A Closer Look at Manchester United: What Is Really Their Problem?

Are Manchester United really struggling this season? Yes and no. There are a lot of dissenting opinions between pundits and media about The Red Devil’s recent form. With just twelve competitive matches played so far, to be fair, it’s too early to give a verdict where United will end up at the season’s finale. Furthermore, if we look at how Mourinho’s side respond when they’re 2-0 down to Newcastle into a hard-fought 3-2 comeback win, we can see the boys are still trying to uphold their position as last season’s title contender. Moreover, that win should be a good momentum for Mourinho and the players to redefine United’s real quality which is not really conspicuous so far, especially in the Premier League. However, until the 8^th week, United still sit 8^th on the Premier League table which is not a really good start considering the club’s stature. Mourinho himself stated that there are many different reasons why his team's form is not good enough. To analyze what is going on at Manchester United this season the are several things that we could pay attention to.

Third Season Curse and Rui Faria’s Departure

Mourinho arguably has a tendency to disintegrate in his third season in most of the clubs in his managerial career. His team's performance usually declines after a fruitful second season. Some pundits called this some kind of pattern as a “Third Season Curse”, as Mourinho already experienced this situation in his first and second term at Chelsea, and Real Madrid. Now, at his current club, with four wins, two draws, and three losses, surely there are lots of work to do to put an end to the “curse”. Nevertheless, this lacklustre showing has started since the pre-season began. While some of United’s players had an extended leave after the World Cup, their performance in the summer transfer window is also disappointing and believe it or not, those facts actually affect United in a way of shaping the teamwork among the players. And things get worse as at the beginning of the season, Rui Faria, Mourinho's most loyal second-in-command, announced that he is leaving the club and that had caused an issue internally as we know Faria had been an integral part of United’s coaching staff and already knew how to cope with Mou’s enigmatic persona. Rui Faria has often involved himself as the “good cop” whenever Mourinho played his “bad cop” role towards players whose performance he felt not satisfying enough in the training grounds as well as on the pitch. His (Rui Faria's) presence could balance the dressing room atmosphere whenever harsh criticism is imploded by the Portuguese manager. The likes of Anthony Martial and Luke Shaw should be grateful with his being there when facing Mou’s treatment in restoring their full potential last season. Moreover, that treatment so far has proven to be fruitful as Shaw and Martial become regular starters since the beginning of this season until now. Despite that fact, their manager still has to handle his issues with other players, but this time, the “good cop” is not around anymore.

Mourinho's Disputes with His Players

It is not a secret anymore that Mourinho tends to use a rigid approach in dealing with some issues with his own players. This could result in a “bounce-back” effect as happened with Luke Shaw or this could lead to a disintegration in the dressing room. The latter often affects the plummet of his team’s form as happened when Mou started some quarrels with his players in Chelsea and Real Madrid. In addition, his most recent disputes with Paul Pogba and United captain Antonio Valencia caused a stir in the media, resulting in the Ecuadorian being left from the first team in the last two matches and the former loses his vice-captain post. Nonetheless, Mou needs to pay attention regarding this situation if he wants to avoid bigger feuds among the players and replicate past fiasco. Furthermore, based on the past experience, it is a wise move for Mourinho if he could readjust his managerial style to be more adaptive and it is important to him to be able to manage his ego for the sake of conducive conditions in the locker room as he had already shown in the Newcastle game by letting Pogba handle the half-time talk. On the contrary, it is unfair to put everything on Mou’s plate when we could see that this series of exasperation might be a sign of Mou’s frustration with the board and some players who are also responsible in creating many issues that he encountered since the beginning of the season.

Misplaced Players and Tactical Experiment

Mourinho is known as a manager with a rigid tactical philosophy which requires adherence and discipline in practice. Even though he still believes in such tactical system, sometimes he could attempt a different approach in certain matches, especially since he managed United. Sometimes this approach works and brings home 3 points but then in some other matches, it could turn into a disastrous move for United. Earlier this season Mou has carried out several tactical experiments. Those experiments then cost United two matches while Mou decided to try some questionable strategy, such as in matches against Tottenham where United played a 3-5-2 formation with Ander Herrera going side by side with Smalling and Bailly in the back three and against West Ham where Scott Mctominay replaced Herrera on the same position. Despite a decent performance whenever they lost, United seemed to be really struggling in the defensive area whenever the opposing team attack and looked like they're missing a key defensive player who is capable in commanding the defensive line. Based on these circumstances, Mou’s decision in putting some midfield players like Herrera, Mctominay, and even Paul Pogba can be conceived as his (desperate) attempt to mend the missing link. That “missing link” should have vanished at the beginning of the season if only United signed their transfer target. However, we should understand that despite his pragmatic approach towards his tactical philosophy, Mourinho also has the reactive mentality whenever his team face an important match. This kind of mentality is often shown when Mou played an untypical pattern for his team as a strategy to counter the opposing team. Moreover, as this mentality is often used in his current term, Mou should notice that this caused some dubious decisions as such in putting Alexis Sanchez on the left wing while he operates better as a striker or right winger as seen in the pre-season matches and his time in Udinese and Barcelona, deploying Pogba and Matic as holding midfielders, while both are more of box-to-box midfielders back at their time in Juventus and Chelsea respectively, as well as putting Rashford on the right wing while he could deliver his full potential in centre-forward or left wing position. However, to put a fair point, these circumstances created are also because of the club's performance in the transfer window and the Portuguese coach himself has already stated his discontent, pointing his finger towards the board.

Those are the three factors which might have affected Manchester United this season, causing them to struggle. It's still very early in the season though, but will there be enough time for The Special One and his lads to resolve the issues before they expand too far? We'll see, soon.