Left in the wake of Manchester City and Pep Guardiola during the early season rush hour, Manchester United are already needing to make up ground.
An indifferent performance against Watford has been followed by a vital victory in the EFL Cup against Northampton Town, but all is not quite right for the Premier League’s most successful on-field entity. There are murmurings of leaks from the dressing room already and Jose Mourinho seems to be opting for his siege mentality within the opening weeks of the season.
The manner in which Manchester City are performing each week gives the Red Devils fewer chances to turn it around. Another clash is within the short-term planning of the managers in the next round of the EFL Cup and that could be decisive, psychologically, in Mourinho’s debut Old Trafford season.
It’s early in the year and Manchester United have so much to address…
Rooney blockade
Wayne Rooney’s position at Manchester United is akin to that friend you have to invite to a party because ‘you just have to’. His stature at the club, which has been earned, makes him a powerful man. How that influences his minutes in the team is an unknown of course, but he is now detrimental to the shape of the side.
Paul Pogba clearly needs space to roam, a free role almost. Rooney is currently occupying that space in the side and contributing very little offensively or defensively. The elephant in the room is Rooney’s selection and he must either play on the wing or be left on the bench to unleash the full ‘Pogba experience’.
A restructuring of the midfield, perhaps including Ander Herrera, is a necessity if Manchester United are to transition from defence to attack with the freedom, pace and fearlessness of past Mourinho sides.
Balance the attack
Again influenced by Rooney, the forward line for United is an area of debate. Zlatan Ibrahimovic will clearly be starting almost every game as the central striker, but the wide positions have seen opportunities for Henrikh Mkhitaryan, Anthony Martial, Juan Mata and Marcus Rashford, while Memphis Depay has been limited to being a back-up
Mkhitaryan was meant to have this attack built around him – drifting in from the right to create, with Valencia overlapping and Martial running off of Ibrahimovic from the left. That, so far, has been far from the reality. One of Mata or the Armenian should fulfil this role from the right, with Rashford or Martial playing from the left. Rashford’s form should mean a starting berth, but playing both he and Martial on the wings leaves the attack looking one-dimensional without the vision of Mata or Mkhitaryan.
Mourinho previously has been an expert in balancing a side, yet he does not seem fully aware of the problems with his current forward selections.
Protection
Like the imbalanced attack, the defence currently needs some more substantial screening than the naive, misjudged covering of Marouane Fellaini. Finding the ideal cocktail for the current Manchester United midfield is challenging, but the removal of Rooney as a guaranteed starter is the first point to be addressed.
Assuming Rooney’s shunting aside is safely negotiated, it is clear that Mourinho needs to select one of Morgan Schneiderlin or Michael Carrick in each game. Carrick offers control, discipline and takes the onus off the centre-backs to build in the first phase, while Schneiderlin can venture up and down the pitch and compete physically.
Changing to a genuine three man midfield should give sufficient options and avoid the sort of defensive lapses that led to the first two goals against Watford and Kevin De Bruyne’s opening goal in the derby.
Unless they protect Eric Bailly, Daley Blind and Chris Smalling, even a top four finish will be a challenge. Mourinho usually picks his defensive midfielder early and builds around them, but his failure to do so on this occasion is costing Manchester United.
