Three months, 14 matches and a quarter of the way into a new season. Isn’t it time that new manager Jose Mourinho found an identity for his Manchester United’s side, if not the songsheet for a successful future. It’s a question on the lips of many supporters after the Reds’ decidedly inconsistent start to the campaign.
Four defeats in all competitions points to a squad that is still some distance from the outfit Mourinho’s appointment promised. United could be headed in the right direction, but the new manager must find the right note before pressure builds.
Indeed, United’s performances in the games that really matter have been far from satisfactory. Mourinho’s team was heavily defeated at Chelsea, struggled to a scoreless draw at Anfield and lost at home to Manchester City. There have been moments of hope: healthy victory over Fenerbahçe and Leicester City, but in truth it is an inconsistent story.
These rare moments of hope have come amid a narrative of constant flux. Mourinho is seemingly unaware of his best team, nor the right combinations in key defensive, midfield and attacking spheres. Mourinho’s tinkering with United’s with personal and positions has reached levels at which Louis van Gaal might be proud.
[blockquote who=”” cite=””]Four defeats in all competitions points to a squad that is still some distance from the outfit Mourinho’s appointment promised. United could be headed in the right direction, but the new manager must find the right note before pressure builds.[/blockquote]
United’s League Cup win over City this week came with yet another midfield combination: Paul Pogba, Ander Herrera and Michael Carrick. One trio of many this season. Nor has Mourinho settled on either winger, a prefered left-back, or the best combination in central defence. Or, to put that another way, only David de Gea, Antonio Valencia, and Zlatan Ibrahimović can be assured of both of a place in Mourinho’s team and a consistent role. Even the latter looks so jaded that a period of rest is in the offing.
Elsewhere, Daley Blind and Luke Shaw have been in and out of the team, while Chris Smalling was only selected after starting the season on the bench. Midfielders Marouane Fellaini, Jesse Lingard, Morgan Schneiderlin, and Ashley Young may, or may not, play from week-to-week. Marcus Rashford is now in the team, but only in wide areas, and the Englishman did not start the season. Antony Martial, one of last season’s best players, is now a rare starter.
Such is the inconsistency of selection that Bastian Schweinsteiger may even be comforted by the certainly that he will not play come what may. Henryk Mkhitaryan and Memphis Depay are fast approaching the same status. Phil Jones might be ignored too, but for his chronic addiction to physical rehabilitation.
It is a squad replete with fringe players and few guaranteed starters – and while competition for places is a modern necessity there is more than a little sense that United’s muddled performances are a symptom.
As for the system, Mourinho unveiled another new formation against City in midweek: a 4-1-2-2-1. One for football’s telephone number-quoting hipster community. The midfield trio Carrick was deployed at the base, with Herrera and Pogba a little ahead. Juan Mata on the right, was joined by Rashford on the left – hardly the best position for either. It was another combination of many already this season.
Then there is United’s mentality, which has veered wildly from an ultra-defensive outlook at Anfield, with the Reds effectively deploying six at the back during the second half, to the free-flowing attacking liberalism of victory over Leicester. Mourinho, the ultimate pragmatist, has become a caricature of himself. United’s identity is incoherent as a result.
In each area – personnel, tactics and mentality – Mourinho is far from displaying certainty. It is unlike the former Chelsea, Real Madrid and Internazionale manager; a sense of self-doubt that comes with one of the 54-year-old’s greatest challenges. Mourinho’s rejoinder is a call for time, much like David Moyes and Van Gaal before him.
“In three months it is not so easy to change the most difficult thing which are personalities,” Mourinho said this week. “The style of play, even with mistakes, you can change here and there but at the psychological level it takes more time especially if you go against the nature of some of the personalities.
“When you don’t have a very experienced squad where everybody knows how to win, what is needed to win, that consistency level you must have to cope with the routine of victories, because that is difficult to cope with although it is easier than the routine of defeat, that’s the most difficult time of the process.
“We need time. Some clubs get time but with others you demand immediate success of the clubs and the managers. That’s Manchester United and José Mourinho. No problem.”
Patience has not always been on the club’s agenda since Ferguson’s retirement. Not that there is any suggestion the new manager’s position is under threat. Simply that the opening weeks of the season leave an obvious question: how can Mourinho find an identity for his team amid the flux of evolving personnel and formations? Most of it, of the Portuguese’s own making.
Mourinho needs to find the clarity of thought that led to Wayne Rooney’s demotion last month. It took the new manager just seven games to make the decision that Moyes and Van Gaal could or would not. Big call, big decision.
Similar monumental change may yet be provoked by United’s catastrophic loss at Stamford Bridge, even if the manager put much of the defeat down to individual errors. The roles of the aforementioned Smalling, Blind, and Fellaini in that defeat will not easily be forgotten. This is not Mourinho’s first rodeo; he is willing to railroad players out of the team.
[blockquote who=”” cite=””]Patience has not always been on the club’s agenda since Ferguson’s retirement. Not that there is any suggestion the new manager’s position is under threat.[/blockquote]
One can presume that Schweinsteiger and Depay will be offered an opportunity to pursue their careers elsewhere in the January transfer window. Mkhitaryan may not be far behind.
United’s manager also faces a big call over Ibrahimović, a supreme talent who is beginning to look like a player who has just entered his 36th year. The Swede has scored just once in nine games, with Rashford or Martial offering far more dynamic options up front. One or both could hardly score fewer goals.
Yet, solving the squad’s weaknesses is only part of Mourinho’s to do list as the new year approaches. The Portuguese must also find room for his most productive players, and in their best positions.
Herrera and Mata have thrived when picked, but the pair has started just eight and nine of United’s 14 games this season. The former is a revelation in a more withdrawn role – and demonstrated ample levels of energy and leadership against City, perhaps a demonstration of his potential to become Rooney’s successor as club captain.
There can be no doubt that Mata is at his sumptuous best when selected in a central, creative role, although he enjoyed the link-up with Herrera on the right of United’s midfield against City. Either way, if now is not the time for Mourinho to trust the Spaniard in the club’s biggest games, when is? It is a decision that goes together with removing United’s shackles when facing the club’s biggest competitors. The defensive mindset has not served the team well.
Then there is the biggest question of all: how to get the best out of Pogba by building a team around the Frenchman’s needs. In Turin Pogba enjoyed a role on the left side of a midfield three, with license to drive forward at every opportunity. It suggests a formation to which Mourinho is seemingly reluctant to commit.
If that is the answer, then Mourinho may well dip into the transfer market for a defensive midfielder this summer, given Carrick’s age and the distinct lack of trust placed in Schneiderlin. First, however, United’s manager is almost duty bound to tie up a deal for another central defender, with Eric Bailly likely to be at the Africa Cup of Nations for much of January, and Smalling’s form inconsistent. Bailly’s knee injury against Chelsea is ill luck with horribly impeccable timing. The music of chance.
Transfers are certainly not the answer to United’s problems. The club has spent plenty of money since Ferguson’s retirement in the failure pursuit of former glories. Mourinho believes he is on the right track.
“I never went to a winning club with recent success where you can just introduce a bit of your salt and pepper and the road to success was there,” he claimed.
“I always had difficult moments. Then I left Porto as European champions, I left Inter as European champions, I left Chelsea with two titles in three years and I left Real Madrid with a title. Then I got this club in a hard situation but that’s a great job.”.
First, Mourinho needs to get his house in order – the conductor whose orchestra is not yet playing in time.
Good article but paragraph 3 needs fixing. You have us both drawing and beating Leicester.
New Mgr comes in & tries multiple permutations to get a bloated/inconsistent squad of players to gel. Shock/horror! Time needed
Zlatan has played more minutes than any other striker in the premier league and sits 19th on the table of top scorers; our highest placed player.
This team is like the little DutchBoy who didn’t have enough fingers/toes to plug the leaking dyke.
Leaving injuries aside – Martial, Bailly, Valencia, and Mhkitaryan (?) – the most pertinent question is how many of the veterans deserve playing time ?
Surely DDG, Mata, Herrera, and Blind BUT surely not Rooney, Young, Fellaini, or Smalling. After an initial flurry of excitement, Zlatan looks heavy-legged while Rojo/Darmian are surely just stop-gaps.
We’re told that UTD have a great crop of “kids” – Martial, Rashford, Shaw, Pogba, Fosu-Mensah, and, maybe, Lingard. Tuanzebe and Joe Riley are both supposed to be good enough, too.
So, why not go with a younger selection like:
DDG
Fosu-Mensah/Blind/Tuanzebe/Shaw
Pogba/Herrera
Mkhitaryan/Mata/Martial
Ashford
Given the stale taste that the veteran-laden first-team gives off, I see no reason not so start this kind of line-up. An injection of pace would be refreshing – and it would be positively entralling to see UTD’s forwards run beyond the opposition defence.
I think maybe this article is a bit negative, especially if it was written after the Burnley match. Until Herrera was sent off I thought we played glorious, Roy of the Rovers, epic Man Utd football. Even after he was sent off it was pretty good.
If you look at Klopp’s first season, or Pep’s struggles, you don’t necessarily walk into a side and have it all worked out these days. It’s a lot more competitive in the Premier League now for a start. I think he’s doing okay, despite the fact I was against his appointment initially. If United fans start criticising him unfairly then we’re just adding to the media bulls**t that is desperate for him to fail.
I probably would have gone for a similar team against Burnley but rested Ibra. But he obviously can’t be dropped or even subbed which is problem no. 1 with our season. Problem no. 2, Pogba’s position, didn’t seem to be a factor against Burnely in a home match. I still think he can learn to play in a two if the will is there. Problem no. 3 is Mourinho and his personality. The big mistake he made in the Burnley match was getting sent to the stands. It’s like getting a player sent off, massive distraction during and after the match. We were absolutely stuffing them and lost out on a penalty just before half time. He should have had the confidence that a home match against Burnley, where we had played them off the pitch, wasn’t going to hinge on one penalty shout when we still had 45 minutes to play. But he’s feeling the pressure. Needs to sort that out asap, get his living arrangements right etc. His stubborness with Schweinsteiger has been a mistake too.
The rest is just individual mistakes, a competitive league and intangibles like confidence and morale. No doubt the Old Trafford leaker will come out with some more salacious stuff this week, How the club hasn’t identified who’s been doing that for the last few years and got rid I don’t know.
I think we’ve played some great stuff in patches and some sloppy stuff. I think the changing line-ups are to some extent justifiable. He won’t know his best team straight away and there are some horses-for-courses decisions he’s made. Once we get to a transfer window, no doubt we’ll see the odd player leave which will help. What we lack is a striker in good form (and a galactico in that position who is apparently immovable) and a good quality DM. Other than that I think United fans haven’t been watching the same matches I have over the last 3 years. We have almost played more “Man Utd” football this season than over the last three, just in patches. But better that than the horrow show of van Gaal and Moyes. We’re in danger of becoming the England team where we think we should be walking over every side and each time we don’t the manager is sh*t. Pundits are doing enough of this ‘Mourinho can only win ugly’, ‘yesterday’s man’ cr*p without us joining in.
Written before Burnley, as evidenced by the date on the post.
We played Burnley on the 29th.
The more I thnk about this article, the more it annoys me, I hope the pod isn’t going to adopt this tone.
“Mourinho’s tinkering with United’s with personal and positions has reached levels at which Louis van Gaal might be proud” – No it hasn’t.
“Daley Blind and Luke Shaw have been in and out of the team” – Luke Shaw has been out when injured, but generally played when fit. Daley Blind played above expectations at centre back, so played until he started making mistakes, has replaced Luke Shaw at left back when he’s been injured, replaced Smalling when injured. He’s a utility player and his selection or non-selction has been completely explainable.
“Chris Smalling was only selected after starting the season on the bench” – because Blind was playing so well.
“Antony Martial, one of last season’s best players, is now a rare starter” – Had a poor start to the season and lost his place to players playing better.
“Midfielders Marouane Fellaini, Jesse Lingard, Morgan Schneiderlin, and Ashley Young may, or may not, play from week-to-week” – Fellaini plays well in some matches and looks lost in others. Inconsistent form means inconsistent selection. Jesse Lingard generally plays. Schneiderlin doesn’t play, is considered fourth choice in centre mid. Ashley Young doesn’t play unless a defensive left winger is needed.
“Phil Jones might be ignored too, but for his chronic addiction to physical rehabilitation.” – Your sympathy for Phil Jones is well known.
“It is a squad replete with fringe players and few guaranteed starters – and while competition for places is a modern necessity there is more than a little sense that United’s muddled performances are a symptom.” – First season so needed to assess squad, a big squad a problem acknowledged by Mourinho at the start. Difficult also for United to move players on because of high wages etc. Schweinsteiger a case in point. Can we sell Depay and Schneiderlin so soon after buying them? Who’s going to buy Ashley Young?
“As for the system, Mourinho unveiled another new formation against City in midweek: a 4-1-2-2-1. One for football’s telephone number-quoting hipster community. The midfield trio Carrick was deployed at the base, with Herrera and Pogba a little ahead. Juan Mata on the right, was joined by Martial on the left – hardly the best position for either. At least Rashford will have enjoyed the runout up front, but in total it was another combination of many already this season” – Martial wasn’t even on the bench and Ibra played up front. 4-1-2-2-1 is basically 4-3-3, the centre in the midfield playes a bit deeper, the centre in attack plays a bit forward.
“Mourinho, the ultimate pragmatist, has become a caricature of himself. United’s identity is incoherent as a result” – How can someone doing what they have always done be a caricature of themself? We had a go at winning at Liverpool, could have won it but closed up late on against a team playing much better than us.
“The defensive mindset has not served the team well.” – Point away at Anfield, good result.
Playing open attacking football at home and winning 4-0? Does that upset you? We should have played in some middle way you would have been happy with and won 2-0 instead? Jeez.
The rest is just a demand to “do better” which just lays out the conundrums that Mourinho is facing without any answers. This is something I’d expect from the Daily Mail or something, not a United fan.
Well said, Duncan, excellent comments.
My point exactly @Duncan well said
Duncan, you have a different opinion on various matters, totally fair enough. But the last line just turns you into another internet warrior, bottom feeding troll. It was almost good until then. The amount of fucks given here about your ‘expectations’ of a United fan: absolutely none.
You’ve written a factually innacurate hatchet piece, I think my last line is fair comment, although a tabloid would probably have fact checked the team line-up against City. Why can’t you just man up and admit you’ve written a piece of garbage and delete it instead of calling me names?
Anyway, I can’t very well listen to and support someone who calls me a bottom feeder so, not that you’ll give any fucks, but patreon cancelled and podcast unsubscribed.
Some seriously thin skin there. A little bit of push back and you start crying about it. Why should I delete anything on your orders. Never going to happen. As for the demand to ‘man up’ – take the misogyny and shove it. Give it out but can’t take it hey? Sure sign of a troll. Good riddance.
Some serious Feudian projection there, who’s got the thin skin? I criticise an article which, by the way involves you complaining about a team selection that never happened, and you call me a bottom feeding troll. Well why should I give money to someone who calls me those kinds of names? Would you? Hey, leave the article up so everyone can read it, comments too, it’s not me that looks bad. And misogyny? The last refuge of those who have no argument, throw mud and hope it sticks. Fair enough, I guess you don’t identify as male or something, so adult up. How about that?
Yes Duncan, the $1 a month you donated will be deeply missed. You didn’t agree with some points I made, fair enough. For 12 years that’s always been accepted here. Many of our writers make points I personally don’t agree with and they’re never edited. It’s a very broad church.
The problem I have is not disagreement, it’s that you went straight to the bottom of the barrel, comparing the article to the Daily Mail, a deeply racist right-wing bottom-feeding publication that appeals to the most base, bigoted and xenophobic ideals in our country. Some of which you’re demonstrating here. Then you demanded the article be deleted. Why? Because you believe your opinion is more important.
So yeah, you’re a troll that wanted a rise because you’ve got no ideas of your own. Don’t read or listen, you won’t be missed. We definitely don’t want any of your money – and we’ll refund the $2.
Talk about thin skins, Ed. Come on, for fucks sake.
Not a thin skin. I pushed back on somebody who demanded that I delete an article he doesn’t agree with, compared it to the Daily Mail, called it a hatchet job and then has the arrogance to dictate what a United fan can think, say or write. Within my rights to refuse to accept that. If you’re offended by that you’re welcome to follow him to whatever site will give you the rose-tinted view of the world you are seeking.
Jose Mourinho promotes youngsters Joe Riley and Axel Tuanzebe into first team squad for Fenerbahce clash
It seems like Jo$e must have read my previous post.
You are Rui Faria and I claim my £5.
Nope. Try again.
Gary Neville: “At the moment you’re not quite sure that Jose Mourinho knows his best team and that he trusts his players fully yet.”
Not sure if Gary Neville writes for the Daily Mail … but perhaps he should “delete” his “embarrassing” view because it doesn’t tally with Duncan’s “evidence”?
You were factually wrong in an embarrassing way. Forget the City line-up, which is bad enough, all that stuff about Blind/Shaw/Smalling is cited by you as evidence of Mourinho’s confusion when it’s simply explained by injuries. It’s not so weird that a few months into his first season a manager hasn’t quite got his first team down, but De Gea, Bailly, Shaw, Valencia, Herrera (albeit recently), Pogba, Ibrahimovic are all guaranteed, so we’re talking about four positions where Mata, Rashford, Smalling and Lingard usually play. What you have tried to imply here is that there is nearly chaos and have invented evidence to back it up. It’s garbage. Someone who cared about their team, a fan, would criticise the team fairly, not trot out this kind of hyperbolic trashing. I don’t think the stuff you put out is usually this bad, but this is the equivalent of United’s first half against Chelsea, complete bobbins. You’re just incapable of accepting it.
The really embarrassing thing is you trying to pass off your opinion as “factual accuracy”. It’s not. It’s your opinion, and your arrogance. We are done here given the content of your following (now deleted) comments.
I,m sure Phil Jones didnt deliberately rupture his ligament , as Utd supporter I would expect you to have some sympathy with a lad who has had the unluckiest run of injuries ,which will probably cost him his career at Utd.
An apology due from the ed if you ask me.
Who are you to determine what is “expected” of United fans? Did we miss the memo appointing you judge and moral guardian? It’s just arrogance.
On a related point. Why do you read these articles. 25 comments, 25 of them snarky. It would seem you don’t enjoy reading them. Must be better things to do with your life.
Ed, you don’t offend me, just the opposite.
I need to thank you for your wisdom. I had no idea that I was seeking a rose-tinted view of the world. What perception on your part to see this across miles and miles of cyberspace.
Now that I have been enlightened, I look forward to continuing my life-long journey with a renewed sense of purpose.
Thank you, again.
My pleasure. Now don’t do it again 🙂