UNITED Chris could earn his Spurs by returning
PLAYING THREE AT THE BACK WOULD HELP JITTERY DEFENCE AGAINST TOTTENHAM
DOES Jose Mourinho know his best team?
Given the chopping and changing that has gone on in recent months – United have used seven different centre-back combinations in their last seven league games – it is a fair question.
As far as Mourinho is concerned, the era of the untouchable is over. The Reds boss has only handed his sergeant, Romelu Lukaku, that compliment and has instead talked, albeit rarely, of the warriors and monsters at Old Trafford.
United were without a handful of those players for the trip down to Brighton – namely Antonio Valencia, Nemanja Matic and Alexis Sanchez – but it was not the missing personnel that was the issue.
Those seasoned internationals who crossed that white line, a World Cup winner among them, did not turn up at the Amex. As stand-in skipper Paul Pogba even admitted, the attitude was all wrong before the squad even boarded their chartered flight from Manchester.
Given how it was only three months or so since United’s previous defeat to Brighton, that is particularly worrying. We all know what a stickler Mourinho and his staff are for detail and preparation and, yet, United were stunned by the tireless Seagulls. So what happens next? Matic and Valencia have been back training since last week and while they are obviously lacking match fitness, Mourinho will be desperate to get them back on the field.
Mourinho estimated Sanchez would be out for one or two weeks but Tuesday’s return to Carrington shows you how desperate the Chilean is to return to play against old rivals Spurs next week.
Sanchez may prefer life on the left but his best performances this summer have come through the middle. Indeed his best goal return – what he will be ultimately judged on at United – was as a centre-forward for Arsenal two years ago.
There is a danger of being kneejerk, making too many changes, but Mourinho has shifted from 4-2-3-1 to 4-3-3 to 3-5-2 at various points and the squad have been drilled to play each formation. Hence why Mourinho went with a two-man midfield after the break at the Amex.
So why not return to three at the back when the defence already look so shot of confidence?
Indeed, when the Reds suffered a similar shock last season, at Huddersfield, Mourinho brought in an extra centre-back to give the team more solidity.
He has his detractors, but Chris Smalling could prove that man. The 28-yearold was among the first of United’s substitutes to warm-up at the Amex but, tellingly, Mourinho decided against taking off Victor Lindelof and Eric Bailly and shattering their confidence.
There was so little communication in that United defence – and that includes goalkeeper David de Gea – and Lindelof and Bailly have benefited from Smalling’s gentle instructions in the past. Others would benefit, too. Jesse Lingard was at his devastating best through the middle in a 3-5-2 last season while Luke Shaw has been United’s most effective player on the flanks in August, so why not push him further forward to left wingback? It is an experiment worth revisiting. Ciaran Kelly