The start of the current Premier League campaign promised so much for a host of big clubs, with both Manchester sides and Chelsea appointing new managers, Leicester fresh off a ground-breaking debut title, and Arsenal looking like they had finally completed the jigsaw with the additions of Shkodran Mustafi, Granit Xhaka and Lucas Perez.
As it was, the title race transformed rapidly from one of promise to one dominated by a wave of blue. It seems ridiculous to tip any side other than Chelsea to lift the title come the close of the season now and so it’s easy to forget what optimism there was surrounding Manchester United especially last August.
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The Red Devils may be out of this campaign’s title race, tussling instead with Liverpool, Tottenham, Arsenal and Man City for Champions League football, but that’s not to say they don’t have the foundations to build on in order to pose a threat next term.
The club have certainly undergone improvements in Mourinho’s brief reign so far and there are just a handful of things that need to be done for the twenty-time EPL champions to challenge next season. Here is a look at a few of them.
#1 Sign Antoine Griezmann
To bring in Griezmann would be a massive coup and one which wouldn’t come cheaply either, but this is a club that only last August broke the world record transfer fee when they signed Paul Pogba, so Griezmann’s certainly an achievable signing. The fearsome Frenchman has nine goals and six assists in La Liga this term. He has scored on the Champions League stage on four occasions as well in 2016/17.
In the two seasons prior to this one, Griezmann netted an impressive 44 league goals and remains one of the hottest prospects in world football. Zlatan Ibrahimovic is in desperate need of a world-class attacking partner given that the next highest number of goals scored for the club this term after Ibra’s formidable fifteen is Juan Mata’s tally of six.
Griezmann is a versatile player and would work extremely well with Mourinho who is looking for more creative players to make use of the team’s monopoly of possession.
In a recent interview with German magazine Kicker, Paul Scholes raised the question, "If Griezmann is within reach, why wouldn't we take advantage and try to sign him, especially if our youngsters aren't at the level we need?”
A fair point from the former-United player; Griezmann is relatively young, adaptable, prolific and works well under pressure, he’d slot into the team quickly and undoubtedly have a positive effect on the youthful contingent surrounding him.
#2 Give Anthony Martial OR Marcus Rashford a sustained run in the side
It’s in the genetic make-up of Manchester United to place faith in the youth and it’s an avenue they’ve been forced to revisit during the desperate rebuilding in the wake of Sir Alex Ferguson’s departure. With new, big money additions not always performing in the past few years, United have had to look elsewhere for talent and youthful starlets within their ranks have delivered time and time again.
Although the club have gone through a catalogue of different formations this term from 4-3-2-1 to 4-3-3 to 3-5-2, there’s been consistency in Mourinho opting for wide midfielders; who those wide midfielders are has depended on the opponents, though.
Jesse Lingard, Juan Mata and Wayne Rooney have been among the favourites to play out wide, but Anthony Martial or Marcus Rashford could prove to be far more rewarding long term options. Both are incredibly pacey, agile and competent in front of goal but don’t get a long enough run in the team to establish any real form.
This season, for example, the longest run of matches Martial has had in the United team has been five, at the very beginning of the season. Since then, it’s been incredibly stop-start and the Frenchman is understandably frustrated that he’s not getting regular first-team action.
As for Rashford, he’s been fortunate to receive as many as 20 appearances but the majority have involved him playing out of position; perhaps if he were to play through the middle alongside Ibrahimovic, he would’ve returned more than just the three league goals this term.
For youth to develop they need to know they’re being trusted and, as it stands, United and Mourinho seem reluctant to take a punt and give the pair a long enough run in their preferred roles; a change in approach to this and they could repay the favour dramatically.
#3 Sign a replacement for Michael Carrick
Despite being deliberately vague regarding his future in an interview at the end of last year, Michael Carrick has drawn on the possibility of leaving Old Trafford, with his one-year contract extension due to expire in the summer. “Everyone is different. It depends on circumstance. It depends on a lot of things,” were the words of the 35-year-old.
Carrick is limited in the amount of football he can play at his age and has played just 15 games in all competitions. Of those 15 though, United have won 13.
The Englishman remains a crucial cog in the Manchester United wheel, shielding a reasonably vulnerable defence with an experienced head. If he were to depart at the end of his contract – make no mistake about it – there’d be a key component missing in the United team.
The side would primarily lack a defensive-minded midfielder of Carrick’s quality, with Fellaini too inconsistent to carry the burden. Secondly, they would be losing a very experienced campaigner and one of the last remaining individuals to have been a part of the club’s most successful era under Ferguson.
The criteria of Carrick’s potential replacement includes top-level experience equivalent to that of the Englishman’s, phenomenal fitness and great leadership skills. Toni Kroos has had his name tossed into the ring; whoever it may be, United must ensure somebody is brought in to plug the gap.
#4 Freshen the philosophy and discard the van Gaal remains
It takes time to make a mark on a club and, similarly, it takes time to scrub out a mark left by a previous individual. Louis van Gaal, undoubtedly an incredibly talented manager, struggled to replicate his monumental success at Manchester United and focused more on steadying a sinking ship with an incredibly conservative playing style, one which still seems engrained in the minds of certain United players.
Despite the addition of a more innovative Jose Mourinho, the club are still far from playing the football that captivated fans all over the world years ago. This season the Red Devils have drawn the second highest number of league matches (9) and there’s evidently too much emphasis on possession football for the sake of possession football.
The team have the highest pass completion rate in the division at 85% along with the shortest average pass length at 18m. Admirable statistics in some respects, they undeniably outline that the cautious approach instilled in the side by van Gaal is still prominent. From this monopolisation of possession, the club have only managed 38 goals so far this campaign, compared Arsenal and Liverpool’s 54.
For a team to really challenge for the title their defence must be tight, yes, but more importantly, goals are needed and players have to be creative and adventurous with the ball; keeping the ball is all well and good, but something has to be done with such possession.
#5 Sign a new left-back or give Luke Shaw a chance
One of United’s biggest concerns as a unit has been establishing a regular back-four, the earmark of true champions. At left-back especially, former-Saint, Luke Shaw’s frequent injury worries have left United struggling and there’s been no one player who has successfully nailed down the position, with Mourinho alternating between Daley Blind, Matteo Darmian and Marcos Rojo.
None of the aforementioned trio is capable of contributing to the United attack in the same way the side’s first-choice right-back, Antonio Valencia has this season. The 31-year-old Ecuadorian has shown excellent attacking prowess, bombing forwards in matches this season, having recorded the fourth highest performance score of any other player in the team, according to Squawka.
There’s a definite imbalance there and a need for United to find a first choice left-back who’s able to anchor down that side of defence but also add numbers when the side pushes forward, especially if they’re looking to play less conservatively.
Shaw undoubtedly has the potential to do exactly that but is incredibly injury prone and therefore a risk for Mourinho. Ahead of next season, the club must make a decision whether to place faith in Shaw and give him all the game time they can, or sign a new left-back with speed and an attacking mindset; Monaco’s Benjamin Mendy has been tipped as a suitable replacement.
