Jose Mourinho spent £150 million on bringing new faces to Manchester United over the summer, but has so far struggled to find his best team and formation.
Paul Merson
Sky Sports pundit Paul Merson has offered his opinion on Manchester United’s problems, highlighting Paul Pogba’s struggles to adapt to life in the Premier League as a main contributing reason.
Jose Mourinho’s men bounced back well from their 4-0 thrashing at Chelsea on Sunday, with a sound performance last night in the EFL that saw them beat their fierce rivals Manchester City.
The Portuguese is still struggling to fit all his stars into his team though, and more importantly, where to play them once they are on the team-sheet.
Manchester United’s Zlatan Ibrahimovic
Writing his column for Sky Sports, Merson explained what he believes needs to happen at Old Trafford in order for things to improve:
“Ibrahimovic used to be world class but he’s 35. He used to be in the top three or four players in the world but he’s not the same player anymore. I think Wayne Rooney has got to come back in. He got the blame before they dropped him and they’ve not improved since then. Pogba scored two against Fenerbahce but where was he on Sunday? Those are the games you pay the big money for. He’s played in a league where his team was so far ahead of the rest it was a joke. He played in a role where he didn’t have to do any defensive work and he’s struggling to adapt.”
Manchester United’s Paul Pogba
United face a crucial period of Premier League games over the next few weeks, starting with a home game against Burnley on Saturday and a trip to Swansea City the following week.
Then, after the international break, Mourinho’s men host Arsenal, in a game that could potentially have a huge bearing on the destination of the Premier League title.
Their chances of success will depend heavily on whether Mourinho manages to fit all of his very expensive jigsaw pieces into the puzzle, before the gap between them and the leaders is too large to make up by the end of the season.
Manchester United’s Wayne Rooney
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