The three Man Utd players who give Mourinho hope – and the five to have regressed most

Things seem to be going from bad to worse for José Mourinho at Manchester United.

The Portuguese coach oversaw a humiliating defeat to Brighton a week ago and, given the chance to respond, put out a side that played chaotic but positive football against Spurs before being ripped apart on the break in the second half, losing 0-3 at home.

Things are at an incredibly low ebb, with everything that can possibly go wrong going all the way wrong in spectacular fashion. The main criticism of Mourinho has been that his players just don’t seem interested in playing for him.

Well, a couple of them do, but the vast majority of Manchester United’s playing staff have regressed playing under José Mourinho – which makes the few who have progressed all the more interesting. So we’ve had a look and come up with a list of the three players who should give Mourinho hope for the future, and the five most egregious regressions under his command

Regressed: Paul Pogba

We start with the most absurd regression; World Cup winner Paul Pogba. The player who Mourinho signed in a then World record fee back in 2016, bringing him “back” to Manchester United and making him the centrepiece of this new United side. Pogba’s first season was promising, but his second and (thus far) third have been underwhelming.

Why? Well, it’s likely that his manager playing him out of position, publicly criticising him, dropping him for no reason when others have been performing just as badly as him, and finally, most incredibly, speaking about Pogba’s excellent displays at the 2018 FIFA World Cup with an astounding lack of responsibility: “I don’t think it’s about us getting the best out of him,” Mourinho told ESPN. “It’s about him giving the best he has to give.” This is an absurd thing for a coach to say about a player who has thrived away from his charge but chafed under his control.

Pogba’s agent Mino Raiola has been raising some noise about criticism of Pogba, and this has prompted Mourinho to do an about-face and begin praising the Frenchman. But those are mere words and cannot disguise the fact that Paul Pogba’s form for Manchester United is in alarmingly steep decline.

Hope: Luke Shaw

Mourinho has been unfathomably cruel to Luke Shaw during his previous two years in charge. Accusing a player clearly struggling with weight issues as well as the issues of recovering from a serious leg break of all manner of unprofessionalism and flaws. But Shaw buckled down this summer and has started this season in ferocious form.

For the first time since before he broke his leg in late 2015, Luke Shaw looks like Manchester United and England’s best left-back. The former Southampton man, who is still just 23, has been a rampaging force up and down the left-flank for United so far this season. He took his good pre-season and is making a genuinely good season, despite his team’s struggles. One can only hope he stays fit, because playing like this, Shaw could be one of the finest left-backs in the league.

Regressed: Eric Bailly and Victor Lindelof

These two get to share one point because their problems with Mourinho are so similar. Both are extremely talented defenders who were scouted out of “nowhere” – these weren’t the big name targets many expected United to go for; Bailly had very little experience and Lindelof played in Portugal. Still, they were naturally talented.

Bailly signed in 2016, and his first season was – injury aside – phenomenal. He looked a little rough around the edges but absolutely the kind of rugged take-no-prisoners defender United need. Lindelof followed in 2017, a more creative defender he was most known at Benfica for his spectacular passing ability. It was a strange un-Mourinho kind of signing, but it seemed an indication he was ready to evolve.

No such luck. Mourinho was undermining Lindelof from the start, under the guise of protecting him. The Swede looks colossal playing for his country but never finds anything like that rhythm for United. He looks terrified of making a mistake (and yet often does so anyway) and his passing has become neutered.

Meanwhile Eric Bailly spent most of his second season either injured or being mysteriously dropped by Mourinho for reasons no one has managed to figure out (the official party line is so nonsensical as to be obviously a lie), and this put a massive dent in his otherwise unbreakable confidence. This season Bailly has looked erratic, which worked against Leicester but was to blame for Brighton’s win; and Bailly bore the brunt of Mourinho’s anger for the south coast shambles, as he vanished from the first-team squad altogether.

Hope: Jesse Lingard

Jesse Lingard began to show glimpses of his prowess under Louis van Gaal, scoring the winner in the FA Cup final. In Mourinho’s first game in charge, he scored in the Community Shield against Leicester. And since then he has only gotten better. Moved into a central role by Mourinho, Lingard displaced the expensive Henrikh Mkhitaryan and has even been selected and prioritised ahead of Alexis Sánchez at times.

One would think that Mourinho would notice that him showing so much confidence in Lingard and not criticising him in public has resulted in the midfielder improving, and then apply that logic to every other player; but it seems like Lingard is special for now. And to be fair he does consistently produce for Mourinho, always running himself into the ground, never complaining, and usually scoring big goals.

Regressed: Marcus Rashford

Under Louis van Gaal, Marcus Rashford looked a teenage fearless forward the likes of which England hadn’t seen since Michael Owen. He was fast, he was incisive, he was smart and he was ruthless. Then Mourinho came in and, due to his penchant for gigantic strikers, shuttled Rashford off to the left-wing.

Oh, he gave Rashford plenty of minutes to be sure, but precious few of them were in his actual position of striker. Instead Rashford played on the wing and had so much defensive responsibility he spent so much time chasing back into the left-back zone to help cover his defence. It was a criminal waste of a good forward and led to his ruthless attacking instincts being dulled to the point where now, even when he does play up-front, he looks ineffective and hesitant. He’s still only 20, but if you look at how quickly Kylian Mbappé has progressed by playing for attack-focused coaches who trust and encourage him, you can only feel sad that Rashford has had to deal with Mourinho.

Hope: Romelu Lukaku

It was perversely ironic that Romelu Lukaku missed United’s two best chances in Mourinho’s possibly United-career-ending defeat to Spurs, because Lukaku has been the Portuguese’s true success story. Signed from under the noses of Chelsea in 2017, Lukaku has been a success for United. He’s not only been good and beaten up on weaker sides, but he’s actually improved on his hold-up play and begun to impact big games in a way that is genuinely impressive.

Lukaku is an incredible striker and one who Mourinho will continue to count on as he desperately tries to turn his season around. And if his career at Manchester United so far is any indication, the Belgian hitman will deliver the goals his coach wants.

Regressed: Anthony Martial

Martial plays in the same position as Marcus Rashford, yet the circumstances of his regression are unique from the Englishman. You see, Martial is a striker, but like Rashford has been force into playing left-wing. He actually suits this role more than Rashford does, as it fits with his love of dribbling in from the left-flank with his excellent close-control and acceleration tormenting defenders.

So why has he never even come close to cracking 2000 minutes under Mourinho? Why was his every good performance followed up by being dropped? Why has his attitude been questioned so often? Why, after his wife had just given birth to their baby earlier on during pre-season, was Mourinho lamenting Martial not immediately returning to training?? These are questions we will probably never get the answer to, but they very much explain why Martial has not built on the amazing promise he showed under Louis van Gaal.

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