Are Flying Full-Backs Evidence of a Shift in Mourinho’s Style?
There has been no shortage of criticism for Jose Mourinho’s tactics since he arrived in the Manchester United dugout in the summer of 2016. The Portuguese’s prickly and combative personality, combined with a perception held by many that he is a proponent of ‘negative’ football — recall then-Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers’ comment that Mourinho parked ‘two buses’ in front of the goal when he took his Chelsea side to Anfield in 2014 — has made the United manager a convenient fall guy for those who prefer a less solid, more off the cuff brand of football such as is championed by Pep Guardiola or Jurgen Klopp. Many of these critics — who range from your average below-the-line match report commenter to professional pundits and fellow managers — argue that Mourinho’s style is out of touch; his preferred 4–5–1 formation a relic which has been superseded by more fluid systems with rampaging wing-backs and midfielders who are equally comfortable operating as a 6, an 8, or a 10.
Although Manchester United won two trophies in Mourinho’s first season (three if, like Jose, you count the Community Shield), including the Europa League, which guaranteed passage to the Champions League after a year’s hiatus, a disappointing sixth-place finish and a number of frustrating home draws provided his critics with plenty of ammunition. With more than a third of the current season behind us, however, United sit second in the table, have won four of their five Champions League group games, and have reached the quarter-finals of the League Cup. Mourinho’s charges have racked up 32 league goals in14 games — second only to free-scoring Manchester City and four more than any side below them — and have scored four goals in eight of their matches across all competitions. It would appear that last season’s negativity has been replaced by free-wheeling, relentless offensive play. Yet, this characterisation doesn’t quite chime with reality: there have been a number of unconvincing performances (the shock defeats in Huddersfield and Basel; the soporific 1–0 win against Brighton), so what explains United’s newfound penchant for goals?
Part of this current United side’s verve can be attributed to sensible summer investment. In 2016/17, Mourinho’s side were overly reliant on the genius of 35 year-old Zlatan Ibrahimovic for goals and inspiration; the signing of Romelu Lukaku provided the team with another consistent goalscorer, whilst securing Nemanja Matic from Chelsea has allowed Paul Pogba to flourish as the team’s de-facto creative fulcrum. Indeed, it is no coincidence that United’s dip in form coincided with Pogba’s injury layoff.
Success in the transfer window does not offer a complete explanation, however, and the contributions of Mourinho’s summer signings have been pored over at length by any number of pundits and fans. What has received less attention is Mourinho’s experimentation with a position which has often gone unheralded, but is experiencing a renaissance in the modern game: the full-back.
Mourinho’s most successful teams have often featured dependable but limited full-backs. Paulo Ferreira was a regular fixture in his first Chelsea title-winning side; Alvaro Arbeloa played 26 times when Mourinho led Real Madrid to the title in 2012; Christian Chivu played at left-back in Inter Milan’s Champions League final victory over Bayern Munich in 2010. It is not that Mourinho does not trust full-backs whose primary attribute is their offennsive contribution — Maicon, Marcelo, and Javier Zanetti have all flourished under his management — but it is safe to say that he has consistently understood the full-back role as one primarily defined by defensive solidity. That is, it seems, until this season.
At first glance, Manchester United’s 4–2 win over Watford on Tuesday night does not seem particularly out of the ordinary. As mentioned above, high-scoring victories have been a regular sight for United fans this season. What stands out however, are two things: Mourinho’s side lined up in a 3–4–3 formation, with marauding wing-backs; and one of those wing-backs, Ashley Young, was the driving force behind the victory, scoring two spectacular goals in the opening half an hour. On the opposite flank started another winger-turned-defender, Antonio Valencia.
Mourinho’s deployment of Young and Valencia in such a formation could be read as a stinging rebuke to those who claim he has fallen out of touch with the game’s tactical innovations, that he is wedded to a defence-first approach which will no longer win titles. Indeed, Young’s appearance at wing-back was notable not just because it suggested that his manager was willing to entrust attacking responsibility to a position which he has always understood as primarily defensive, but also because he did not appear to send out his wing-backs with much of a remit to defend at all. Mourinho has utilised wing-backs previously at United, but often they have, in reality, operated as part of a five man defence in big away games. On Tuesday night, however, many of Watford’s most promising early attacks came when Marco Silva’s team exploited the gaps in behind Young and Valencia, with Will Hughes and Richarlison causing particular bother. Despite this, Mourinho appeared content to allow his three central defenders soak up any pressure which was delivered from the wide areas, whilst absolving his wing-backs of much of their usual defensive responsibility. Young’s two-goal salvo more than justified this decision.
A note of caution: a single performance should not suggest that Mourinho’s understanding of the full-back/wing-back position has fundamentally and irrevocably changed. Given his track record and chess-like conception of football, it would be a great surprise were United to approach this Saturday’s huge game at the Emirates in the same manner as they did against an exciting but defensively-suspect Watford side. What the game at Vicarage Road does tell us, however, is that Jose should not be consigned to the scrap-heap of footballing troglodytes just yet.
