4 Reasons Mourinho has struggled at Manchester United

#3 Ball player

Arsenal v Manchester United - Premier League

This is arguably the biggest crisis Mourinho has had to face so far. Having always favoured a playmaker with an exceptional passing range in his midfield duo, or sometimes trio, it is no surprise why Esteban Cambiasso, Xabi Alonso and Cesc Fabregas were the ones responsible for maintaining the rhythm of the teams during his times in Italy, Spain and England.

However, Paul Pogba has struggled to fulfill this role at Manchester United for most of his stay at the club. The Frenchman has a more direct and incisive style of play, preferring to take the ball forward himself rather than keep the team ticking with his ball distribution.

The £89.3 million midfielder's 63.74 passes per match in the 2017-18 league season is well short of the 80.68 passes per match Fabregas made in Chelsea's title winning 2014-15 season. Pogba's numbers in chances created, crosses, through balls and accurate long balls are also vastly inferior to those of the Spaniard.

For a manager that has always depended on a world-class ball distributor at the heart of his midfield to keep the team together, Pogba's unique set of characteristics have forced the manager to try different styles and formations to get the best out of him. However, there has been little success on that front so far.