Manchester United’s attack-filled squad at odds with Jose Mourinho’s style that leaves many to blame

Jose Mourinho is struggling to get his Manchester United side to click this season

It is unfair to say that United’s struggles this season are entirely Mourinho’s fault but it’s clear to see why his job and status as a manager has been in trouble of late. Whom do you think Mourinho had to blame this time round?

This time, at least, Mourinho didn’t blame the quality of his players.

The Portuguese had been asked whether yet another chastening derby defeat had proved he needed a quality centre-half, as he had argued in the summer. Unlike after the home defeat by Juventus, though, he did not make any unfavourable comparisons about Victor Lindelof and Chris Smalling.

“I don’t think today was the game to touch on that point. Victor and Chris had a positive performance,” the Manchester United boss argued.

It was a game that highlighted a wider point, though, that the centre-half issue is part of.

It actually cuts to the core of why Mourinho’s entire reign at United has felt unsatisfactory and underperforming, and why they are so far behind Manchester City in so many senses.

A primary issue is that, in such games, the Portuguese’s inherent inclination – his scorpion-and-frog nature – it to sit deep and keep things tight.

That is something that would obviously be aided by having a rock-hard resolute centre-half of the type that Mourinho has always idealised.

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Without that, and the injured Paul Pogba, he instead went for a three-man midfield of Marouane Fellaini, Nemanja Matic and Ander Herrera that was supposed to be obstructive but ended up more like just lining up the non-moving monoliths from 2001 Space Odyssey. City just played around United, who only ever looked good in the brief spells when the game opened out for them a bit.

That has of course been the case for the last month, and that points to a huge problem with this team.

The top-heavy attacker-filled United squad is just not built to suit Mourinho’s preferred approach. It suits adventure and attack and risk and chaos, characteristics that have never really enthused the Portuguese.

Image result for Mourinho memes

That is likely one strong reason why the side’s performances have swung so wildly within individual matches, and point to a fundamental confusion within the squad. That maybe makes it logically inevitable that the clarity that comes from having to chase a game – the fundamental requirement of just scoring – actually brings their best performances. It enforces an idea, where previously there was none.

Do you agree with Mourinho’s reason on why he lost the match to his team city rivals?

 

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