Jose Mourinho was effusive in his praise for Juan Mata this week. The Spaniard, he said was a ‘good player’ at Chelsea, but the focus on ball retention at Manchester United elevated him further.
Certainly a surprise to those who thought Mata’s days might be numbered, given his toil during the last few months at Stamford Bridge under the Portuguese.
But Mourinho is in the process of tinkering what Louis van Gaal implemented and knows this requires time - something he is not necessarily blessed with if United want to challenge this season.
His major area to address, therein, has been midfield. Now the three in behind Zlatan Ibrahimovic is beginning to take shape - although Henrikh Mkhitaryan’s situation is certainly one to keep an eye on - Mourinho now moves on to what is needed with his two deeper.
Paul Pogba, Marouane Fellaini, Morgan Schneiderlin and Michael Carrick are four options to take on a role of enforcing in central areas, all over six feet tall and with significant might in the tackle. Bastian Schweinsteiger, clearly, has been discounted altogether.
Yet watching United make hard work of Zorya Luhansk on Thursday night exemplified what an encouraging game Ander Herrera had against Leicester City at the weekend.
The hosts lacked energy in possession, only recording two shots on target against the Ukrainians. The product of a Europa League night against an unknown quantity, but Herrera was missed.
Fellaini had started the season very brightly indeed and looked capable of complementing Pogba in a midfield two, particularly against Southampton that Friday night when he did not leave his station and allowed the world’s most expensive footballer to do his thing.
The Belgian, however, has not got to grips with many games since. Mourinho likes him - phoning Fellaini this summer to assure the 28-year-old of his future - but will have noted Herrera’s emergence.
Like some others, Herrera has and will be a slow burner for the new manager. Sources at Old Trafford indicated earlier this month that the Spaniard was one who was finding being coached out of Van Gaal’s endless, monotonous recycling of play difficult.
He was left confused at what Mourinho was asking him to do in training, left out for Fellaini following the opening win at Bournemouth until Leicester.
Mourinho wants his players to become more instinctive, whereas Herrera had the methodical ‘philosophy’ of Van Gaal etched into his mind. That must have represented some sort of frustration for the player, who sounded upbeat about the changing style when asked by MUTV on the pre-season tour in China.
‘We want to have the ball but not just to have the ball. We want to actually attack,’ he said.
‘We want to be offensive minded but we want to be compact as well, to get the ball to attack, create as many chances as possible.
‘We know what we have to do - be offensive and finish the chances. I think we are going to see a very offensive Man United.’
Even with a strong team out they didn’t appear overly offensive on Thursday evening, Ibrahimovic scoring the scrappiest of 69th-minute winners. No Herrera though, whose neat knitting in midfield - creating angles, moving to form triangles in a way others cannot - will offer another dimension.
Crucially, it should take some weight off Pogba, who wants to travel in possession and really hurt teams with his directness.
Herrera should be back in the starting XI for the visit of Stoke City on Sunday afternoon, operating in a deeper role where he so excelled at Athletic Bilbao before Van Gaal tried him further forward as a No 10.
Herrera and Pogba could excel together but there will be tougher tests along the way, although Zorya shone a light on which two pieces should be slotted into Jose’s midfield jigsaw - for now, at least.
- Dailymail
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