Manchester United and Jose Mourinho continued their poor run of form after another goalless draw at Old Trafford against minnows Burnley over the weekend. It was expected that the Red Devils would take the maximum points from the fixture, especially after the midweek EFL Cup win over rivals Manchester City.
But an inspired performance by former United academy graduate Tom Heaton in the Burnley goal combined with Zlatan Ibrahimovic’s wastefulness in front of goal meant they could gather just a single point from the fixture.
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The draw was United’s third in four games in the Premier League after draws against Stoke City and Liverpool and left the fans disappointed who were expecting a turn of fortunes after a 4-0 thrashing at the hands of Chelsea the previous week.
United are currently 8th in the league table with fifteen points from ten games, eight points behind leaders City and the manager, Jose Mourinho, is under serious pressure to deliver results after a huge transfer outlay in the summer window that saw him bring in the likes of Paul Pogba and Henrikh Mkhitaryan.
With a visit to the Sükrü Saracoglu stadium up next, as United get ready to face Fenerbahce in the Europa League, fans will be hoping for a repeat of the performance that saw them beat the Turkish giants 4-1 at Old Trafford. The coming few fixtures will be of paramount importance for both the club and the manager as they move forward in the season that began with great promise but seems to have run off course over the past weeks.
Questions are being asked as to why Mkhitaryan is being overlooked despite the poor results. There is also unrest among the fans with Mourinho’s persistence of using Ibrahimovic as the main striker, despite his ineffectiveness over the past weeks. Pogba has been a pale shadow of his old brilliant self and there have been doubts cast on the positions Jose has deployed him in, whereas Michael Carrick has been criminally underused as well.
Also read: From Bundesliga Player of the Year to relative anonymity - What's gone wrong for Henrikh Mkhitaryan?
There are calls for playing United’s breakout star from last season, Marcus Rashford as the No.9, ahead of the misfiring Zlatan who has gone without goals in his last five PL games.
There are doubts as to what is the ideal formation that needs to be used to get the best out of the record-signing Pogba, and who could be the ideal foil for the Frenchman in the centre of the pitch. A lot of criticism has been drawn against Mourinho citing his tactical inflexibility.
He has used his favoured 4-2-3-1 formation everywhere he’s managed starting from his Chelsea days and has continued to do so at United with the £89-million man Pogba as one of the two midfielders. Mourinho has tried the likes of Marouane Fellaini and Ander Herrera in the deep-lying roles alongside the former Juventus midfielder, while at times he has played Pogba in a No.10 position, but has failed to get the best out of the 23-year old.
At Juventus, Pogba was deployed on the left side of a midfield three in a 3-5-2 formation, which allowed him the freedom to go forward as he wished. With a holding midfielder behind him to break-up play and offer cover to the defence, and a diligent and hard-working box-to-box runner on the right in the likes of Arturo Vidal and Claudio Marchisio, Pogba was free to move between the penalty areas, which allowed him to get into dangerous positions in the opponents’ half on a more regular basis, which is when he was at his best.
Also read: Manchester United news: Paul Pogba claims he was furious after draw against Burnley
To put him in a double-pivot, as Jose has done at United, restricts his movement and overall effectiveness on the pitch. He is perfectly capable of performing in that role, he’s not afraid to go into challenges, is very able at breaking up play and can track runners from midfield with his blistering pace. But is that what you paid £89-million for?
No. When you a buy a player like Paul Pogba, for that amount of money, as a manager it is your responsibility that you get the best out of that player which Mourinho is failing to do currently.
A small tweak to the formation, an extra-man in the midfield and it can all be resolved. If Mourinho switches from a 4-2-3-1 to a 4-3-3 with someone like a Michael Carrick at the base of the midfield, and Ander Herrera or Morgan Schneiderlin on the right-side of the trio and Pogba on the left, it could do wonders for United and their record-signing.
Carrick can provide control from the deep, whereas the much-needed energy and running power in the midfield will be provided by Herrera or Schneiderlin allowing Pogba to unleash the barrage of creativity and skills at his disposal on the opposition.
It would allow him more space to run into, provide him an opportunity to drift out on the left wing time and again from where he could bring in the likes of Zlatan and Rashford into play. Unburdened of his defensive responsibilities, the fans would definitely be able to witness the flamboyance and the enterprise that Pogba has shown before.
Moreover, with a 4-3-3 formation, it would afford more space for United’s No.9, Zlatan to drop in a little deeper and bring in the pacy wingers on the flanks into play. We have seen him do it in the past for PSG, where he would usually drop into the hole and pick passes for the runners from the wide positions.
The 35-year old Swede is a player with incredible technical ability and a gifted vision and there is no doubt he would be able to create more goal-scoring opportunities if he’s afforded a little space to drop into.
It would also provide an opportunity for either wingers to drift in or to hug the touchline as and when required making it harder for the opponent full-backs to pick them up, and someone like Mkhitaryan would definitely relish in such a system playing from the right-flank.
Many observers believe that Mourinho is married to the idea of the 4-2-3-1 system and won’t be that eager to change something that he has stuck by for years, to accommodate the skills and repertoire of his new charges.
But the Portuguese is shrewd enough to see that the most talented players in his squad would benefit from a change of shape. That this 4-3-3 system would get the most out of new signings Henrikh Mkhitaryan, Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Paul Pogba.
All in all, a switch to 4-3-3 formation would add another dimension to United’s play and could open up an entire new avenue of goalscoring opportunities and help the Red Devils rise back to the top of English football once again.
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