Patrick Rees
The season has started really well for the red half of Manchester, Manchester United. The side started their trail with a win over the Premier League Champions Leicester City and then went on to win three back to back Premier League games and secured all the possible points and Jose Mourinho became the first ever Manchester United manager to win his opening four competitive matches in charge of the club.
“Special One” for a reason, eh!
A sense of optimism is now a clear sight amongst the players as well as the fans and the sole reason being; the manager himself. The Portuguese tactician is undoubtedly a proven winner and his record around all the European competition easily supports his case, Considered as too arrogant towards the media, Jose Mourinho has really changed the course at the Old Trafford and that winning belief is restoring day after day.
Even in terms of transfers, the manager did what he promised. He said he needed four players to complete the “Pride”, he bought those players. He even loaned out the players he thought he could use in future and the players like Borthwick-Jackson, Andreas Pereira and Joel Pereira are the perfect examples of that. New beginning is surely expected by the fans, but this is still no secret that there are some issues that the manager needs to sort out, and here are three of them:
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A Centre-Back Pairing-
One of the Manchester United’s brightest prospects this would be the former Villarreal back-man Eric Bailly. The Ivorian has arrived on a huge price-tag and so far, he has done a proper justice. The performance to remember on his first competitive game for United, where he completely out-powered Jamie Vardy, awarded him the man of the match title and till date, he has three such honours in just four games. So it is safe to say that he 22-year-old will be a sole centre-back for the team.
With that being said, the manager needs to figure out his partner in crime. In these four games, Manchester United never had serious defensive troubles as the back-four have done their task with great ease. Till date, the manager used Daley Blind and the Dutchman has been really great, but then United also have their 2015-16 Players’ Player of the Year Chris Smalling for the spot and even Marcos Rojo and Phil Jones.
Many would have thought that Bailly and Smalling will be the first choice pair for the manager, but looking at Blind’s recent form and his willingness to continue the same, the Dutchman is hard to replace, but then he has his cons as well and so has Jones, Smalling and Rojo. So it will be a pure headache for the manager to choose a “Cahill-Terry” pair at the Theatre of Dreams.
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Rooney’s Form-
“My mind is made up … Russia will be my last tournament.”
The 30-year-old English international Wayne Rooney recently announced that the 2018 World Cup will be his last participation for the national side. The versatile playmaker, at one point in his career, was very highly rated as he was good for everything. But for the past couple of years, the skipper has completely lost his spell.
While asked about the change in captain, the Three Lion’s boss Sam Allardyce clearly stated that Rooney will remain their captain and many have questioned the decision as he is actually going through a very poor form. His first touch is lacking, his finishing skills have degraded and what not, he always looks dizzy when applied pressure and what not.
The major concern here is the 30-year-old is their skipper, and he needs to take the responsibilities on the field. Not saying he is the worst, but surely isn’t delivering what is expected from him and Mourinho really needs to work on that as soon as possible.
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A perfect starting XI-
The manager, Jose Mourinho, hasn’t changed his squad till date, only Paul Pogba has been the name the latest addition and that has let Herrera sit on the bench, but besides that, the manager has used the same squad for the Premier League. He clearly mentioned that he will be doing the rotation once the Europa League kicks off until then; the same players are expected to be deployed.
Well, this is no secret that United do have some stellar names in the squad and especially in the midfield. Pogba is surely the constant one amongst those, but then they have Fellaini, Herrera, Schneiderlin and Carrick (Schweinsteiger as well). Then on the wings; Mata, Lingard, Mkhitaryan and Depay are vying up for the starting role hence, a tough task, but the manager needs to find out his best XI for the rest of the season.
