Rewind time to when Manchester United meant business in the transfer window in the summer, what has gone wrong for the mighty red devils since then?
Mourinho's men are currently sat in 8th position in the Barclays Premier League and 2nd place in their respected Europa league group, but how have United found themselves in such a bad position despite splashing out £157 million in the summer transfer window? Easy, they have bought solo players and tried to introduce them in to a team of under performers.
Manchester United fans thought they struck gold when the 'Special one' finally accepted the offer to manage the reds and push them back in to contention for trophies, but all they have seen so far is disappointment.
The red devils are miles away from the team they used to be under Sir Alex Ferguson, but if Mourinho can sort out three simple things at the club it wont be long until United are back in contention for the major trophies.
1. Defensive problems
All top teams go through this problem and it's not easy to find proven defenders in this day and age but playing without a leader in the back four is dangerous. The reds have struggled to find that key player in defence since the departure of Nemanja Vidic who they have tried to replace time and time again with inexperienced defenders. Personally I believe a central defender should be top of the priority list for Mourinho come January, along with a new right back.
Mourinho's common defensive selection seems to be Chris Smalling and Eric Bailly and it's fair to say it hasn't worked out for the defensive pair playing together. I can agree with Mourinho picking Eric Bailly as he cost a huge £30m in January so he's still got a lot to prove to the Portugese gaffer. Chris Smalling on the other hand has shown no potential whatsoever for neither club or country so he needs to be replaced urgently.
Ideal summer transfer- Sergio Ramos, Giorgio Chiellini or someone with the same leadership and experience.
2. Confidence levels
Buying proven world class players is always a gamble, especially when they come from a less competitive league. A good example of this is Paul Pogba. Pogba absolutely dominated the midfield game in game out for Juventus in the Serie A but since his £89 million move to Manchester United the French Midfielder has looked out of his own comfort zone, mainly down to the lack of confidence.
High expectations come along side the huge transfer fees and it's difficult for Pogba to prove his value in money as well as enjoying his Football.
The same goes for Zlatan Ibrahimovic who has looked nowhere near his best since joining the red devils from Ligue 1 champions, Paris Saint Germain. The 35-year-old Swedish masterclass was expected to take a while to get used to the transformation to the Premier league but he has shown little promise as of yet and this looks worrying for Manchester United.
Personally, I think when you have two world class footballers like the ones named in this article you need to build the team around them, not just throw them in the mix of things and expect them to come up swimming.
Football doesn't work like that, it takes time and a lot of patience for squads to gel and Mourinho will need to give the squad a huge reality check before they go any further.
3. Choose a new captain.
Wayne Rooney is currently the Captain of United and with the English International so out of form, he hasn't been included in Mourinho's recent team enough to make an impact as a skipper so the whole starting 11 plays without any leader..
Mourinho has a possible 3 players to give the captaincy to, 1. Dailey Blind 2. Andrea Herrera 3. Zlatan Ibrahimovic
Any of those three have the potential to lead Manchester United to glory and as soon as Mourinho realises that, the better.
