United need to fill opponents with fear again
FRONTING up is admirable - and Paul Pogba is quickly learning his responsibilities as stand-in captain at United.
Before his side’s awful 3-2 defeat at Brighton, the Frenchman was running through his elaborate hand shake repertoire with Luke Shaw and Anthony Martial. There were even some words of encouragement for new arrival Fred.
There was a spring in Pogba’s step as he made his way over for the captains’ photo with Lewis Dunk before kick-off and, clearly, he relishes his responsibility as club ambassador.
That goes for fronting up to the cameras for the flash interviews post-match - whatever the result. And while Pogba was honest, his comments were worrying.
“They had more hunger than us,” he said. “I put myself first, that my attitude wasn’t right enough. We made mistakes we shouldn’t make.”
If your own skipper’s attitude is not right, how can you expect your team’s to be? The comments hint at the wider mentality issue Jose Mourinho has struggled to solve at Old Trafford and money alone is not the answer.
The reality is, United are no longer feared and why should they be?
Teams like Brighton know that while none of their players would necessarily get into Mourinho’s starting line-up, they can beat them in so many other ways before a ball is even kicked with their attitude and desire.
In the last year alone, United have dropped points against Stoke, Huddersfield, Leicester, Burnley, Southampton, Newcastle, West Ham, Brighton and West Brom. Let’s not even mention those cup exits to Bristol and Sevilla.
Every time United took a step forward last season - Arsenal away, City away they were immediately knocked two back by a side they were expected to beat. United are no longer bulldozing teams like they used to. While that statement may trigger memories of Sir Alex Ferguson’s great sides, it was only 12 months ago that United ripped Swansea apart with a ruthless, attacking display at the Liberty. Now, they are lacking an attacking game plan - let alone an identity.
Just think back to that glorious start to last season when United won six of their opening seven league games, scoring 21 goals in the process.
Then Mourinho changed his approach for the Liverpool game and United never got that momentum back. That defeat to Huddersfield just a week later was when they really lost their fear factor.
It is the same pattern every time: the fans get on top of the players, the opposition show remarkable fight and United are overawed.
Brighton, though, felt like a new low just 107 days after United tasted defeat at the very same stadium.
On Sunday, there were only four survivors - David de Gea, Ashley Young, Paul Pogba and Anthony Martial - from the starting line-up that night but lessons had not been learnt.
If the attitude is not right when United are technically in the title race, and Mourinho has spent the week drilling home how his players need to be at their best at the Amex, then when is it going to be right?