After a disappointing domestic first season for Mourinho, finishing 6th in the league, Manchester United fans can look forward to the 2017/18 BPL season. Although it has been only 5 games for Man Utd, the squad already seems better than it did a year ago, with better defending, a stronger midfield, and a clinical attack. After a draw against Stoke City, here's why the fans only can only expect it to get better from here.
Squad improvements
During the Summer of 2016, Mourinho signed 4 players that were world class. Zlatan Ibrahimovic, a proficient goalscorer for PSG, Henrikh Mkhitaryan, the Bundesliga player of the year 2015/16, Eric Bailly, a promising defender, and Pogba, a record-breaking signing.
It seemed at first that Manchester United was the team to beat, but as it turns out most teams did. Manchester United was often called boring, ending the campaign with the most draws in the league (15), and averaging a goal every 63 minutes.
Pogba was used too defensively, and Mkhitaryan had only 4 goals and one assist. Skip forward to 2017, and Mourinho knew what he had to do to boost his team. The signings of Romelu Lukaku and Nemanja Matić enhanced the squad immensely. Matić, being a center defensive midfielder, gives Pogba the liberty to move forward and attack more, while Lukaku is the physical and aerial threat that Man United were lacking.
An improvement can already be seen, as Man United are averaging goals in half the time they did last season, with an impressive 28 minutes per goal.
Mkhitaryan already has 5 assists and one goal, Lukaku is joint top scorer of the league, and even pre-owned players discovered their form. Anthony Martial already has 3 goals and an assist, Pogba has 2 goals and 2 assists, and Rashford has 2 goals and an assist. After a 4-0 thumping over West Ham, it's hard not to see the potential of this squad.
History repeats itself
There's a reason why Mourinho is labeled as “The Special One”. Winning 25 trophies in his career, Mourinho is considered by many to be one of the best managers of all time. One interesting fact that will raise many Man United fans' eyebrows, is that Mourinho has won the league his second years in charge of a club ever since his managerial years at Porto.
This occurrence has happened 5 times; Liga Nos with Porto, the Premier League with Chelsea, twice, Serie A with Inter and La Liga with Real Madrid.
After a phenomenon like this happens 5 times, it is no coincidence. Mourinho’s first year with Manchester United was a transitional one, where he saw the flaws of his team, and its players. A year later, he knew how to get the best out of each and every one of them, the new and old signings. Players like Mkhitaryan or Pogba feel like brand new players to the team, as their new form don’t reflect the players they were last year at all.
Many people are skeptical of this new Manchester United, wary of being let down after 4 discouraging years, but this may finally be the year that Manchester United become the champions of England once again.
