A comparative analysis of Jose Mourinho's and Alex Ferguson's work at Manchester United and possible solutions

Manchester United suffered a shock defeat to Brighton and Hove Albion yesterday which has somewhat jeopardized Jose Mourinho’s position at the club. Mourinho is into his 3rd season at United and has only managed to win relatively inconsequential trophies like Carling Cup and the Europa League so far. United have not been able to fill in the large void left by the incomparable Sir Alex Ferguson and are yet to win a major silverware since he left.

Ferguson himself was not successful in his initial years at United and took his time to build up the great United side that dominated English football for decades. However, Mourinho would not be given as much time and have to deliver soon.

It would not be very fair to compare Ferguson and Mourinho’s stints at United but comparisons are inevitable because Mourinho is without the most successful and celebrated coach to have taken United’s charge since Fergie’s departure.

Also, Mourinho has been coaching at the top level for the last 15 years and therefore, has enough experience under his belt to be compared with the legendary Scottish manager.

We would like to compare Ferguson and Mourinho’s work at United on the basis of certain key parameters and seek probable solutions for the predicaments faced by the Portuguese:

#1 Finalizing on a solid, consistent back 4

Any great football team’s success is usually built upon a solid and consistent back 4 and Mourinho has not yet been able to find one for his United team. He has dabbled with new signings like Daley Blind, Marcus Rojo, Matteo Darmian and Eric Bailly and kept faith on old players like Chris Smalling and Phil Jones but the defence of his team looks far from solid.

United are consistently conceding goals against big teams and none of their defenders has an assured place in the starting line-up.

Bailly is the best of the centre-backs available for selection at United but has not been given the chance he deserved. Rojo has been tried at the left-back position while Blind is probably better as a defensive midfielder.

Lindelof has not been very convincing and Jones is not very dependable. Ashley Young has played in ether wings and still is not sure of his playing position.

Ferguson always managed to find a solid back 4 for his team. He had a solid back 4 comprising of Gary Neville, Steve Bruce, Gary Pallister and Denis Irwin in his initial days at United.

Neville went on to play for United for 18 years but the other 3 got replaced by Rio Ferdinand, Nemanja Vidic and Patrice Evra respectively. Apart from those United legends, Ferguson also managed to sign defenders like Jaap Stam, Laurent Blanc, Mikael Silvestre and Gabriel Heinze who had short but distinguished spells in Manchester.

Probable Solution for Mourinho:

Mourinho has to finalize a back 4 and stop making changes to his starting line-up frequently. A back 4 comprising of Valencia, Bailly, Smalling and Young looks good and should be tried uninterruptedly for some matches.

Both Valencia and Young are quite good at delivering crosses whereas Bailly and Smalling are tough and intelligent. The backup defenders could be tried intermittently in matches of less importance. The decision to sell Blind was a good one though.

#2 Finalizing a formation for the team

Mourinho has not yet been able to finalize a formation for his team. He has dabbled in a 4-3-3 with Anthony Martial, Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Marcus Rashford and then changed it to a 4-5-1 with Romelu Lukaku as the lone striker.

The likes of Jesse Lingard and Juan Mata have been tried as attacking midfielders without much success. Mata has played as a wing forward too which is definitely not his preferred playing position.

Paul Pogba has performed decently in the midfield but not had a specific role. He has played both as a holding midfielder and a box-to-box one. The same is true about Marouane Fellaini. Nemanja Matic, however, has been a good signing and continues to impress as a defensive midfielder. Ander Herrera has been consistent in the central midfield as well.

Ferguson, on the other hand, always had a finalized formation for his side. His great side of the 1990s played in a 4-4-2 formation and a brilliant midfield comprising of Roy Keane, David Beckham, Ryan Giggs and Paul Scholes. Each of those midfielders had a specific role assigned to him.

Later on, he switched to a 4-3-3 with Giggs, Wayne Rooney and Cristiano Ronaldo as the forwards. He used Michael Carrick and Darren Fletcher very successfully in the defensive/central midfield.

Then, Ferguson again went back to a 4-4-2 successfully with Rooney and Danny Welbeck up front and the likes of Scholes, Fletcher, Carrick and Giggs in the midfield. He experimented with a 4-5-1 at times too but did not make frequent changes in his formations.

Probable solution for Mourinho:

United should play in a 4-2-3-1 formation with Nemanja Matic and Pogba as the double pivot, Alexis Sanchez, Fred and Anthony Martial in the attacking midfield and Lukaku as the lone striker.

The likes of Herrera, Lingaard and Rashford could be used as substitutes. This formation would allow Mourinho to properly utilize Pogba’s speed, Martial’s skills, Sanchez’s versatility and Lukaku’s strength.

Pogba has a good passing range and his distribution skills should be utilized properly. This formation would also allow United to be more direct and clinical in their approach.

#3 Finding and developing genuine goal-scorers

Any great football team should have at least 2 players who consistently score more than 25 goals in a season. Mourinho has been relatively more successful in this area as he signed a 35-year-old Ibrahimovic with significantly good results in the 2016-17 season.

Ibrahimovic scored more than 25 goals in his solitary season with United and was one of the major reasons behind their trophy wins. Lukaku was signed last season and he too contributed with a decent tally of goals. However, the likes of Rashford, Lingaard and Martial have not been able to score nearly as many goals as they would have liked to.

Ferguson had some great goal-scorers in his team throughout his tenure. The likes of Dwight Yorke, Andy Cole, Eric Cantona, Rooney, Ruud Van Nistelrooy and Ronaldo scored heaps of goals for United.

Ferguson honed and encouraged Ronaldo to become a fearsome goal scorer. He also had impact-subs like Teddy Sheringham and Ole-Gunnar Solsjkaer who scored some very crucial goals for United. Ferguson’s United were very direct and had great providers of crosses in the shape of Beckham, Evra, Neville and Scholes.

Probable solution for Mourinho:

He should encourage the likes of Martial and Lingaard to be more direct and have more attempts at goal. Martial especially is a very skilful player but wastes too much time on the ball at times. He has scored 36 goals in 137 matches for United and would definitely like to improve his scoring rate.

This is not acceptable in a fast-paced league like EPL. Sanchez could also be a very good goal-scoring option as he has consistently scored more than 20 goals in a season for his previous club Arsenal.

The big and strong Lukaku is a prolific scorer but he could also be used to head the ball down to other forwards inside the opposition penalty box. United’s fullbacks should also provide more incisive crosses to their forwards. Bernard Mendy has been doing this superbly for Manchester City this season.

Edited by Shambhu Ajith