Manchester United will begin their 2018-19 campaign on August 10 against Leicester City, and Mourinho will be eager to start the new season on a positive note. The Red Devils just finished their pre-season tour, it was certainly tough for Mourinho’s men.
They won just two matches in the pre-season tour. This was certainly an awful performance from a club like Manchester United.
Meanwhile, Mourinho has been under criticism lately for his style of play. As a matter of fact, several Manchester United fans are frustrated with Mourinho’s way of playing which is termed as ‘boring’.
Former United boss Sir Alex Ferguson had an attacking, fluid and eye-catching style of football, and he brought an enormous amount of success to Manchester United. Whereas, Mourinho’s defensive style is quite contradictory to Manchester United’s footballing philosophy.
The club is the most successful English club in history, and they have become champions of England 20 times. Moreover, under Sir Alex Ferguson the Red Devils secured the Premier League title 13 times in his 26 year long career as the United boss.
The primary reason for the club’s gigantic success was an attacking football system. This has been the conventional Manchester United way of playing the game for over two decades.
However, since Sir Alex retired in 2013, fans have missed Manchester United’s effective attacking brand of football. Additionally, David Moyes took United downhill, and Van Gaal’s rigid philosophy was similar to Mourinho’s. Therefore, if United want to experience the success of the past, then Mourinho must alter his style.
Mourinho might be a successful coach, but his ‘bus parking’ strategy has always been under scrutiny. In football – ‘parking the bus’ means when a team plays extremely defensively, generally with the purpose of getting a draw or defending a slim goal difference.
Jose Mourinho made the term popular as the Chelsea boss. Ironically, Mourinho now plays most times in a similar defensive manner. This is visible in Manchester United’s current footballing methodology.
Manchester United has a massive global fan base. The primary reason for United’s enormous fan following is the traditional attacking football. In Mourinho’s first season, the Red Devils netted a total of 54 Premier League goals, this was substandard for an elite team like Manchester United.
Furthermore, last season Manchester United scored a total of 68 Premier League goals. On the other hand, champions Manchester City scored a total of 106 Premier League goals which is 38 goals more than what the Red Devils got.
Therefore, Mourinho should change his bus parking strategy which is not ideal for Manchester United’s success, nor is it delightful for the United fans to watch.
Manchester United has spent a hefty amount in the last few transfer windows to sign quality forwards. For instance, United signed star winger Alexis Sanchez in a swap deal from Arsenal.
Romelu Lukaku also joined Manchester United last season from Everton for £75 million, and he is one of the best strikers in the world at the moment. Anthony Martial is also another notable Man Utd striker known for his incredible pace and dribbling ability, and there are homegrown talented Manchester United forward players like Marcus Rashford and Jesse Lingard on the roster as well.
However, despite having such an awe-inspiring forward line-up, the club’s total number of goals is not impressive. In fact, Premier League rivals like Liverpool, Arsenal and Manchester City scored more Premier League goals than Manchester United last season.
Mourinho’s defensive style is one major reason for the below par performance of the Manchester United attack. Therefore Mourinho needs to adopt an attacking approach, and he needs to provide players more freedom on the pitch.