Manchester United: What to do to challenge for the title next season

One of the biggest standouts from the losses to West Brom and Sevilla over the past couple of months was how timid United’s attacks were.

They were formulaic and lethargic, with a lot of possession in less-threatening areas of the pitch. The pattern for United recently is inch upfield, play the ball to the wings, unsuccessfully attempt an intricate passing move, fail, and reset.

Even when countering, whoever had the ball would look up and see Romelu Lukaku surrounded by a swarm of defenders, forcing them to slow down, and lose possession. With the attacking talent in the lineup, this should not be a problem.

Lukaku, Alexis Sanchez, Juan Mata, Marcus Rashford, Anthony Martial and Jesse Lingard are a fearsome set of forwards. They are capable of breaking teams down with pace and guile. Mourinho has to free them up to do just that and play to their strengths. United’s powerful, fast strikers are currently hamstrung by the patient build-up play that Mourinho has set up. It is like driving a Ferrari in rush hour.

By increasing the speed of his attacks, United can catch defenses off-balance. The Red Devils are currently ranked the lowest out of all the top six clubs in shots taken. They simply do not create enough chances with the talent at their disposal.