Five post-Juventus things that don’t totally suck for Manchester United

So Manchester United lost 0-1 at home to Juventus in the Champions League. That’s not good.

But it’s not the worst thing in the world. After all, Juve are one of the best teams in this year’s competition. Sure they’ve got Wojciech Szczesny in goal, a man who once conceded 8 goals at Old Trafford and has somehow managed to fail up after flunking out of the Arsenal squad, but they’re a phenomenally well-built side besides that. They’ve won Serie A seven times in a row and have made two of the last four Champions League finals.

There were plenty of positives for United to take from last night’s performance. Sure, the result went the wrong way, losing always sucks, but the performance was good (albeit nowhere near enough to match Juventus’ slick performance). If you put enough good performances together, with a talented enough side, and United have plenty of talent, eventually the results will start to follow. There is hope here.

But what are these positives? Well here they are, five things that don’t suck right now for Manchester United:

1. Mourinho picked the same XI

For the first time this season, José Mourinho selected the same XI in consecutive matches. This is huge, really. Mourinho’s lack of consistency in his team selection has betrayed a manager who doesn’t really know what his best XI is.

Now, a team doesn’t need to have a “best XI” – Manchester City, for example, rarely if ever select the same XI two games in a row; but that’s a function of Pep Guardiola implementing a system of play that is so encompassing that he can switch players in and out and City will always play well. Chelsea are heading down a similar route with Maurizio Sarri (although their squad is much less developed).

Manchester United, however, do not have a system of play. They almost exclusively freewheel it, which means how they play is often conditioned by who is playing. When Mourinho changes this week-to-week, the side fails to build any rhythm and just shambolically limps from one match to the other.

So for Mourinho to pick the same team for two games in a row, especially two big games like Chelsea and Juventus, indicates he’s perhaps beginning to settle on a specific way of playing. Even if there are flaws in his XI (and there are) this is very definitely a step in the right direction for the Portuguese coach.

2. David De Gea only had to make ONE miracle save

David De Gea has been Manchester United’s best player over the last five years, and been player of the year in four of those seasons too. It’s safe to say that Manchester United’s existence as a Champions League club is almost entirely because of David De Gea’s excellence.

Seriously, without De Gea in goal then United would have crashed into being a mid-table club long before José Mourinho’s third season syndrome made that a reality. In particular the club’s “improvement” last season, finishing second in the Premier League, was delivered to the club by De Gea’s transformative genius in goal. The Spaniard was so good that The Red Devils won games they had no business winning, amassing enough points to finish second.

3. Victor Lindelof was tyrannical

José Mourinho loves to lament about his lack of a world-class centre-back. He makes all sort of whinging points about it; including spending the bulk of his post-match press conferences lavishing praise of Leonardo Bonucci and Giorgio Chiellini. The Juventus centre-backs were good but to listen to Mourinho you’d think they were Beckenbauer in ’74.

The thing is: Mourinho has a potentially world-class centre-back in his own ranks. Victor Lindelof is just 23 years old (compared to Bonucci who is 31, and Chiellini 34) and has shown enormous potential to be as solid as the Italian pair given enough time and trust. After all, he does so regularly for Sweden, including against Bonucci and Chiellini in the playoff for the 2018 World Cup where Sweden won.

And last night, against Juve, Lindelof was easily as good as either of Juventus’ defender. In fact considering he was playing next to Chris Smalling, a defender who oscillates between good and bad like an EKG of a heart attack, you could argue he was the most impressive defender on the field. Lindelof constantly intercepted passes, crosses, made tackles and cleared the ball. It was a superb display and if he can built on it then José Mourinho may just have his world-class centre-back after all.

4. Pogba taking control

For the third game in a row, Paul Pogba has been a dominant playmaking force. And what’s even more impressive is that in this game he did so against a genuinely elite opponent. Sure, playing makeshift centre-back and bossing things against Newcastle is impressive, but that’s Newcastle. And hey, even against Chelsea, they’re not a fully-formed side as Maurizio Sarri only took charge three months ago.

But Juventus? Seven times Serie A winners in a row Juventus? Miralem Pjanic, Blaise Matuidi and Rodrigo Bentancur in midfield Juventus? That’s nothing to sniff at, it’s impressive. And sure, when Juve stepped up the pressure, Pogba looked overwhelmed by their quality (it can’t have helped that his midfield partner was the useless Nemanja Matic instead of the vibrant Fred).

But there were periods of the game, especially in the second half, where Paul Pogba exerted a genuine sense of control over the match. He put his foot on the ball and spread it around to where it needed to be. He even struck a superb shot off the post. It was controlled, measured and quality, exactly what United need Pogba to be in these kinds of games.

5. Martial’s still there!

Hey, guys, Anthony Martial played for the third consecutive game! This may not seem like a big deal but remember you have to go back until January of this year to find the last time Anthony Martial played three or more games in a row.

Even then, January is only technically when it last happened, as he was rested for an FA Cup tie inbetween league games. If you want to go by the book, you have to go back to November 2017 to find the last time he featured for more than three games on the bounce.

This kind of inconsistency of selection is why Martial, Manchester United’s most talented forward player remember, has struggled to find a rhythm under José Mourinho. By showing this kind of faith in Martial, playing him consistently, Mourinho may begin to get the best out of the talented Frenchman – and that can only be good for United.

The post Five post-Juventus things that don’t totally suck for Manchester United appeared first on Squawka News.

From Squawka NewsSquawka News https://ift.tt/2RdOAb7