Manchester United: 5 things Jose can do to stop the rot

1- Pick Carrick

Perhaps us fans are too simplistic in our thoughts on Manchester United’s best team. But, even before Jose arrived, United won far more often when Michael Carrick was in the side. Mourinho most certainly has a stubborn streak and public calls for Carrick’s inclusion may actually have the effect of keeping him out of the side.

But how his composure would have helped in the frantic atmosphere at Chelsea.

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2 – Hook Fellaini

Jose has paid regular lip service to the idea of The Manchester United Way since joining the club. Well, Jose, just to be very clear Marouane Fellaini is the antithesis of it.

When Fellaini ‘plays’ it’s just not football. Not football that will get Manchester United anywhere fast anyway. Why oh why is Mourinho still picking the slow, witless basketball player?

3 – Stop moving Pogba

No one doubts Pogba’s ability. But, at just 23, he’s still learning his trade and changing his position every week is not helping him. This isn’t an opinion. It’s a fact which was illustrated amply again on Sunday. He was excellent against Fenerbahce in the advanced position of a 2 with Michael Carrick. So why change it?

4 – Learn from your mistakes Jose

Moving Pogba around the pitch doesn’t work. Playing Fellaini doesn’t work. Dropping Carrick doesn’t work. Choosing Lingard over Martial doesn’t work. United need Luke Shaw’s pace on the left. There is ample evidence of all these problems yet Jose seems to return to these errors even on the back of positive results. It’s not difficult to see which line up will cause the opposition most trouble. But instead of going after teams from the off, Jose seems to be trying to contain them with water carriers.

5 – A settled team

It’s a marathon not a sprint and rotation needs to occur. But not until Jose has found a successful template. At the moment the shape of the team seems to change every week.

We don’t yet know the extent of the injury to Bailly but this is clearly Jose’s best team and he needs to start trusting it.

De Gea, Shaw, Bailly, Blind, Valencia – Carrick, Pogba – Martial, Mkhitaryan, Rashford – Zlatan