Manchester United’s performance at Stamford Bridge surprised many observers, as Jose Mourinho looked to capitalise on Chelsea’s recent woes. It led to an open match, although there was still plenty of criticism about the productivity of the attacking players, despite the greater intent from the Portuguese coach.
Henrikh Mkhitaryan was one of those to operate well below expectations and came under heavy scrutiny from United fans on social media for his display. He made only 29 touches before he was substituted in the 62nd minute.
The Armenian was involved in United’s best chance when he provided a great piece of skill in the build-up to Marcus Rashford’s header, but the 20-year-old closed his eyes upon contact. However, the brief flash of brilliance from Mkhitaryan was exactly that and didn’t happen frequently enough.
The attacking midfielder has been poor for a few weeks and has struggled to make a significant impact. He provided five assists in his first three Premier League games of the season and scored twice in September.
Mkhitaryan’s regression has been partly contributed to the absence of Paul Pogba, but his goals against Everton and CSKA Moscow came once the French midfielder was already missing. Juan Mata is another player who creates space for his fellow attackers and he has been used less frequently alongside Mkhitaryan in recent weeks, although it’s not unfair to expect more of the £28 million signing regardless of which teammates are available.
Mourinho has to accept some of the responsibility in trying to prise more from the former Borussia Dortmund star, with his tactics sometimes bypassing him by either playing more direct or getting the ball out wide quickly. Mkhitaryan seems best suited as the No.10 in the 4-2-3-1 formation and looked isolated in 3-4-1-2 system that was deployed at Chelsea.
“I can say last season I started not good as I had lots of injuries and I didn’t feel good playing games,” said Mkhitaryan before the CSKA Moscow game at the end of September. “But this season is different because I started playing well and the connection and understanding with other players, especially [Romelu] Lukaku, is great and I hope we can score many goals in the coming games.”
That relationship has certainly been less productive in the last two months, with the two players assisting each other for two goals apiece at the start of the campaign. However, the 28-year-old is not the only one to have linked-up less with the striker.
In the encounter against Benfica at Old Trafford, Mourinho could be visibly seen shouting at Mkhitaryan to get ready on a couple of occasions when Jesse Lingard picked up an injury. There was a clear look of frustration from the coach towards his player
When Mkhitaryan did eventually replace the English youngster, Mourinho applauded him sarcastically when he gave the ball away during an attempted counter attack. Despite this public exhibition of disgruntlement, Mkhitaryan has started all but one game in the league, so the manager clearly favours his talent.
Mourinho can be impatient in the bid to deliver success and Mkhitaryan will know that he can’t afford to continually let his standards slip. With Mesut Ozil linked with a move to be reunited with his former Real Madrid boss, Mkhitaryan has to improve swiftly.
