10 shirt at Juve, his performances initially suffered.
What is telling is that six games into the new season, Jose is still unaware of what his best starting XI is. This was evident in the Derby, when Henrikh Mkhitaryan and Jese Lingard were handed their first starts of the season, only be substituted after 45 minutes for terrible performances.
In stark contrast, their City rivals are thriving under the stewardship of Pep Guardiola, who’s team looks very impressive having adapted quickly to his philosophy and with every player clearly knowing what is expected of them at all times.