No star is safe from the chop under Mourinho
JOSE Mourinho’s team against West Ham sent out a stark reminder to his whole United squad.
The Reds boss proved last season that past glories, reputations or transfer fees count for nothing.
And his selection against the Hammers showed that will be the same this season.
Last term it was firstly Henrikh Mkhitaryan who discovered Mourinho wasn’t going to hang around for someone just because he paid £27m for him, letting the Armenian find his feet out of the spotlight.
Now £30m defender Victor Lindelof is getting the Mkhitaryan treatment. He was in the stand as United kicked off on Sunday.
A struggle in pre-season cost the Swede a place in the squad for the opening game.
Alongside him in the Sir Bobby Charlton stand was newly-appointed captain Michael Carrick.
Last season it was skipper and club legend Wayne Rooney who realised his CV counted for little with Mourinho.
Like Rooney, 36-year-old Carrick will get his minutes on the pitch. Mourinho likes the midfielder and honoured him with the captaincy but he still went and bought £35m Nemanja Matic and started him on day one.
But the stand-out message arguably came with the omission of Ander Herrera. On May 24 the Basque midfielder was United’s man of the match against Ajax in the Europa League final in Stockholm.
Over the season Herrera had cemented himself as an almost guaranteed component in Mourinho’s engine room.
He was the box-to-box spark who got United moving. After his display in Sweden his stock could not have been higher, so much so that Barcelona were sniffing around.
It was made clear they wouldn’t get him and the loyal Herrera didn’t want to leave Old Trafford.
If ever there looked a shoe-in for Mourinho’s first team of the campaign it would have been Herrera.
But then came his subdued performance in Skopje against Real Madrid in the Super Cup.
Herrera could not get himself into a match dominated by the Spaniards’ midfield. He was hauled off before the hour.
He paid the price against West Ham. Stockholm suddenly seemed a long time ago.
Similarly, Matteo Darmian was praised for his influential effort in the Europa League final. United haven’t bowed to pressure from Juventus, who have been keen on the Italian full-back all summer.
He played 90 minutes in Macedonia, but it was Daley Blind who was handed the left-back role against West Ham.
Herrera, Carrick, Lindelof and Darmian will all feature for United this season.
But their names not being on the teamsheet against the Hammers will have resonated inside the Reds camp.
Mourinho will bruise a few more egos before the season is out.