HERE ARE MOURINHO'S OPTIONS

KEEP HIM AS. NO .10: Rooney is United' sand England' s captain and needs four more goals to become the club's all-time record scores topping Bobby Charlton's 249 goals. Given time, he might Improve his partnership with librahimovik, while Pogba might learn how to better operate in midfield two Rooney hasn't been among the players publicity criticized in recent weeks by Mourinho, who freedom has long been at fan of the player.

CHANGE POSITION:

Rooney finished the Northampton game on the right of a front three also containing Ibrahimovic and Rashford. He is hard-working, has played the wide role before, and United's other wingers Anthony Martial, Jesse Lingard and Memphis Depay are hardly in the best form.

Maybe Rooney could stay there, as part of a 4-3-3 formation or with a teammate like Juan Mata or Henrikh Mkhitaryan in the No. 10 role. Then again, Mourinho said in his first news conference as United manager: "For me, he will be a nine, he will be a 10, he will be a nineand-a-half." That suggests Rooney

DROP HIM:

The last manager to drop Rooney was Alex Ferguson, in the final season of his near-27-year reign. It almost led to Rooney leaving United. Mourinho could do the same in an attempt to get more out of Pogba, give Ibrahimovic more space to rove in attack, and inject some more pace into the forward line. Over at Manchester City, Pep Guardiola has shown his tough streak in dropping two club greats in Joe Hart and Yaya Toure early in his tenure. Is Mourinho ready to make a similar statement?