JOSE NEEDS ROONEY TO PROVE WORTH

Captain’s future hinges on whether he can be perfect 10

MANCHESTER United’s first Premier League game under Jose Mourinho will feel like a final audition for many of the stars on view at Bournemouth today. With £100million man Paul Pogba sitting out the game due to a onematch ban, others have the chance to show Mourinho they deserve a place in his bright new era.

Make no mistake, Pogba is arguably the only midfield player or forward guaranteed a Premier League place for United this season.

Everyone else will have to fight, particularly as Mourinho has confirmed he will play two different systems. One of those, a 4-3-3, has no room for a No10 which means even captain Wayne Rooney and £28m summer signing Henrikh Mkhitaryan will be vulnerable.

So the stakes this afternoon are high, on an individual as well as a team basis.

Mourinho played 4-2-3-1 in United’s pre-season games, with Rooney in behind Zlatan Ibrahimovic. His success when he first arrived at Chelsea was built on a 4-3-3, in which flying wingers Damien Duff and Arjen Robben operated either side of Didier Drogba.

This time, Mourinho has to create a properly functioning XI using 25 top-class internationals.

Unlike most managers who keep their cards close to their chest, Mourinho has the confidence to explain what he is trying to do beforehand — rather like boxer Muhammad Ali used to predict the rounds in which he would stop his opponents.

‘Two systems. Two systems,’ he emphasised. ‘Players are only comfortable when they know what to do. So we are not going to play three, four, five or 10 systems.

‘The principles of play that we work on every day are about systems with lots of similarities, in order for the players to be comfortable with that.

‘The systems are adapted to their qualities so we can get the best out of them, and so we can adapt to the qualities of our opponents if that’s the case.

‘Eventually, during a match, sometimes you are pushed to different situations, but what is most important is that the players should feel comfortable on the pitch.’

After a spending blitz on Pogba, Ibrahimovic, Mkhitaryan and £30m defender Eric Bailly, Mourinho and everyone else expects United to challenge at the top.

That journey begins today without banned Pogba, who will stay in Manchester to boost his fitness.

Everywhere he looks, Mourinho is spoilt for choice. Assuming he plays 4-2-3-1 today, he has Morgan Schneiderlin, Ander Herrera, Michael Carrick and Marouane Fellaini competing for two places. Rooney will start as No10 aware that Mkhitaryan and Juan Mata can do the job if he falters. Ibrahimovic has Marcus Rashford breathing down his neck at No 9 and the choices out wide are plentiful. Last weekend’s Wembley hero, Jesse Lingard, Anthony Martial, Memphis Depay and Ashley Young. Mkhitaryan can play in a 4-2-3-1 but not really in a 4-3-3 when out-and-out pace is the key. No wonder Mourinho is looking forward to the real stuff having traipsed around China, Sweden, Wigan and Wembley for pre-season familiarisation. ‘I don’t like friendlies. Friendlies give me a strange feeling,’ he said. ‘You want to win but at the same time, there are more important things than winning.

‘You go to the game and the changes are already organised before it starts, it doesn’t matter what the result is at half-time. I don’t like the feeling. I like competition.

‘The Premier League is the marathon and this is the starting point of a long marathon. Yes, I’m excited. I like this. Even when we’re not playing, I try to know the results, who scored, who is winning and losing. It’s special.’

Nine younger players have left United since Mourinho arrived. But he still believes if you are good enough, then you are old enough and 18-year-old Rashford will have his part to play this season.

‘I like him a lot,’ said Mourinho. ‘Of course, he’s a young boy. At his age, he can have ups and downs, and you have to be ready to support him if that’s the case. But potentially, he’s a very good player. He knows how to be a professional, the way he works, the way he lives — very good. He’s one of my important players. He will play a lot.’

At the other end of the age scale, Rooney knows he is no longer the biggest fish in the pond as he approaches his 31st birthday.

He will be keen to seize his chance today because he looks particularly vulnerable if Mourinho switches to a 4-3-3 when Pogba is available, starting against Southampton at Old Trafford on Friday.

A 4-3-3 does not require a No10, Mourinho has already dismissed the captain’s chances of playing in midfield and he does not have the speed to play wide. Vice-captain Carrick, who at 35 is starting his 11th season with the club, welcomes the competition.

‘I have said all along this club needs the best players to push and challenge each other,’ he said.

‘It’s good to have a couple of big personalities come into the dressing room. It feels like a good mix. It’s only a part of it though, we need to get the results.’

It is Mourinho’s job to make that happen.

Given the quality of players at his disposal, nobody is safe if they want to play with Pogba in the Premier League rather than be part of the Thursday night Europa League side.

And he will use that fear factor to keep standards high.

‘People can use all the words they want but the reality is that no player is happy when he is not playing,’ said Mourinho.