Former Manchester United boss Ron Atkinson believes that Mourinho should partner the young duo together as strikers to destroy opposition defenders.
Atkinson previously won the FA cup twice with the Red Devils but was ultimately shown the door for being unable to win the Premier League. Mourinho, on the other hand, appears fired up to seriously challenge the title with a United side that looks more and more like his team. Ron believes a two striker formation can help his former team do that.
“Lukaku is certainly going to get a lot of chances. I hope Jose plays him up front with Rashford. I want to see a team go back to playing two up front. Defenders have forgotten how to deal with that sort of threat. Centre-halves are now accustomed to playing against sides with just one striker and they are having a field day.” said the former manager.
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Atkinson continued, “All of a sudden, whenever anyone throws two up front, these defenders don’t look comfortable at all. United will be hard to beat, no question. But they need to convert those draws into wins. For them to win the title, Lukaku will have to get 20-plus goals in the league. But first of all, he has to replace the goals of Zlatan Ibrahimovic.”.
“I don’t think I’ve ever seen a better finisher at United than Ibra. A lot of strikers need two, three or four chances. I was more surprised when he missed one than when he scored. So Lukaku has huge boots to fill in that respect. But he’s young, getting better and he will get enough chances. There are areas in his game for him to improve, like his movement and his general team play. But his big job at Old Trafford is to get on the end of things and stick them away.” Atkinson stated.
Mourinho has already attempted to play a two striker formation in pre-season and a couple times during the past season. The recent trend in teams lining up in a 3-5-2 formation after Chelsea’s successful implementation of it was not lost on the Portuguese tactician who actually used it to defeat the Blues last season.
While his Manchester United team don’t seem too comfortable using it just yet it has proved to a useful system to be used only at times with Jose also stating his belief that it won’t be a regular tactic seen at Old Trafford. The boss mentioned that it would only be used in certain instances and in certain circumstances to counteract certain teams.
Mourinho appears serious about his claims having added another centre-back to his ranks without selling any of Smalling, Bailly, Jones, Rojo, meaning the club have 5 first team defenders with possibly Axel Tuanzebe involved as well as the youngster is highly rated by his manager. The former Chelsea manager also added Lukaku to his ranks over the summer period.
With Lukaku, Rashford and Martial all capable of playing there as well as hints of a Ibrahimovic return then it appears likely that Manchester United will return to playing a two striker formation consistently eventually. Lingard and Mkhitaryan have also been used as a shadow-striker in some games last season and in pre-season.
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Flexibility in his tactics is nothing new to Mourinho and he’s proven adept at alternating gamelans to suit his players strengths and to exploit opposition teams weaknesses. It won’t be a surprise if Old Trafford sees Rashford and Lukaku partnered plenty of times with Jose looking to blow his competition out of the water.