José Mourinho should let Manchester United off the leash – but will he dare?

Liverpool, a lunchtime kick-off, a packed Old Trafford, the fight for second place. The scene is set on Saturday for Manchester United’s juices to flow and José Mourinho to issue a battle cry to his players that would draw on the club’s storied tradition of going for the jugular against their great rivals.

Except, that is just not the Portuguese’s style. It has certainly not been since he took over at United in the summer of 2016. And there is a firm argument that going gung-ho and attack-first has not been Mourinho’s style for a long time. Certainly not since his first Chelsea title-winning side of 2004-5 that featured Arjen Robben and Damien Duff as flying wingmen and accumulated a record 95 points.

Since then Mourinho has gradually become entrenched as a back-foot manager whose motto might be: “Sneak a 1-0 win.” His 2011-12 La Liga champions were a Real Madrid led by the always sparkling Cristiano Ronaldo. They piled up records: 100 points, 121 goals, 32 wins. Yet while exciting to watch this was a unit accused of playing on the counterattack rather than seizing the initiative and lacking the creativity of Lionel Messi’s Barcelona.

At United Mourinho has an array of forward talents yet his managerial DNA means they continue to be constrained. He can call on Paul Pogba, Alexis Sánchez, Jesse Lingard, Marcus Rashford, Anthony Martial and Juan Mata to support the No 9, Romelu Lukaku; all love to rove forward and create havoc. But Mourinho’s default position is for defence and so whoever he selects from this band of six are muted and United dour in most games.

Source: theguardian