Jose's Methods Reaping Rewards

Marcus Rashford's last-gasp strike at the KCOM Stadium made it three Premier League wins from three for Jose Mourinho's Manchester United side, on the back of the Community Shield triumph over Leicester City. Here, we look at five reasons that illustrate why the Reds boss has already made a very positive mark in M16, with fascinating insights from the man himself...

Players open to change
The arrival of a new manager at any football club, while always exciting, can sometimes bring about uncertainty for players, no matter how well established, who have been used to working in a certain way. Mourinho however has nothing but praise for the way the Reds have adapted to both his arrival and his approach to the game. "Sometimes you arrive in a club and the players are not so open for the change so it’s more difficult, but the players were open and waiting to give everything," he explained to BT Sport at Hull. "I think we changed the team. We changed the dynamic. We changed the way we think of football and also the way we think of the competitions and the way we think day by day at the club."

Tactical tweaks
There are many ways to approach football matches but the United way, first established by the great Sir Matt Busby, has always been to attack. If the opposition score, we make sure we always score more, even if it finishes 6-5. That entertainment and thrill factor is what underpins everything about a great Manchester United side and while Mourinho has looked to follow the club's attacking traditions, he has also introduced a new way of playing at the other end, as he revealed after defeating the Tigers. "Defensively we don’t play man-to-man, we play zonal. I think the players are growing up a lot and feel much more comfortable that way and I’m really happy with the evolution of the team. We play different football," he continued. "When the ball goes to a full-back you see what we do this season and what we did before, it’s just an example. In many matches the full-backs are the first place to receive the build-up pass and then it’s the trigger. It’s then what you do with the trigger - you can play the ball back to the central defender or you can start trying to find lines to attack the last line - that’s what we’re trying to do."

Squad options aplenty
The boss has spoken of how he likes to have a particular sized squad and while he has explained that the current number of 23 outfield players is larger than he usually works with (26 in total with the three goalkeepers), he has also insisted that "he wants to keep every player". He adds: "I want to go into the Europa League with a good squad. Imagine I go into the Europa League and I change the four [current] defenders and I play [Matteo] Darmian, [Phil] Jones, [Chris] Smalling and [Marcos] Rojo and I rest the other four players. Or I rest Ibra [Zlatan Ibrahimovic], [Juan] Mata and [Anthony] Martial and I play [Marcus] Rashford, [Henrikh] Mkhitaryan and [Ashley] Young… I have a very good squad. I’m really happy with what I have in my hands and, I repeat, it’s a privilege for me to work with the boys." Asked whether the Reds plan to do any more transfer activity this summer, he declared: "No, no. No more business."

Trust is mutual
Just before they stepped onto the pitch, Sir Alex Ferguson would always have one last reminder for his players. "Go out and express yourselves," he would say. The former boss had unerring belief and total faith that his players could, and would, get the job done. Mourinho says that feeling of trust is a mutual one with the current squad. "I trust the guys a lot and I feel like they also trust me," he insisted. "I always believe in my players and we have a really good squad. I think we have bought well and we are going in a good direction. I don’t think we are going to be consistent, I think we are going to be a bit up and down in some moments but it’s part of the evolution of the team."

Jose is a winner
If you watched the celebrations of Rashford's 'Fergie-time' winner at Hull then you'll have seen a jubilant Mourinho on the sidelines as the ball hit the net, but in the midst of jumping for joy he was already in mid-turn to face the equally giddy United bench to shout immediately to Chris Smalling to get stripped off and ready to protect United's lead in the final two minutes of injury time. Because ultimately it's about winning and, as his CV tells you, the Reds boss knows all about that great habit. "Our objective is only one – to be champions," he said simply when asked about his ambitions for the season. "You have to play to win every game. If we don’t win, we don’t win, but the mentality is there and the boys are giving everything." So too is Jose Mourinho and long may it continue.

The opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the author and should not be considered as representative of Manchester United Football Club.

Credit: Manutd.com