Patrick Rees
The Mourinho era at Manchester United has started as the players have started their training under the Special One. Many players are out on the vacations, yet many have joined the rest of the squad at Carrington. The very first hurdle for Mourinho’s army will be the clash against Wigan Athletic. Soon after that, the team will be travelling to Asia to play the rest of their games.
After Mourinho’s official press conference as a Manchester United manager, it is now clear that the team is going to welcome the fourth and the final player of the summer. So far, the Portuguese has bought Eric Bailly from the Spanish side Villarreal, Zlatan Ibrahimovic on a free transfer from PSG and Henrikh Mkhitaryan from Borussia Dortmund.
Now, if the rumours are to be believed, then the squad is preparing a massive 120m bid for the French midfielder Paul Pogba. Mourinho himself stated that the team needs four new signings to make the team a stable side, yet be believe there are many things that needs to be sorted out before the Premier League kicks off and here, we give you three Priorities Jose Mourinho should work on:
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A Workable Formation-
What we have observed until now is Mourinho usually prefers a lone striker formation, or if the team have players with a blistering pace and amazing ball techniques, then the he goes for what can be called as a 4-3-3 or 4-5-1, but that only works when the team is on the attack. While defending, he wants his player to track back and defend the lines and that when the formation changes to the 4-2-3-1, where the lone striker stay forward in case of the counter attacks.
Now, with Manchester United, he could use this formation, but the thing that could obstruct is the pace of Ibrahimovic. To be very honest, at 34 years of age, the big Swede lacks the pace and to recoup that, Mourinho will need a player at his support, and someone like Martial could do the trick. But to work on this, he will have to find a suitable formation for the team first.
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Rooney’s Position-
The first and utmost task for the manager would be to work on Rooney’s role in the team. During the end time of David Moyes, the Englishman started turning himself as a midfielder and eventually, he ended up being a central midfielder for Louis van Gaal. The 30-year-old forward was one of the finest players for the Reds, but after Mourinho’s conference, it is understood that Rooney will no longer be a number 6 or number 8.
Rooney is born to score goals and this is what Mourinho thinks of him. What we understood after the conference is Rooney will either be a number 10 or a number 9, but for this, Rooney himself will have to work more as he is losing his previous goal scoring prowess.
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Managing the Youth-
When questioned about his youth policies, the 53-year-old answered in style that till date, he has promoted 49 youngsters. Starting from Porto to Chelsea, his number is 49, but still, he is criticized for not believing on youth policy. This is no secret that Manchester United, right at this very moment have some great and promising youngsters looking to get their chances.
Devils’ former manager Louis van Gaal did a great job in this aspect, but that was mainly due to the injuries. Players like Marcus Rashford, Bortwick Jackson, Fosu-Mensah and more are vying to get their chances, and since we are aware of the fact that Mourinho prefers senior players more, then this is the thing Mourinho will have to sort out.
