Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
Mourinho can win hearts, minds AND trophies if he combines his front three
JOSE MOURINHO not only has an opportunity to win yet another league title, he has a chance to reinvent himself, he has a chance to win hearts and minds.
As the two Manchester clubs established themselves at the top of the table, the pigeonholing was instant. Pep the purist versus Jose the pragmatist. Guardiola the guardian of the beautiful game versus Mourinho the man who is happy to win ugly.
Only there is nothing ugly about this Manchester United squad. To cast it as the efficient machine in contrast to City’s assembly of artists is simply unfair. In fact, Mourinho has the chance to make this team one of the most exciting in several United generations.
If he wants to.
City can match it, but is there a more exciting combination of attacking talent than Marcus Rashford, Anthony Martial (left) and Romelu Lukaku (above)?
The challenge facing Mourinho is to combine them in the same team. Lukaku is a shoo-in, of course, but there will surely be a limit to how long the other two precociously-gifted forwards can accept rotation.
At 19, Rashford is still on a learning curve, his patchy performance against Everton last Sunday confirmation of that.
But Martial turns 22 in December and is too good to be an impact substitute and a cup specialist.
A recruit during the reign of Louis van Gaal, who also gave Rashford his first team debut, Martial has been outstanding when he has operated as a replacement, but it is hard to imagine him being satisfied if starts continue to be severely limited. And don’t forget, Mourinho (right) will have Zlatan Ibrahimovic available later in the season.
Mourinho can present solid arguments for not starting Rashford and Martial together in games more testing than Burton Albion reserves at home.
In the Premier League, Mourinho has done it only five times, away at Watford and Manchester City, home to Arsenal, West Brom and Swansea last season.
United failed to win any of those matches.
This season, Rashford has started four Premier League games and came on as a sub in the other.
Martial has started one and came on as sub in the other four.
United have won four, drawn one, scored 16, conceded two. Why change a winning formula? He need not do it right now, but Lukaku, Rashford and Martial are a trio that can lead United into a new era of adventure.
The financial results published yesterday again show United to be the most successful English club from a commercial point of view.
It is a long time, though, since they were seen as the most entertaining.
Mourinho has always been about winning, not entertaining. Winning IS entertaining, no matter what.
Yet United won three trophies last season but made few new friends.
Almost despite Mourinho’s instinctive caginess, the United of this season feels different and few are more cavalier than Rashford and Martial. That United were quickly reestablished at European football’s top table was Mourinho’s first priority which, albeit not by the expected route, he did.
Next is to win a first Premier League title since 2012-13.
Long-term, though, Mourinho has a shot at a bigger prize. It is a mile off, but he can nurture a team that will stand comparison with the most attractive, successful ones in United’s modern times, a Mourinho team that even outsiders can love.
And ultimately, finding that way to combine three of the most exciting talents in the Premier League could be the key.