5 things Mourinho has to do to revive Manchester United

#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.