Manchester United beat Bournemouth 2-1 at the Vitality Stadium on Saturday. Here are three things we learned from the match.
Manchester United came from a goal down to beat Bournemouth at the Vitality Stadium on Saturday, thanks to Marcus Rashford’s goal in second-half stoppage time. Here are three things we learned from the match.
The new Mourinho
If Jose Mourinho does turn out to last the season at Old Trafford, we will surely look back at last month’s comeback win against Newcastle as a turning point. Since that game, which United ended with five attack-minded players on the pitch (six, if you include Marouane Fellaini; seven if you also include Ashley Young), Mourinho seems to have finally, fully caved to demands from the United fanbase for a more attacking brand of soccer.
Juan Mata as been an ever present in the starting XI since then, his ability to receive the ball under pressure and pass forward a welcome addition to a midfield that had become far too reliant on Paul Pogba for creativity.
Against Bournemouth on Saturday, Mourinho went a step further, playing Mata, Martial and Alexis Sanchez in a front three, and Fred (sidelined over the past few months, despite seeming to be a perfect stylistic fit) alongside Pogba and Nemanja Matic in midfield.
Of course the problem with Mourinho’s newfound attacking approach is that Mourinho is not an attacking manager, and that putting a lot of attackers on the pitch at the same time is not the same thing as building an honest-to-goodness attacking team.
This much was obvious in the first half hour at the Vitality, during which Bournemouth created four good goalscoring chances, and passed through United’s midfield with little resistance. As the Cherries press dropped off in intensity, as presses tend to do, United worked their way back into the game, and eventually found a late winner in an end-to-end second half. Still, this was far from a convincing performance.
United have become over the past month a more exciting team to watch. In this much, Mourinho’s attacking transformation has been successful. But this is not the controlled chaos of the Sir Alex Ferguson years. Too often, particularly early on in games, you watch this team and struggle to figure out what they’re trying to do. Only after going behind, as they have now four times in their last five matches, does a structure seem to emerge, and that only out of necessity.
Adding more attacking players to the starting lineup may be a step in the right direct, but the next step — molding those players into a coherent unit — is much more perilous. Mourinho has given us little evidence so far to suggest he’s capable of taking it.
Bournemouth miss their chance
There had been some talk over the first 10 games of the season that the Cherries might seriously challenge for a spot in the top six, provided, at least, one of the big six significantly underperformed.
That idea always seemed farfetched — for a club of Bournemouth’s size and means to finish even in the top eight would be a considerable achievement — but there’s been real progress so far this season, particularly at the back.
Over the past three seasons, the Cherries have become progressively worse at the back. IN 2015-16, they ranked 13th in the league in xGA, per Understat. They dropped to 17th in 2016-17, and were 19th last season, above only relegated Stoke. So far this season, they’ve been eighth.
That’s a huge improvement, and testament, among other things, to the quality of Nathan Ake and Asmir Begovic, both signed at the beginning of last season. But it will also only make Saturday’s loss feel worse.
For this was, in so many ways, the worst version of Bournemouth: Some wonderful attacking play ultimately undermined by bad finishing, a weak defense and the inability to see out a lead. The Cherries won’t, and shouldn’t, be judged too harshly on their results against the big six, but this felt like a missed opportunity to prove they have a real claim to being the best of the rest.
Lukaku falling out of contention?
Romelu Lukaku didn’t travel with United to the Vitality, as he recovered from a minor injury picked up in training. United play Juventus in the Champions League midweek, meaning this was likely just a precaution.
Nonetheless, given Lukaku hasn’t scored a Premier League goal since mid-September, has only four in all competitions for his club this season and that both Martial (five goals in four matches) and Rashford (a goal and an assist in four matches) are in better form, it’s worth asking whether it isn’t time for the Belgian to spend some time on the bench.
Lukaku is an excellent player, and an ideal forward for a typical Mourinho team. But United aren’t playing like a typical Mourinho team. Add to that the fact Martial is clearly the attacking focal point right now and that the likes of Mata, Sanchez and Rashford are all more positionally versatile than Lukaku, and it’s hard not to at least wonder what this team might look like if they embraced a more fluid setup.
None of those player have Lukaku’s proven track record as a goalscorer, but Mourinho has tinkered with his starting XI endlessly this season, dropping almost every one of his players before reintroducing them (or not) into the lineup. It might now be Lukaku’s turn.