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Jose Mourinho was unequivocal when he was asked to declare his targets for his first season in charge at Manchester United.
“I want to be champion,” said Mourinho, at his official introduction as United boss in July. “The top four is not the target. We want to play to be champions.”
Today, United are lagging behind the leading pack, just about keeping in touch, — but doing so with little conviction or panache.
United have already lost three times in the Premier League, and cannot afford many more defeats if they are to fulfil Mourinho’s bold rhetoric in his debut campaign at Old Trafford.
United have been stripped of their aura of invincibility, first by David Moyes and then Louis van Gaal, for whom the FA Cup, the first trophy of the post-Ferguson era, was not enough to see him keep his job.
The succession plan post-Ferguson has been nothing short of a calamity for United, who have now turned to serial title winner Mourinho in a bid to restore them to their former status as the country’s top club.
But Mourinho’s hopes of a flying start to his United reign have been hampered by injuries and a failure to understand his most effective line-up, one that gets the best out of the players he has at his disposal.
Marouane Fellaini is struggling — he suffered a nightmare return for Manchester United against Everton, by gifting his former club a last minute lifeline.
The midfielder had only been on the pitch as a sub for four minutes when the unforgivable happened.
Mourinho, a pragmatic manager by nature, whose teams are used to grinding opponents into the ground rather than sweeping them aside with champagne football, has certainly struggled to give United a discernible identity in his first few months in charge.
At times this season, the football played by United has arguably been as sterile and uninspiring as that under Van Gaal, with United failing to manage a single Premier League win in October, in which they scored a solitary goal in four games and were humbled 4-0 by Mourinho’s former club Chelsea.
Mourinho has yet to get the best out of world record £89million signing Paul Pogba, while the United manager’s enduring loyalty towards Ibrahimovic has seen young striker Marcus Rashford thrust out wide, in a position that doesn’t take full advantage of his huge gifts.
Mourinho may not have wanted a season of transition, but that is what this campaign is shaping up to be, one in which getting back into the Champions League and being competitive again near the top of the table could provide the platform for a genuine title tilt next term.
