Manchester United: Analysing Mourinho’s 4-2-3-1 decision
Manchester United manager, Jose Mourinho, has always favoured the 4-2-3-1 formation and won the Premier League with Chelsea using it. Does he intend the same for the Red Devils?
After Mourinho moved to Manchester United from Chelsea many claimed he had lost his special touch. Some specifically pointed to his repetitive use of the 4-2-3-1 formation and used it as the reason why his Premier League winning Chelsea team had performed so poorly the season he got sacked.
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So why is it that the Portuguese boss chooses to return to this tactic with Old Trafford witnessing a 4-0 demolition of West Ham? The question also needs to be asked, why now? Why didn’t he implement it last season? It’s peculiar to see after much of pre-season was spent in either a 3-5-2 or 4-1-4-1 shape.
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It appears Mourinho finally has faith in his Manchester United team to return to his favoured formation. Last season he was incapable of doing so without a true holding midfielder but with Matic now in Red, it finally makes sense to do so. In the 2016/17 season, the manager’s problem was balancing when to use this more attacking formation and when not to.
At times, when United needed to turn a draw into a win, it would’ve been helpful to use this aggressive tactic. However, he was unable to do so without fearing his shaky defence would concede. A 4-2-3-1 formation needs it’s too midfielders to be slightly defensive as the rest of the front four bombard the opposition.
Yesterday afternoon was proof of that working. With Matic mainly doing the dirty work, Pogba was allowed to be more creative but in Mourinho’s tactic still had to keep an eye on defending. Playing as a deep-lying playmaker suited the Frenchman and was what his boss always intended for him.
Pogba was never going to play as a free flowing attacker the way many expected him to but yesterday proved he can be just as influential in that role. The best thing about this formation is that it means the front four can and should score more goals. It’s actually them who get the most freedom and not Paul. It’s less pressure for the former Juventus man.
With Mkhitaryan playing in his favoured number 10 role as a shadow striker to Lukaku, the team did real damage. Not to mention the Armenian grabbed two assists and created the most chances out of any players in the Premier League this weekend. Mata had a great game and so did Rashford, let alone Lukaku.
It seems like Mourinho’s solution to his team’s goalscoring woes was to completely free the front four of the defensive duties they had last season. Many a times fans saw Martial waste energy on tracking back but yesterday he was allowed to focus on attacking and rewarded his manager with a goal and an assist.
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As much as Jose’s favourite formation has good reason to excite Manchester United fans, one must worry what will happen should Matic get injured. There’s also the concern that the solution won’t always be a 4-2-3-1 and that the tactician must learn when and where to use it to great affect. So long as these things are addressed then Old Trafford will have a lot to shout about this season.