Jose Mourinho may have won the first Premier League game of the season at home to Leicester on Friday but his United side were still not the fluent beast the Old Trafford crowd were used to seeing under Sir Alex Ferguson. In fact, his side played mainly on the counter-attack against this mid-table side, having less possession, fewer shots, fewer corners and committing more fouls.
Although United fans will point to the three points on the board, essentially they were outplayed at home by a far weaker team on paper. Across the Pennines, there are no such issues for Marcelo Bielsa who has taken to English football like a duck to water. His Leeds side have been simply scintillating to watch in the Championship so far, dispatching two promotion favourites in Derby County and Stoke City, 4-1 and 3-1 respectively.
So what could the Portuguese boss learn from the Argentinian? Although he almost certainly will feel he does not need to learn anything, there's one brand of football we would much rather watch.
Top Quality Coaching
The main issue with Jose Mourinho at the present moment is that he just does not improve players anymore. His coaching methods do not make players better than they were before. With all of his whining in the transfer window just gone it is easy to forget that he has one of Europe’s best squads at his disposal. Alexis Sanchez, Paul Pogba, David De Gea & Romelu Lukaku are all world-class players and under a top quality coach they should be able to perform at their best and drag Manchester United to the title, but under Mourinho, they look disjointed a lot of the time.
Instead of improving the young players at his disposal such as the incredible talent of Marcus Rashford and Anthony Martial, he simply isolates them and although they may not want to admit he is stunting their growth, it is clear and obvious. Martial has the potential to be one of the most dangerous wingers in the world but his Portuguese boss has failed to give him game time and has now fallen out with him as he went to see the birth of his child!
Meanwhile, Marcus Rashford - and United fans will hate to admit this - was making more progress under previous boss Louis van Gaal than he is now under Mourinho. He should be fixed on starter for both his club and country but he now can barely get into either starting eleven when everyone is fit.
Instead of improving his current young crop of players, Mourinho wants to bring in players for excessive sums of money who are already at their peak. Sanchez, with Martial and Rashford already at the club, was an unnecessary signing. He was brought in to make a statement and because he has more experience at this level.
Compare that with Marcelo Bielsa at Leeds. Having made some shrewd signings this summer such as Jack Harrison and Lewis Baker on loan as well as bringing in Barry Douglas for £3m he has also improved the players who were already at the club massively.
Players such as Kalvin Phillips and Kemar Roofe have been completely reinvented under Bielsa, with Roofe playing as the main forward v Derby, whilst Phillips has been used as the holding midfielder, although all of Bielsa’s tactical line-ups are fluid.
Intensity, fitness and dedication are three staples of Bielsa’s play and you can see the players responding to his methods. It is so clear to see the improvement in those players from last season.
Mourinho must look at Bielsa’s methods of improving players. Players who look average in this Manchester United team such as Chris Smalling, Phil Jones and Ander Herrera could seriously improve with some better coaching.
Let’s hope we get to see Bielsa in the Premier League soon.
