Red-faced Devils
Blueprint clear for Mourinho to right Man United ship
“Aweek is a long time in politics” was British Prime Minister Harold Wilson’s take on the political climate of the country in the 1960s but a week is arguably even longer in football in 2016. Manchester United manager Jose Mourinho would argue that after he had a week that must have felt like a lifetime.
United went in to the recent derby full of confidence and on the back of three Premier League victories and an opportunity to get an early advantage over their title rivals. They were subsequently played off the park at Old Trafford and despite a late rally fell three points behind City in the league. This was followed by a rather lackluster performance in the Europa League away to Feyenoord in Rotterdam which ended with a 1-0 win for the hosts before the week was capped off with a loss away at Watford, with the 3-1 scoreline not flattering the hosts.
Mourinho’s side did win their most recent game, away to League One side Northampton Town in the English Football League Cup but the 3-1 win was hard-fought and there are still many questions about Manchester United ahead of this Saturday’s game against champions Leicester City.
Talk of crisis is overblown – as Michael Carrick was quick to point out after his match-winning performance against the Cobblers on Wednesday – but clearly Mourinho’s Manchester United are still a work in progress, no matter how carried away fans got after the start to the season. The team sit a point behind Liverpool in the Premier League, and everyone has been blown away by Juergen Klopp’s side this campaign, but they are also already six points behind Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City.
The question is: As they sit, what can Mourinho do to make sure this recent run of form is just a blip when we look back in May on his first season in Manchester?
Build the team around Paul Pogba
The world’s most expensive footballer has not lived up to the weight of expectation that his transfer fee has brought with it. Some of that may have been the pressure of the price tag but it seems unlikely given the Frenchman’s selfconfidence. What is clear so far is that Mourinho has not quite settled on how to get the best out of his midfielder. The obvious answer to this dilemma is to build the team around Pogba and make him – with the exception of goalkeeper David de Gea – the only player guaranteed a starting place. Whether that means he plays on the left of a midfield three, as he often did with Juventus, or as one of two central midfielders or even as a No.10 behind the striker is yet to be seen but he needs the freedom to play to his attacking strengths and influence games.
Sort out the midfield
Mourinho has a number of midfielders at his disposal and all offer more interesting compilations than his use of Marouane Fellaini and, even more bizarrely, Wayne Rooney alongside Pogba at Watford. The assuredness of Michael Carrick and World Cup winner Bastian Schweinsteiger, who has been frozen out by Mourinho, would allow for a steady hand in front of the defense and the opportunity to play from the base of midfield (a role that Andrea Pirlo provided for Juventus, which in turn gave Pogba freedom). The other midfielder in a three could be either Ander Herrera or Morgan Schneiderlin, both busy players capable of going box-to-box but who have still to shake off the stigma of Louis van Gaal’s reign. Any of those combinations would offer more balance than Mourinho currently has and still allow for the option of using Fellaini for specific jobs over the season.
Drop Wayne Rooney
The elephant in the room is Rooney and not just because of his physique. Mourinho was clear that his captain would only play as a forward at the start of this season – either as a No.9 or a No.10 – indeed earlier in the summer the incoming manager had ridiculed England for deploying Rooney in midfield at Euro 2016. Fast forward a few months and Rooney was in midfield against Watford, and he disappointed. Bizarre given Mourinho’s comments and his belief in specialist players for each position. This week he played as the focal point of the attack for the trip to Northampton but was again below the standard expected of him. Mourinho needs to rest him to take him out of the firing line made up of fans and the press and he also needs to manage Rooney within his squad rotation. Any team with both Rooney and Zlatan Ibrahimovic in it is too slow for modern football, so use them interchangeably, in the positions that were stated before the season. On current form, Rooney doesn’t warrant a starting place, let alone the appearance that he is undroppable. If the board are demanding Rooney must play then this is where the boss needs to take a stand.
Stop going public
Prior to his bizarre end at Chelsea, Mourinho has always been held up as an example of being a great man manager and this was part of the reason he was given the Old Trafford hot seat – his traits were similar to the last successful occupant of the home dugout, Sir Alex Ferguson. Maybe he knows what he is doing but dressing room leaks to national newspapers suggest that the players are a little concerned by his methods and who can blame some of them? Luke Shaw, Juan Mata, Jesse Lingard and Henrikh Mkhitaryan have all come in for humiliating substitutions while they are among several players that have been publicly blamed by their manager. In the meantime, other players have received special treatment. It doesn’t look good that Mourinho appears to be losing the dressing room after his honeymoon period and it is eerily similar to both David Moyes and Van Gaal. Whatever he says in private, the Portuguese needs to return to the siege mentality that served Ferguson so well over the years.