4 Positives for Manchester United ahead of this weekend

#2 Mourinho's surrender to free-flowing football

Mourinho beat Arsenal at their own game in midweek

For the most part in this season, Manchester United have sacrificed their attacking flair to accommodate defensive discipline. And while it has failed to stop them from conceding goals, United have continued to be blunt in attack.

Mourinho has always set up his team to be compact and leave no space for the opposition to work on. And as a result, United have failed to stress on the attacking resources in their disposal. All of that changed against Arsenal in midweek.

Mourinho started with 5 at the back, but Dalot and Darmian mostly worked as auxiliary wingbacks. He also put Herrera with the under-performing Matic in the middle of the park, with Lingard dropping down and Bailly moving up to close the gap. It was supposed to be the perfect foil for Arsenal's attack, however, after kick off, United surprised the Gunners as well as the spectators by playing free-flowing, attacking football.

Players spent very less time on the ball and both Dalot and Darmian bombed through the flanks. Herrera joined the front three at every instant and United were the better team in the first half and right until the substitutions. It was a team in stark contrast of Mourinho's recent tactics and it looked like that the Portuguese was warming up to the idea of playing attractive attacking football. Whether he continues to remain loyal to Manchester United's true philosophy remains to be seen, but as of now, it is certainly a positive for United ahead of the weekend.