Despite their run of poor results, Manchester United are definitely starting to resemble their old swashbuckling selves. Manager Jose Mourinho explains how he had to change his game to appease the Old Trafford faithful.
Jose Mourinho has had a roller-coaster ride as United manager so far, but is yet to live up to the expectations had of him. The Portuguese mastermind recently sat down for an interview with Geoff Shreeves for Sky Sports, and spoke about how his tactical style has changed.
“We are not a team that defends and waits for an opponent mistake. I know [how] to build these teams, I did before and being very pragmatic that was not our choice,” said Mourinho.
“That is not something that Manchester United fans and owners want, that is not something I want for this project so we are going in a different direction and we are not going to change.”
“I am used to different kind of profile of team, a team that scores one goal and doesn’t concede, a team that is very efficient and not in need of so much ball possession and control to have opportunities to score and score.”
Mourinho added that it was frustrating that teams which weren’t comparable to United’s quality of play had more points than them in the Premier League.
The Red Devils are currently far behind the rest of the pack in sixth place on the Premier League table. They are also six points behind this weekend’s opponent Tottenham, and a whopping 13 points behind league leaders Chelsea.
Despite his current predicament though, Mourinho still commands the respect of his team and even the opposition players. The 53-year-old is now evolving because of his current job, and this could well see him enter into an even more successful phase of his career.
Mourinho’s tactical style has been based around well organized defensive work and clinical counter-attacks. At Manchester United though, the Portuguese is attempting to do something different. The statistics show that the Red Devils are dominating possession, spraying passes and taking more shots on goal.
The style of football is no doubt a welcome change from the plodding, tedious ways of former manager Louis van Gaal. The Old Trafford faithful are pleased at the attacking spirit shown by the team, but the trick is to now convert that spirit into victories.
