5 things Manchester United must do to win the title next season

#4 Freshen the philosophy and discard the van Gaal remains

Mourinho has been innovative but needs to do more

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.