It is rare for Jose Mourinho to be portrayed as a coach intent on setting players free on the football field, but after the Louis van Gaal era, that appears to be the case.
United’s performance against Leicester City on Saturday would have encouraged those who believe that Mourinho can restore some of the great traditions of United while retaining one of his core principles: win no matter what.
With Wayne Rooney left out, United were fluid, exciting and dominant. Leicester made elementary errors, but the important thing was that they were punished. Paul Pogba scored and gave a complete performance while Ander Herrera dominated behind him in midfield.
Mourinho, it is said, is working hard to liberate the United players after the stagnant, restrictive football Louis van Gaal demanded.
United appear to have found a formula that works, even if Leicester showed again on Saturday that they are a mess. Yet if United are going to play like that under Mourinho, the manager will have to become a very different person.
Those who suggested that Mourinho would have to change after three defeats in a week may have felt he was listening on Saturday, but that is unlikely to happen.
Mourinho will do things his way and even if United were thrilling, he may find it hard to forget the opening 20 minutes when his defence was repeatedly exposed and there appeared to be a lack of organisation in the back four.
United have a home match against Stoke next weekend so they are unlikely to be exposed, while their forwards should again capitalise against another team which appears to have forgotten how to defend.
But after that it will be different. United make a trip to Anfield after the international break. Will Mourinho continue to follow the attacking traditions of Manchester United in that game or will he embrace core values of his own, as laid out in the Diego Torres biography, which is that a game of football is won by the team who commits fewer errors and whoever has the ball is more likely to make a mistake?
Of course, it is perfectly reasonable for Mourinho to approach a trip to Anfield differently than he would a visit from Leicester, even if calling them the champions tends to exaggerate the threat from Claudio Ranieri’s side this season.
The gaps in his defence are likely to concern Mourinho for that game, but it remains to be seen if United have the players to protect the back four while retaining the attacking threat.
Without Rooney, they have a better chance, but the performance on Saturday only illustrated how odd it was that this had become a talking point.
Whoever dropped Rooney was going to have the support of most Manchester Untied fans while whatever backing the captain might have in the dressing room must surely have diminished with every mediocre performance.
In fact, Rooney offers an easy route for a manager who wants to make a tough decision. With supporters on his side and the obvious benefit to the team, Mourinho could leave him out and be sure he would have the backing of the crowd.
In the coming weeks, he might have to make tougher decisions as he tries to find a balance between the demands of United supporters for a certain style of football and the demands of his own psyche for football without mistakes.
The always optimistic Juan Mata announced after Saturday that Manchester United had turned the corner, although Mata has a tendency to see every victory as a turning point.
Certainly there is more to be encouraged by and, for now, he can revel in a display which suggests that Mourinho is the great liberator, the coach who will set the players free. It is not a depiction he has been used to in recent years, but he may as well enjoy it while he can.
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