Manchester United manager Jose Mourinho should adopt a new strategy in order to turn the club’s fortunes around quickly.
The Red Devils already find themselves six points off the pace in the Premier League after a disastrous start to their 2018-19 campaign. Back to back defeats against Brighton and Tottenham have confirmed the club’s worst opening to a new season in 26 years, with supporters and experts alike suggesting that Mourinho is now on borrowed time.
During in his two-year stay at Old Trafford, the 55-year-old coach has managed to win two trophies and lead the team to a second place league finish, which is the highest position the club has achieved since Sir Alex Ferguson departed back in 2013.
However, the pragmatic, win at all costs style which Mourinho favours is starting to wear thin, amid laborious, uninspired performances on the pitch and rumoured unrest in the dressing room off it.
It appears that the Portuguese tactician is unable to get the best out of his most talented players, with the likes of Paul Pogba, Alexis Sanchez, Anthony Martial and Eric Bailly all struggling to perform at their usual high level.
Creativity is severely lacking in the middle of the park and as a result, United struggle to provide Romelu Lukaku with enough support up front, with too many moves breaking down early due to a lack of urgency and imagination.
Throughout his career, Mourinho has earned a sterling reputation as a serial winner, winning countless titles during spells with Real Madrid, Inter Milan and Chelsea. But in more recent times his methods are starting to look outdated, particularly since the emergence of Manchester City as a major force.
Guardiola’s side plays an exciting, free-flowing and above all entertaining brand of football which United fans can only admire in envy and with Liverpool and Spurs following suit by playing in a similar vein, the Red Devils are at major risk of being left behind.
That being said, on Monday night at Old Trafford, Pochettino’s men were not the dominant force which the final 3-0 scoreline suggested.
In the first half, Mourinho’s side was very much on the front foot and had Lukaku been able to bury a couple of guilt-edge chances – one of which was an open goal opportunity – then the whole complexion of the game might have been different.
The former Madrid manager recognised what went wrong the week before against Brighton and to his credit, he set his team up to attack Tottenham with a unique 3-3-3-1 formation.
For once under Mourinho, negative tactics could not be cited as a reason for the team’s downfall. Defensive ineptitude and naivety cost United the game against Spurs but with a few more simple tweaks, they could once again become a force to reckoned with.
It is no secret that the club failed to bring in a centre-back during the summer transfer window and the first few games of the season have proved that the current crop of defenders at the club are quite simply not up to the required standard.
However, if Mourinho sticks with three at the back, a solution to the problem exists. Herrera is unlikely to play there again but Phil Jones and Chris Smalling should retain their place, stationed either side of Eric Bailly going forward.
3-4-2-1 would be the ideal set-up to get the best out of this current group players and although the defenders at the club have not covered themselves in glory recently, playing those three together could tighten things up.
A midfield four with Luke Shaw and Antonio Valencia playing slightly further forward than usual on the flanks to provide more width, Nemanja Matic holding and Paul Pogba swapping between attacking and defensive duties would provide a solid base in the middle of the park.
Further up, Alexis Sanchez should be deployed on the right, given the fact that he has become all too predictable operating from the left and some of the best moments of his career came from the opposite side at Barcelona and Udinese.
On the left, Marcus Rashford, Jesse Lingard and Anthony Martial are all suitable candidates but I would favour Martial if he can reproduce his best form, purely for his quick thinking and clinical edge in the final third.
Lukaku would obviously retain his spot up front and with Pogba potentially able to drift into more advanced positions in this formation, the other two attackers would likely find themselves on the ball a lot more to provide service for the Belgian hit-man.
It remains to be seen if Mourinho will continue to shuffle the pack and experiment with different systems but if he can settle on a formation such as this then the team should start to thrive and ultimately reach its potential.
The Red Devils have enough talented players in the squad to turn the currently bleak situation at the club around quickly and if the performance and set up against Spurs was anything to go by, Mourinho might be close to finally realising what his best starting XI is.