Why Jose Mourinho is not a long term solution for Manchester United

Manchester United kicked the Premier League season off brilliantly by securing six wins out of seven and scoring a whopping 21 goals in the process, conceding just twice. Even after a flying start to a typical second season under Jose Mourinho, it still cannot be said that the Red Devils are in the right hands.

After such a good start, you would expect United to return to being their usual confident self, with a "We are Manchester United" mentality, and approach even the bigger games, like the one against Liverpool over the weekend, in a confident and controlling manner.

But, in typical Mourinho fashion, United went to Anfield playing for a draw from the very first minute. Even with attacking talents such as Romelu Lukaku, Anthony Martial, Marcus Rashford and Henrikh Mkhitaryan at his disposal, Mourinho opted for a defensive setup.

United surrendered all control of the ball and absorbed wave after wave of Liverpool attacks, dismissing any possibilities that Mourinho was a changed man at Manchester United.

While one may argue that a point in front of the Kop is not a bad result, United had the perfect opportunity to go for Liverpool's throat and show their attacking class against a Liverpool defence that has been struggling.

Will United fans accept Mourinho's defensive approach?

While this may be the first time Mourinho has used his "anti-football" tactics this season, it certainly won't be the last. These tactics have been at the heart of Mourinho's success throughout his impressive career, and there is no doubt that it will also bring success to Manchester United.

But will these defensive tactics be accepted by the Old Trafford faithful who have been spoiled over the years by the quality and confident football from Sir Alex Ferguson? While not many United fans have been voicing their disapproval against Mourinho's football right now, this trend of surrendering control against big teams will see his red army turn against him in a matter of time.

We have seen this before in the case of former United boss Louis Van Gaal, who was sacked despite getting the club back to the Champions League and winning the FA Cup in his two seasons with the Red Devils.

While the Dutchman also laid some of the foundations on which the club is being run on right now, promoting the likes of Rashford and Lingard and getting rid of the dead wood left behind by David Moyes near the end of his second season, he was despised by the Old Trafford faithful for his "boring football".

Louis van Gaal's 'boring football' saw him lose his job

The case of Van Gaal just goes to show that simply winning trophies at Old Trafford is just not enough. Fans expect the team to not only win trophies, but also win them in style.

The club is known not just for the numerous trophies they have won, but also for the manner in which they have won them, playing entertaining football that was successful. Or as the Mancs like to call it, playing football the "Matt Busby way".

Will Mourinho suffer his third season collapse at United?

But even if the United fans approve of his philosophy, the Portuguese coach has never spent more than four years at any of his previous clubs. And we have no reason to believe that it will be any different at Manchester United.

After the Liverpool game, Mourinho spoke to a French television channel, declaring that he will not be finishing his career at Old Trafford. He said that he was still a coach with "worries" and a desire to try new challenges, and also subtly hinted at a move to Paris Saint-Germain after his spell at Machester United comes to an end.

Before the 2017/18 season got underway, there was all this talk about Mourinho's second season being his most successful one at all the clubs he has managed, but everyone seems to ignore the fact that the season after that is when disaster strikes.

Chelsea collapsed in Mourinho's third season following a spat with physio Eva Carneiro

In his first spell with Chelsea, it was his third season in which he fell out with club owner Roman Abramovich. He left Inter in his third season and also parted ways with Real Madrid after his third season with Los Blancos, making a return to english football with Chelsea which.

We all saw how that came to an end during this third season when he failed to defend his Premier League crown. There is no doubt that Mourinho is one of the best managers of this generation and he has tasted success everywhere he has managed.

But the Portugese tactician is anything but a long term solution, especially for a club of the stature of Manchester United.