My concern with Jose is that when he appears to have turned a corner, he goes back to make the same mistakes again. We can all make errors, but to keep making them is unacceptable.
Here is my list of what I believe has been going wrong and what Jose is failing to address:
1. Below Par Players - The likes of Darmian, Jones, Rojo and Mata (at RW) have had plenty of chances to prove their worth to the team. None of them have taken their chances to achieve the consistency required. Although not necessarily their fault due to injury or being played out of position, Jose keeps making the same mistake in selecting them in the squad.
Given the wealth of talent in our academy and the traditions of the club, it is unacceptable for Jose to persist with them
2. Lukakku as Target Man - He simply cannot perform this function. Very rarely does he hold onto the ball and play-in teammates from our direct balls. All it is achieving is a quick way for us to lose possession and draw Lukkaku away from the box
3. Lack of Defensive Composure - I'm referring to the tendency of our defenders to go long, rather than looking to build up play. Young is the worst offender at the moment, while Smalling's passing limitations have been discussed at length. The net result is that we invite pressure, stunt our attacks and lose possession easily
There are limits to what Jose can do outside of the window, but he can make balanced player selections to get the right mix of passers and those with the right defensive attributes. A back line including Young, Bailley and Smalling is going to create problems for us
4. Right Flank - Jose has regularly selected a team with Valencia behind Mata. This combination completely destroys any attacking threat on our right, due to overall limitations in pace, dribbling, crossing and attacking intent. Neither should play in these roles, unless we have a selection crisis.
This problem has been clear for several windows, yet it has failed to be addressed
5. Golden Goose - No player should be undropable, yet it seems Jose has his Golden Geese. Matic has been awful this season, while Lukkaku should have been dropped after that completely unacceptable Valencia performance.
Jose's mistake is that he is tolerating and failing to address low standards
6. Midfield Engine - Too often Jose has selected a midfield that either lacks the energy to win the midfield battle and/ or has limited passing ability. Given out issues with the long ball, this means we don't have the personal to win the ball back consistently and/ or fail to have the passing ability to handle the press.
A current offender is Matic, who seems to be a shadow of the player of last season. Why isn't Fred or Perreira getting a chance when this bloke is clearly fatigued/ out of position?
7. Failure to attack- Here I'm referring to our general lack of attacking intent. It's understandable for us to park the bus in certain games, but we show far to much respect to lesser sides. A factor for our poor attacking play, is a failure to commit men forward due to our over-cautious approach.
At the moment, given our awful defensive play (unsure of the reason for this), attack is really the best form of defence. We could blow away sides, yet we invite pressure and give lesser teams to confidence to have a go at us
Repeating the same mistakes, in any other job this would lead to dismissal, yet somehow this is acceptable at United
Nah I'm not so sure about Allegri, another coach who's rather conservative.