What exactly is the tactical way of looking at Jose Mourinho's Manchester United?

As things stand at Manchester United, Jose Mourinho is under pressure after two back-to-back losses against Brighton and Spurs. Although United did find the rhythm back by winning three games on the trot in all competitions. Some blame his tactics and approach in certain games especially when the team was supposed to win without any hiccups. Others blame that this side lacks identity.

When arrived in 2016, Jose Mourinho's resume looked like a man who has tasted success wherever he went. He won domestic and European titles at Porto FC, Chelsea, Inter and Real Madrid. Manchester United hired him for immediate impact after the constant failures by David Moyes and Louis Van Gaal to stay up to the platform set by Sir Alex Ferguson.

Mourinho's teams always relied heavily on his midfield superiority, solid defence and incisive counter-attacking based style. The way his Manchester United plays, they definitely have delivered 2 trophies in first 2 seasons.

Under Jose, Manchester United starts with a 4-3-3 formation with later transforms into 4-1-4-1 as the game progresses. They create a mid-block with the back line of defence covering the holding central defensive midfielder. Jose later instructs them to press through midfield which is a man oriented. In this play, Pogba and Fred take turns to close down their counterparts. This blocks the opposition to create any chances through middle and forces them to play backwards. The team later press through wide where the opposition is forced into making an aimless long ball or make a mistake.

During the possession, the team transforms into a 3-4-3 formation where the central defensive midfielder falls back to take over the ball and find a pass to either of 2 attacking midfielders. The wide players in attack line up top come inside to link up with the central midfielders. At the same time, the fullbacks to press forward to overlap along with the wingers.

They keep on making a diamond formation between defence, centre mid and winger. Up top, Romelu Lukaku is team's most individual player where his intelligent runs and positioning helps in bullying the defence and creating spaces for wingers or midfielders to run in and get in scoring position.

Mourinho's United also relies on the long ball strategy. Through their own half, the defender or the central defensive midfielder try to put in a long ball to Romelu Lukaku who is aerially strong and holds in the ball. This allows the wingers, i.e, Sanchez or Lingard to run in to receive the pass and create the spaces isolating the defence. Manchester United become when they are chasing the game. Mourinho subs in Fellaini in the second half for aerial duels which helps the team to hold on to the possession.

Mourinho hasn't neglected the transition face in the team. They keep high tempo with their fullbacks pressing while attacking and at the same time, they also fall back while defending and counter their opponents. With this, his criticism should go out of the window since these tactics are used to counter the teams. What makes Jose different from managers like Pep and Klopp is that Jose uses the cautious approach in big games where he lets the team soak in pressure from the opposition and counter them.

And the tactic has often worked, for example, in 2016/17 season, Jose introduced Ander Herrera in the line up against Chelsea purely to man-mark Eden Hazard which denied any space for him to make runs or create anything. United ended up winning that game 2-0. in 2017/18 season, Jose opted to with a 6-3-1 formation in a league game against Liverpool at Anfield where their brilliant attacking trio was halted by Manchester United's stout defending.

As the season progresses, results will be the key and face of what Jose's tactics are with the team. Jose has a pressure of delivering the title and get results. Only time will tell how Manchester United have fared.