Five ways Man Utd could line up next season – from ‘the dream’ to the ‘anti-Mourinho’

Manchester United are heading into their third season under Jose Mourinho with a sense of trepidation.

After all, this is the season in which things traditionally collapse for the Portuguese coach, where his conflict-based management strategy comes back to bite him. But of course the second season is supposed to be where things go right and that didn’t happen? So perhaps they avoid the curse.

Being active in the transfer market would certainly help United avoid those woes. They have signed three players so far, and will be hoping to add to that total in the last two weeks of the window. But how could they line-up this season? With transfers, without them, how could Jose Mourinho set his side out to negotiate the various challenges that United will face? Read on and find out!

The Dream

Manchester United ideally wanted three signings to close out their transfer window, but Jose Mourinho has said he would be “happy” with two. This reduction in expectation has left Mourinho dreaming of simply making two signings; a centre-back and a right-winger.

So what if he made them? Well David De Gea would still be in the goal (because duh) and the back four would see Antonio Valencia at right-back and Eric Bailly next to him. As this is a dream, Luke Shaw is on the left as he’s finally proving that he is, in fact, good at football. The final defender is one of the new signings: man-mountain Harry Maguire, Leicester and England hero. The 25-year-old is pretty much perfect for Mourinho’s side as a combination of the skill-sets possessed by Phil Jones and Chris Smalling, who Mourinho has been unable to let go despite obvious flaws poking gargantuan holes in their games.

The midfield picks itself, with the giant Nemanja Matic at the base of midfield next to new signing Fred. Matic would be a pure destroyer whilst Fred would be tasked with getting the ball forward to Paul Pogba, the World Cup winner who would run the show. Liberated by his midfield partners, Pogba drives forward to kill opponents.

In attack, a reinvigorated Alexis Sanchez owns the left whilst Romelu Lukaku stars up-front. The right-winger is the second signing, with Mourinho finally getting United to pony up for a Croatian winger: Ante Rebic is a dynamic athlete with creative vision and a goalscoring touch. He’s a fairly ideal for United and has the advantage over another United target, Willian, of being 24, and thus having room to improve.

The Daydream

Of course given how United have made no progress towards signing a forward, there’s every chance that neither Rebic or Willian ends up at Old Trafford, leaving Mourinho with just a daydream of Maguire in defence and a huge hole at right wing. But the Portuguese could take a cue from pre-season here and deploy United in a 3-5-2 shape.

De Gea in goal (again) but this time United can make use of their copious centre-back depth by having Eric Bailly and Harry Maguire either side of Victor Lindelof. Maguire played excellently in this system for England, Bailly is a natural fit for a back three and Lindelof may find the Premier League much easier to deal with if he has two burly partners.

In midfield, three centre-backs means there is no need for Matic (remember, daydreaming) so Fred anchors midfield by himself behind Jesse Lingard and Paul Pogba. Like Maguire, Lingard showed his proficiency in this system at the World Cup – meanwhile Paul Pogba dominated proceedings in Russia and would give this formation a sense of control and creativity that England lacked.

Out wide, Antonio Valencia and Luke Shaw have more attacking freedom and less responsibility, which both men could do with to be honest. And finally, in attack, Romelu Lukaku and Alexis Sanchez would form a deadly double-act. Alexis has been in fine form this pre-season and would relish playing alongside a striker as intelligent and selfless as the Belgian. This formation could wreak havoc on the Premier League.

The Back-ups

Say United need to rest players, be it an early cup game or a dead rubber in the Champions League, then Mourinho’s squad is strong enough to put out a half-way competent XI. Lee Grant or Sergio Romero would go in goal (we’ve gone with Grant because he’s got a nice story) and the defence would see young Diogo Dalot on the right while Harry Maguire’s composite skill-set is broken down and divvied up among the understudies Chris Smalling and Phil Jones. With Young and Shaw fighting it out for the starting shirt, neither could be called a back-up, so Marcos Rojo plays here.

Ander Herrera anchors midfield as the bet back-up United have here (one could argue he’d be a better starting choice here than Matic, but anyway) the rugged Scott McTominay and Andreas Pereira play ahead of him. Pereira has been very impressive on tour, so it’ll be a real shame when he spends most of the season sitting on the bench (or worse, getting loaned out again – as happened last season despite impressing on the previous tour).

In attack, United have quite possibly their most likeable front three ever. Juan Mata on the right, Marcus Rashford up top and Jesse Lingard on the left. Their roles are obvious, and this is the kind of front-line where even if they didn’t play too well, you wouldn’t be too mad at them (well, Mourinho would be – which is why they’re in the back-up team).

The Anti-Mourinho

There’s every chance that somehow Michael Carrick pulls off a bit of positive Grima Wormtongueing with regards to Mourinho’s focus and manages to get him to put out a free-flowing side. De Gea in goal (still!) and a back four consisting of Diogo Dalot on the right, Eric Bailly and Victor Lindelof in the middle and Ashley Young at left-back. This gives the team the kind of guile and skill to build from the back.

In midfield, again Fred holds but this time by himself. Ahead of him Jesse Lingard and Paul Pogba dovetail perfectly. This midfield would afford United control but would also be able to dominate the ball and pick their way through opponents.

Up front things are played differently: Alexis Sanchez is the central striker in a false nine role, basically embracing the Chilean’s natural instincts to roam and get involved, this system allows him to do that while putting two strikers out wide to play as inverted wing-forwards, running into the box to score. Rashford we know can play the role and Lukaku has done it for Everton and recently Belgium too.

The Very-Mourinho

But let’s assume Mourinho reacts to Carrick’s influence by going even more into himself, and becoming some kind of Super Mourinho absolutely obsessed with physical power (instead of just mostly obsessed with it). Well obviously De Gea would still be in goal, but the back four would look very different. Victor Lindelof has played right-back and would do so again to give the team maximum height. Smalling is drafted into the defence to do what he does: be tall. And Young is left-back because they’d need a short guy to take set-pieces.

In midfield, the colossal Nemanja Matic holds, partnered by the giant Scott McTominay. Paul Pogba is an artist but he walks into this team because he’s 6’3 and very, very strong. This midfield would struggle to pass the ball quickly (we’ve seen how United can drag Pogba’s momentum down) but could definitely pass it far and would sure as hell kick some people quite hard.

The two men in attack are Lukaku and Rashford, because, in addition to being very smart and savvy forwards capable of creating and scoring, they’re also strong as hell and quick too. They’d be the sharp end of this team’s attacks.

The shape changes to a diamond in order to facilitate the new addition to the side: Marouane Fellaini. The big Belgian had his contract renewed this summer and will once again prove to be a very useful role player. And his role here is to hurt people both figuratively and literally. Fellaini would be bypassed during regular play, but the midfielders would work balls out to the full-backs where they (in particular Young) would send booming crosses in for this army of giants to attack in the air and head teams into submissions.

It’s worth adding that if United sign Harry Maguire this system only becomes more viable, put Maguire into Bailly and you have a terrifyingly titanic side where literally everyone except Young – who will most likely take every set-piece – has the potential to be a devastating aerial presence.

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