5 things Mourinho has to do to revive Manchester United

Jose Mourinho is feeling the heat at Manchester United, but that’s okay. Managing Manchester United is about managing pressure and expectations.

It has made fools of many but it has made legends of a select few.

David Moyes lasted seven months. Louis van Gaal – formerly of Ajax, Barcelona and Bayern Munich – never looked comfortable in his two-season tenure.

Mourinho has already accomplished so much in his career. He achieved the unthinkable with his unbelievable Champions League triumph with Porto in 2004, he put Chelsea on the map with back-to-back Premier League titles, won another European title with Internazionale and wrestled the La Liga title from Pep Guardiola’s brilliant Barcelona sides with Real Madrid.

At United, Mourinho faces his biggest challenge yet as he finds himself chasing a Guardiola inspired mega-spending Manchester City Goliath in a league where every team represents a genuine threat over 90 minutes.

Re-establishing the club as the force it once was under Sir Alex Ferguson in light of that threat would arguably be Mourinho’s biggest accomplishment yet.

Here are five things Mourinho needs to get right before the start of next season to reassert United as the best team in England.

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#5 Decide on a playing philosophy

Mourinho's United team lacks identity

Watching Manchester United can be a confusing experience. At times, it’s a thing of beauty.

Ashley Young and Antonio Valencia sprint down the touchline, overlapping their respective wingers.

Romelu Lukaku leads the line expertly, creating acres of space for the likes of Marcus Rashford and Anthony Martial to exploit with their dazzling skill and blistering pace.

Paul Pogba roams across the midfield, spreading pin-point passes to stretch the play, or linking up with those directly ahead of him to leave opponents twisted and dazed.

When United play like this, they score goals for fun. Sometimes as many as four fly in over 90 minutes.

Then there are other days when United seem to be doing its best Stoke City circa 2009 impression.

Plenty of numbers behind the ball, long and hopeful balls to the front-line as Lukaku turns more into a battering ram than a footballer, while Pogba runs from box-to-box chasing second balls and struggling to find a spare second to compose himself.

Mourinho’s biggest failing as Manchester United manager so far has been his inability to instil a common philosophy across the squad.

Tactical versatility is a good thing, and Mourinho has the players to be flexible enough with his team selections, but he needs to decide what image his new United is going to be built in.

The free-flowing team Mourinho picks against the Premier League’s lower teams, or the conservative, counter-based teams he picks against the likes of Manchester City, Arsenal and Chelsea.

Mourinho can have success with either, but he has to work out which one he wants and build the team that can execute that gameplan week in, week out against any opposition.

#4 Cut the dead wood

Mourinho and Guardiola have both had to make big changes at United and City respectively, but Mourinho has dead wood to move.

It is not always fair on Mourinho to compare his work at United to the improvement City have enjoyed under Guardiola.

Yes, both managers have spent a lot of money to remodel their squads, but Guardiola took over a squad that already featured a number of his key players, including Kevin De Bruyne, David Silva, Sergio Aguero, Nicolas Otamendi and Fernandinho.

Mourinho arrived to find a disjointed squad, built in the image of two predecessors. David De Gea was the only proven world class star, complemented by the genuine potential of Anthony Martial and Marcus Rashford and quality of Juan Mata and an ageing Michael Carrick and Wayne Rooney.

Mourinho has made a solid start of reimagining the United squad, but he still has a lot of dead wood to move.

Matteo Darmian, Daley Blind, Marouane Fellaini and Carrick have all passed or are approaching their use-by date. Mourinho needs to make significant upgrades to these squad players who are paid far above their talent.

After them, one might argue that the likes of Ander Herrera, Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Chris Smalling are all reaching a point where their careers may lie away from Old Trafford, as their individual contributions to United continue to dwindle.

#3 Unleash Pogba

Pogba should be the first name on the team-sheet and he should be given the freedom to work his magic

There are few players in world football you would say deserve to have a Manchester United team built around them, but Pogba is certainly in that bracket.

The Frenchman needs to be given the freedom at Old Trafford to fulfil his potential.

Too often the marauding midfielder is penned back in his own half, miles away from the goal where his unique eye for a pass, vicious shot and height can make a real difference.

Regardless of how Mourinho decides his United team have to play, the non-negotiable should be Pogba being allowed the freedom he needs to break the midfield lines and disrupt opposition defences.

Pogba has only played 12 Premier League games this season but he has seven assists – just two less than De Bruyne – and three goals to his name. He is a creative force who needs to be as close to the opposition goal as possible.

Mourinho has made great strides with the likes of Anthony Martial, Marcus Rashford and Jesse Lingard this season, but so much of that has come from allowing Pogba a more advanced role to support them.

#2 Solve the midfield puzzle

Sergej Milinkovic-Savic is considered by many to be a top transfer priority for Mourinho.

Perhaps the only reason that Mourinho has not completely unleashed Pogba on opponents is the fact that he is still one midfielder short of a world-class trio.

The signing of Nemanja Matic has allowed Mourinho to significantly change his use of Pogba for the better, particularly early in the season.

Signing one more world class midfielder would go a long way to unlocking the collective immense potential in United’s forward line.

With United heavily linked to Lazio midfielder Sergej Milinkovic-Savic, Mourinho might already have found the player he believes can become the last piece of his midfield puzzle.

#1 Protect De Gea

David De Gea cannot be expected to keep up his current heroics forever

Manchester United have regularly been one of the best teams when it comes to keeping clean sheets.

Over that time, the likes of Chris Smalling, Phil Jones, Marcos Rojo and Eric Bailly have all been given praise for their role in United’s sterling defensive record, but the true hero is and always has been David De Gea.

United’s number one is, by far, the best goalkeeper in the league and almost all of his 12 Premier League clean sheets – the best tally in the league – have come as a result of one or more ridiculous saves in a given match.

No one can expect De Gea to continue to perform such heroics for the rest of his career and while he stops so many opportunities, he needs more support from those in front of him.

He has made a decent United defence look significantly better at times over the past four years and despite Mourinho’s efforts to bolster the defence with the signings of Bailly and Victor Lindelof, the back-line must remain a priority in the coming transfer windows.

How much value there is to be found in the market for defenders, in light of Liverpool’s mammoth £75 million deal to sign Virgil van Dijk from Southampton, remains to be seen, but Mourinho will need to find a way to bring in a marquee central defender he can build his defence around.