United's first game is tonight against Leicester.
After a lackluster, but drama filled, off season the club returns with a few new names but only one that is expected to be in the starting 11. The club signed 19 year old right back Diogo Dalot who will be expected to play in cup games and when Antonio Valencia needs a rest (though both are injured at the moment), Journey man keeper Lee Grant, and Fred. Fred is the big name and United paid over 50 million pounds for him.
I think Jose wants to play 4-3-3 when everyone is fit with Matic holding, Fred shuttling, and Pogba being free to create. Pogba's world cup performances were in encouraging in that he was still able to affect the game from sitting deeper, which is something Mourinho will want him to replicate for United.
Other than that, on the football side I'd expect more of the same from last season. Moments of brilliance, a lot of frustration, and a lot of drama. To nail down a first choice starting 11 is a bit difficult because of the defenders. Even though we have five center backs who are all of varying quality, Mourinho failed to bring in another to shore up the back line. The midfield should be a position of strength this year with Pogba (Peirreira), Fred (Mctominay), and Matic (Herrerra) all having able back ups. Peirreira in particular is intriguing as he's been loaned out the past few seasons. Up front 2 of Alexis, Lukaku, and Rashford will be starting with either Mata or Lingard in a false right wing position.
Probably the best news of the offseason was Courtois going to Real, which means unless Juventus come calling we should have David De Gea through the prime of his career.
After a lackluster, but drama filled, off season the club returns with a few new names but only one that is expected to be in the starting 11. The club signed 19 year old right back Diogo Dalot who will be expected to play in cup games and when Antonio Valencia needs a rest (though both are injured at the moment), Journey man keeper Lee Grant, and Fred. Fred is the big name and United paid over 50 million pounds for him.
I think Jose wants to play 4-3-3 when everyone is fit with Matic holding, Fred shuttling, and Pogba being free to create. Pogba's world cup performances were in encouraging in that he was still able to affect the game from sitting deeper, which is something Mourinho will want him to replicate for United.
Other than that, on the football side I'd expect more of the same from last season. Moments of brilliance, a lot of frustration, and a lot of drama. To nail down a first choice starting 11 is a bit difficult because of the defenders. Even though we have five center backs who are all of varying quality, Mourinho failed to bring in another to shore up the back line. The midfield should be a position of strength this year with Pogba (Peirreira), Fred (Mctominay), and Matic (Herrerra) all having able back ups. Peirreira in particular is intriguing as he's been loaned out the past few seasons. Up front 2 of Alexis, Lukaku, and Rashford will be starting with either Mata or Lingard in a false right wing position.
Probably the best news of the offseason was Courtois going to Real, which means unless Juventus come calling we should have David De Gea through the prime of his career.
I mean I guess I can see both sides of the argument, but if you're not going to back the manager's strategy then you need a director of football. The board shouldn't be making decisions on the on-field product. That needs to come down to the manager and his staff. The only positive I see from this is Mourinho does love playing as the underdog and will drill that into the player's heads. Every write up so far, including the prediction thread here where the glee comes right through the screen, is predicting United to fall out of the top 4.Every major British paper seems to have the same story tonight about how the United brass didn't think Jose Mourinho's target list was worth the money and how they're thinking long term and wary of his short term (and self-interested) calculus. Its plain as day that Woodward or one of his cronies briefed all the journos to put his side of the story out there. Mourinho was pretty restrained in his press conference earlier in the day but I'm sure he'll be putting in his two cents pretty soon. He's not one to accept blame easily or keep his mouth shut if he feels somebody else is to blame for a perceived failure.