Hit or miss? Every Man Utd player Jose Mourinho has used out of position this season

For a manager who is so keen on order and discipline, José Mourinho sure does experiment a lot.

The Portuguese coach is not known for for taking tactical risks, and demands tremendous positional discipline from players he does select, but this season he has ended up making a lot of… well, some could say “bold” calls?

Others would be more accurate and describe the decision as José Mourinho putting square pegs into round holes. Mourinho has done it several times this season, putting players out of position and demanding excellence from them.

Some would argue he’s doing so to “make a statement” to United chief executive Ed Woodward about players he wasn’t allowed to sign in the summer. But whatever his reasoning, the most important factor is has it worked out? We analyse the seven times he’s used players out of position so far this season, and did it work?

Paul Pogba: centre-back

With his side 0-2 down to Newcastle United and in desperate need of something special to turn the match around, José Mourinho switched to a three-man defence and, in order to fit as many attackers onto the field as possible, stuck Paul Pogba in defence.

This move actually worked, because Pogba was now receiving the ball directly from David De Gea rather than in achingly bad positions from Nemanja Matic (more on that later) and had the whole pitch in front of him with lots of players making great movements. The Frenchman was resplendent and a key factor in United laying siege to Newcastle’s goal and, ultimately, turning the game around.

What makes this one so amusing is Mourinho sort of predicted the switch back when Pogba first re-signed: “With the quality of his pass, with his aerial game, with his agility in such a big body, for his defensive side of the game, coming from the back with the ball, he would be a phenomenal central defender, too.” The only surprise is it took him two years to try it.

VERDICT: HIT

Scott McTominay: centre-back

Of course, not all of Mourinho’s centre-back switching is done out of desperation. Against West Ham, the United manager wanted to make a point about Eric Bailly and the lack of transfer activity so played Scott McTominay out of position in a back three.

The move was a disaster, with McTominay being hugely culpable for West Ham roaring into the lead and never really offering anything in attack. To make matters worse, when Mourinho switched to a back four he left poor McTominay on the field to somehow look even worse playing in a back four.

VERDICT: MISS

Ander Herrera: centre-back

Not all of Mourinho’s changes are motivated by pettiness. Sometimes he does genuinely want to do something interesting. In 2016/17, Mourinho used Ander Herrera and Matteo Darmian in quasi-centre-back roles to man-mark Chelsea’s incredible wing-forwards. It worked.

Then this season when faced with Spurs, Mourinho deployed Herrera in the same way – except he was the only player playing this way. The other full-back was just a full-back; and so what happened was Herrera basically ended up playing in a back three and this baffling situation allowed a lacklustre Spurs to cut United to bits on the break, winning 0-3 at Old Trafford.

VERDICT: MISS

Marouane Fellaini: defensive midfield

With United scheduled to face off against aerial powerhouses Burnley, Mourinho felt he needed to do something to combat them in the air. Showing no trust in his centre-backs, Mourinho pulled Marouane Fellaini from the attacking role he had thus far occupied under the Portuguese and deployed him as a defensive midfielder.

Fellaini’s job was to attack any long balls and crosses sent into the box, protecting the United centre-backs from having to deal with it. The tactic was successful and Fellaini dominated; so the Portuguese has predictably gone back to the well over and over again. More or less, Fellaini has always delivered as a defensive midfielder. He’s not great, but he protects the team in the air and just uses the ball simply.

VERDICT: HIT

Nemanja Matic: defensive midfield

“But Matic is a defensive midfielder!” you cry. Well, you’re wrong, he’s not. The Serbian has always thrived in a box-to-box role, playing next to a holding midfielder who can pass the ball (e.g. Cesc Fabregas for Chelsea) rather than as a true holding midfielder.

Mourinho has deployed him at the base of midfield fairly regularly since signing him from Chelsea and he’s rarely looked great beyond an initial burst of form where he had more license to roam forward and attack. Matic simply moves the ball too slowly to effectively play at the base of midfield, moreover he doesn’t mark space all that well which causes United’s defence to come under enormous pressure.

VERDICT: MISS

Marcus Rashford: right-wing

Forget the two misses at the weekend, Marcus Rashford is a striker. He occasionally plays on the left because José Mourinho is obsessed with Romelu Lukaku (to the point where the Belgian looks in need of a rest in just the third month of the season), and whilst that isn’t his position he can make it work out there.

On the right, however? He simply looks lost. Rashford is a player who dribbles at pace and in bursts; he lacks the intricate footwork to thrive on his “strong side” despite not being a winger (as Kylian Mbappé does). Mourinho has often put him there purely to continue playing with a 4-3-3 and it nearly always results in misery and the poor Englishman getting subbed before full-time.

VERDICT: MISS

Alexis Sánchez: left-wing

Many people associate Alexis Sánchez with being the kind of typical inverted winger that have populated modern football so well, but that’s not really his best role. Alexis came to the fore with Udinese and Chile playing on the right, coming infield from the half-space to get on the ball in dangerous zones to shoot or score. And then for Barcelona he mostly played up-front.

Arsene Wenger already had Mesut Ozil wide-right and Olivier Giroud up-top. And bar a brief stretch when he played Alexis up-front (and Alexis thrived) he sandwiched him in on the left just to get him in the team.

Alexis is just not a left-winger; when he plays there he uses the ball so predictably and slowly. He becomes a drain on his team’s attacking momentum, which United have precious little of to begin with.

His form for Manchester United has thus been largely atrocious; save for pre-season this year when he actually got to play up-front next to Juan Mata (a clever associative player, not a powerhouse striker like Romelu Lukaku) and suddenly found himself playing something that looked like his best level. If he were to get that chance again, he could help lift United out of the doldrums much as he did against Newcastle, playing up-front and winning the game with a late, great header.

But as a left-winger? Yikes.

VERDICT: MISS

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