Jose Mourinho key to top Manchester United performance against Burnley, but it’s a style that has to stay

Manchester United defeated Burnley 2-0 on Sunday in one of the most convincing performances in Jose Mourinho’s reign. Now it’s time for the Portuguese-man to adopt this style of play and labell it to this Manchester United side.

What a difference a week can make. Last Monday, Jose Mourinho was a finished manager who embodied everything Manchester United didn’t. Now, the newspaper columnists across Britain have to find something else to write about.

Journalists were waiting for United, and especially Jose Mourinho to fail again. However, it was the perfect performance to slam the door of a room full of doubt. There were no defensive mistakes or no poor performances.

The only blemish was the Paul Pogba penalty miss and Marcus Rashford’s silly red card all in the space of a few minutes. But not even Mourinho could be blamed for those individual mistakes.

But we knew Mourinho had the potential, with this very talented squad, to do this. It just took a whole host of drama and controversy to find it. And of course, this is just one performance. A performance which needs to mirrored over a span of eight to ten games if they have any aims of winning the league.

A positive is that the international break allows the storm to calm and the clouds to part. Mourinho will be returning with and looking ahead to seven games which could define the season.

Watford, Young Boys, Wolves, Derby, West Ham, Valencia and Newcastle are all fixtures Manchester United are expected to win. Mourinho and his team have a chance to go under the radar for these seven games and hold strong positions in all of the Premier League, their Champions League group and the Caraboa Cup.

Alternatively, this opportunity is one which could heap the pressure fully back on Mourino if United were to slip up at any point. But the reason I am much more optimistic going into the next batch of games is that we have a solid foundation to build on.

Mourinho back to his best with his tactics just right for Burnley

Jose got his tactics spot on against Burnley. After professing that he is one of the world’s greatest managers in the week, he needed to deliver on Sunday, irrespective whether he played Burnley or Barcelona.

The call to put Fellaini in front of the back four and instructing him to drop in front of target man Chris Wood, sandwiching him with Chris Smalling was a perfect way of stopping the six-foot-two striker.

The use of Lingard floating in and around the focal point, Romelu Lukaku, whilst also dropping deep to collect the ball kept United’s main creative spark in the game all the time.

The importance of quick and wide full backs cannot be underestimated. It not only gives width to the pitch allowing them to get crosses in but also it allows more space for the silky playmakers in the middle.

Burnley sat quite deep allowing United to come on to them but the likes of Lingard, Sanchez and Lukaku found space between the lines. But when the Clarets came out and played, there were two or three bodies swarming round to win the ball back.

Not every week will team’s play like this against Mourinho’s men, as we found out against Spurs. But, Sunday’s performance proves to anyone questioning, that Mourinho has the players to build a system and style around.

Now it’s time for him to implement it week in, week out. It may not be as fluent at home and Mourinho may have to adapt when teams clamp down the parked bus. But it’s a style which is clear to see and gives the club a foundation to kick on.