The Mourinho method is not yet working at Manchester United
There were no forewarnings that could have predicted Manchester United’s erratic start to the new campaign – at least not from the good humour and hard grafting out on the practice pitches at the club’s training complex. And there is no question who is in charge. Mourinho has signed who he wanted, the club has shrunk into the background and José is now the sole spokesman, and his methods have come to the fore in other areas.
Tried and tested formula
But the 1-2 reverse to Manchester City really wounded the team – not the defeat in itself, but how it happened. Both managers had the same amount of time to work with their squads, but while Guardiola has given his players personality, Mourinho has churned out his tried and tested formula in new settings and it’s coming off for him. Within the club, the mood is calm, but what has come as a surprise is that while the team’s game has hardly been revolutionised (deploying Pogba and Felliani in more advanced positions, long ball tactics...etc) the coach has then openly blamed his own players for the defeat.
It’s all part of the usual Mourinho script, in which he looks for his players to respond. After the Watford defeat, he spoke about bad luck and the match officials – two areas beyond his influence. But United lack leaders and have a surplus of baggage. Rooney who, performance-wise has had ups and downs throughout his career, cannot captain the team. In fact, he shouldn’t even be first choice. Mourinho, just like he has done at other clubs, has sided with the local star and wanted to become the only coach in five years who can get extra juice out a player who seems impossible to recover. There are players that could be better alternatives (Martial, Rashford, Mata, Ander Herrera) but not all have Mourinho’s confidence. And this is where the authority of the coach begins to erode.
Mou has a lot of work to do
Among the managers of the Premier League, many of who have a distant relationship with José, it’s a repeated idea that a lot of the Portuguese’s answers have the appearance of being worn out, as if time has caught up with him and left him struggling to adapt to the new demands of football. It remains to be seen if the challenge of Manchester United has been too big for him, but in the meantime, Mourinho has a lot of work to do.
United had four attempts on target against against Feyenoord and only two against Watford. Pogba, after being the best player on the park in his debut against Southampton, seems lost. His partnership with Fellaini is making United’s football seem rudimentary: against Watford the team created chances only seven times, the lowest number of the season, while defensively, individual errors are costing them points. At Chelsea, Mourinho failed to reverse the situation. At United, he will need to show that he hasn’t lost his magic touch.