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Football

11th Feb 2018

Manchester United fans unhappy with Jose Mourinho’s Anthony Martial change-up

Mourinho has a selection headache

Reuben Pinder

Can he play in the same team as Sánchez?

Alexis Sánchez joining Manchester United in January was a signing that fans couldn’t complain about. They shifted a struggling player – Henrikh Mkhitaryan – to Arsenal and brought in a much better player of the same age. However, Sánchez’s arrival has caused some selection headaches for José Mourinho.

Having strength in depth is a luxury the top clubs often take for granted, but having too many players who want to play in the same position can be counterproductive.

Anthony Martial has spent most of his Man United days playing on the left wing, firstly under Louis van Gaal and more recently under José Mourinho. But Sánchez’s best position is also on the left, or at least that’s how Mourinho seems to see it. Sánchez played predominantly on the right for Udinese and Barcelona, but moved to the left at Arsenal. He is equally adept at both, while Martial struggles on the right. He has less opportunity to drive inside with the ball at his feet and shoot.

During United’s match against Newcastle Utd at St James’ Park this afternoon, fans picked up on this and are calling for their manager to reshuffle the attacking four.

Deploying Martial on the right restricts him from doing what he’s best at. Sánchez may be the club’s highest paid player, but he might have to slog it out on the right if Mourinho wants to get the best out of all of his attacking players. Either that, or Martial drops to the bench for Juan Mata, but that would seem like more of a waste.