HOW MANCHESTER UNITED WILL APPROACH THE NEXT THREE GAMES
What should the Manchester United fans expect from the Manchester United team heading into the next two scheduled matches? Will all the matches or some of the matches be played in a fast-paced tempo? will the games be filled with so much attacking prowess from Manchester United? Will one Anthony Martial get opportunities to finally show the Manager what he can bring to the team by getting chances to start either one or both of Manchester United's next two matches?. These are some of the questions some Manchester United fans will be asking before the game this past weekend against Brighton and while some of these questions have already been answered with the positive win against Leicester City, the first game Manchester United started the season two weeks ago, the fear amongst Manchester United fans heading into the first big game of the season for the Red Devils two Mondays from now against Tottenham Hotspur is that Mourinho might return to his defensive style of football seen for the most part of last season. Will Mourinho return to a typical 4-1-4-1 sought of the formation where Manchester United sits back and defends or will Manchester United's manager, Jose Mourinho, once again implement his fast, attacking, 4-4-2 formation used in the first game of the current new season against Leicester City?
Frankly, considering that Manchester United's upcoming weekend opponent will be Brighton Hope Albion, Mourinho will be concerned about Manchester United's opponent in the next two weeks Tottenham Hotspurs. With no disrespect directed to both Brighton and Leicester City, Tottenham cannot be classified as a mid-table team and as a result, should be a team considered a force to be reckoned with. And because of the threat Tottenham Hotspur possess coming into the game scheduled for Monday night, Manchester United fans will sadly expect to see Mourinho start the game with a 4-3-3 formation, which has proven to be very effective for Manchester United this weekend. Manchester United fans will also anticipate that Mourinho will start the Tottenham match with a team that favors the Managers defensive-minded approach. Again, this next statement should in no way be viewed as disrespectful to Manchester United's previous, first two, opponents Leicester City and Brighton Hope Albion but considering the difference in quality between the first two teams Manchester United faced this season and Manchester United's next opponent, Tottenham Hotspur, putting Manchester United as the favourite to come out of the Tottenham match as easy victors without Mourinho setting up his team to start the match with a defensive-minded approach might be asking too much from Mourinho without careful reasoning.
First off, Tottenham Hotspurs has never been an easy team for Manchester United to scale over. In fact, if past history is any indication, Tottenham is once again set to be the stumbling block team that derails Manchester United from the path that leads to the Premier League pantheon. If Manchester United fans will remember correctly not too long ago, January 31st of this year to be exact, Manchester United fell victim to a Tottenham team that outplayed and outclassed Mourinho’s men on a day that saw Mauricio Pochitino’s men finally embrace the Wembley Stadium as home.
The big question that will linger on in the minds of the Manchester United fans is which team will start against Brighton and which team will Mourinho give the nod to start the game against Tottenham on Monday? Anyone who carefully studied the balance of the Manchester United team this season might have picked up that Mourinho currently has two separate teams within his 22 man squad. With that been said, the state has not implied that Mourinho has publically announced that he has favorite players within the current Manchester United team. No! The statement simply means that Mourinho has players whom he can depend on to put the team on a defensive mindset i.e Fellaini, McTominer, Ander Herrera and Matic. On the other hand, Mourinho always has the option of playing to the rhythm the Manchester United faithful fans demand to see from the Manchester United team which is more attacking football. For fast-paced Attacking football to be enforced against Tottenham this Monday, three major midfielders, Fred Andreas Pereira and Paul Pogba will undoubtedly need to take their place in the starting lineup against Tottenham Hotspurs in this coming Monday evening`s match day.
Nobody can say that Mourinho is a week minded manager. The legendary, Portuguese, Manager has shown time and time again just how dept his knowledge of football is by knocking off big team opponents and grabbing points from games where no points are to be had. But what Mourinho has in intelligence, craft, and charisma he eliminates with his stubborn nature and uncompromising style of football. Time after time, Manchester United fans complained about their discomfort in Manchester United`s `` Boring`` football in a large number of matches under Mourinho`s reign. Even some Manchester United legends have contributed their opinions in the discomfort some Manchester United legends feel watching Manchester United play some uninspiring matches under the Portuguese Manager. While Mourinho can pick the clubs inability to buy fast, quality, players in the transfer window as his reason to favour slow, methodical football, the question has to be asked if the presence of Martial, Fred, Lukaku, Rashford, Sanchez, and Peirera will inspire Mourinho to switch his choice, from slow and methodical football to fast-paced- goal hungry attacking football?
Football fans will hope that if any team can force Mourinho's men to emerge from their defensive shell and play football with a little more pace and attack, Positano's men might be the right candidates for the job come Monday evening.
