Jose Mourinho might have taken a proactive step in curbing Pogba menace at the theatre of dreams but the outright relegation of the player could prove to be the best option now for the Portuguese tactician. It is no longer news that relationship between Jose Mourinho and Frenchman have strained but Mourinho’s latest action shows that it could have reached a point of no return.
The Frenchman having lifted the World Cup with countryside in Russia was backed to excel in the 2018/2019 football season. The Frenchman however, has failed to live up to expectations as inconsistencies have marred his overall performance. Pogba despite playing in his favoured role in the left hand side of a 3-man midfield has failed to dictate Manchester United’s play against opposition teams.
Jose Mourinho in a bid to get the player into the thick of the action, has abandoned his tradition approach of locking down the middle of the park. The Portuguese prior to his recent deployment of 3-man midfield in a 4-3-3 formation have preferred a 4-2-3-1 formation which has been source of his trophy success with Chelsea, Porto and Inter. The 3-man midfield have been identified as Jose Mourinho’s weakness as the three midfielders lack the cohesion required to meet up with Jose Mourinho’s approach both offensively and defensively.
Jose Mourinho must not only revert back to his ideal tactical approach, but will also need to make a statement to ensure the players perform to his standard. Mourinho must drop Pogba to the bench and rely back on his approach which has involved closing down of the midfield, while relying on the front three for creativity and goals for the centre-forward. Manchester United no doubt has lots of offensive players in her ranks with Sanchez, Lingard, Martial and Rashford and should have no difficulty playing Mourinho’s style of game.
Manchester United’s attempt at flexibility is really affecting the club defensively as the club in most cases have to rely on the De Gea’s quality to grab results. The middle of the park have been weak and outmuscled in many cases due to its flexibility. Mourinho must limit fluidity to the attacking department as the middle of the park must be rigid.
Jose Mourinho will be presented with another chance when the Manchester club play West Ham in the weekend. Manchester United will need to grab all three points to put their top four aspirations back on track. The Manchester club which have dropped points three times in the current league season with 2 defeats and a draw will be avoiding another slipup.