Recreating The Lost Aura: Manchester United

Gone are the glory days, along with the talisman of a Scot who is solely responsible for what United are or rather were until the end of the 2012-2013 season. Trophy laden campaigns, unquestionable superiority over the rivals, all seems to be a far cry to a team, that has at best divided opinion so far this season. Many have written them off already saying we have a Liverpool of the twenty first century. But United are far from that.

Changes in the build-up:

Ander Herrera and Juan Mata have been the most recent players to be drafted in to the United starting line-up. And if early signs are anything to go by they should be regular starters. Ander Herrera may not have the physicality of a Fellaini but that doesn't cover for the many technical shortcomings of the Belgian. In the game against Stoke City, Valencia could often be seen high on the right wing with  Herrera slotting in to cover for him while Jesse Lingard occupies the right half-space.
 

This  allows for two options on the right wing. An overlap with Valencia and Lingard on the right wing or Valencia could be used to stretch the opposition defense by drawing the fullback toward him while creating space for Lingard between vertical lines in the defense.

Another constant feature of this United line-up is the use of the central midfielders. Owing to the nimble footed Mata's ability to influence a game through the middle and Pogba's all round attacking threat, the opposition tends to dedicate men to man mark them in the hope of not letting them turn with the ball. Mourinho, uses this to his advantage by using them to make decoy runs branching out from midfield via the wings. This opens up the entirety of the midfield and allows Zlatan to drop in. The Swede still seems to have plenty to offer even at the age of 35, turns around with the ball and finds himself in acres of space to run into. By doing so he forces one of the Center-Backs to come onto him which allows space for Lingard to run into. This movement from United produced a few breathtaking passages of play. This maneuver forces Stoke City to make decisions and enables more United players to come into the game when all passing lanes are blocked.

Space for Zlatan in Midfield

Apart from this, Rashford also tends to drift in from the left flank to allow Blind time and space to play in early crosses. The England international often cuts in and gets as close to the 12-yard box as possible before playing cut-backs. These have to be considered as definite improvements from the dour adaptations of positional play from the Louis Van Gaal. Van Gaal wanted to engage in a very detailed first phase of play, the benefits of which he didn't exploit well enough in attack. The movement of the wingers and forwards were so rigid and defined to an extend which made United very predictable and easy to defend against.

The stats agree with this:

Apart from the obvious increase in the Shots taken, United have considerably increased the number of crosses they play per game. This is owing to the fact that the team is now equipped with the added muscle and height which are crucial to win aerials into the box. The recruitment of Zlatan, Bailly, Pogba have all definitely added another dimension to United's attack. The decrease in the number of Long Balls played also indicates that United are ready to build up from the back as well without resorting to direct attacks through long balls.

It was saddening to see such an expensively assembled team going down thrice in the space of a week. This phase was a period of reality check for United, after the initial excitement of the arrivals of Jose, Zlatan and Pogba had faded away. Although it was obvious that they were a work in progress, the fact that they have in Jose Mourinho, a man who is supremely confident and has the balls to take the difficult decisions at Old Trafford, is a positive sign. Yes, we're talking about Rooney being dropped. Rooney's biggest gift is his ability to play in a variety of different positions, this is also incidentally his biggest drawback. Being comfortable with many positions he has off late failed to excel in none. Having been deployed as the terquarista he often drops deep to help with "build-up". In essence he only switches possession between the two center-backs or wing backs which could easily have been done by a regular holding midfielder which brings us to the challenges that lie ahead for United.

THE CHALLENGES:

The real problem with Rooney being the no 10 other than his lack of dynamism is the fact that, it leaves Paul Pogba as part of a two man holding midfield which, as we've seen is very dangerous to the defense. Pogba for all of his strengths and qualities, defensive discipline is not one of them. The holding midfielder is crucial in the sense that he is the person who should be taking charge of the opponent's Zone-14 and provide cover for the defense. In all fairness that's not what you would want out of your 89 million pound man.

And being forced to play down there, Pogba's weaknesses are very blatant. He's easily drawn out of position and switches off quite often. Once Pogba's been drawn out of position, this leaves a gaping hole in front of United's defense which leaves them incredibly vulnerable to late run ins. In most of these cases Pogba is a little up the pitch waiting for someone to win the ball which would enable him to launch attacks. Watford and Stoke City exploited this space with late runs into the box.

Late Run-Ins Hurting United

There are however, still other problems with the United squad as well, like the number of attacking midfielders Mourinho has to accommodate into his squad. Although he has done solid business in the transfer window he could've opted for an additional defensive midfielder in place of Mkhitaryan. He currently has an embarrassment of quality players who all want to play in the same position, behind the striker. And add to this the problem of getting the best out of Pogba, the Portuguese has his hands full. Since Pogba functions best in a midfield trio, with players behind granting him freedom to venture forward, one way out of this would be to change the system to play a 4-3-3. We were given glimpses of  this in the recent games with Zlatan playing up front with Martial/Lingard and Rashford while Pogba, Herrera and Mata constantly switching positions in a dynamic midfield.

Although Manchester United appear to be far away from where they used to be and where they want to be in the near future, only now have they started off with the painstaking re-building process for real. And it remains to be seen if 'The Special One' can be the man to take them through.