Manchester united face a tough away match in Turin tonight,when they lock horn's with pre-supposed tournament favourites juventus
The Italian club are flying high in the champions league this season and don't look to be coming down any time soon, they'll be fueling their tanks this night for another tough journey in their strides towards success in Europe's elite competition
Whereas their ambitions and form has been one to admire this season,their opponents, Manchester united are in stark contrast compared to what the Italian champions have been this season, though they have enjoyed a recent upturn in form in recent weeks,with strings of encouraging results,juventus are still heavy favourites to win the game having outclassed them at old Trafford a fortnight ago,but you just can never write off a team like Manchester united or a manager like Jose Mourinho with suave unorthodox methods of winning games of such magnitude
The Portuguese manager is famed for being a master tactician and we've seen enough of it at united already,whatever the form of his team is,the tags underdogs or favourites,history and whatsoever, José Mourinho always has something up his sleeves but it remains to be seen if he can pull off another 'Jose classic' at the home of one of the biggest teams in Europe
Lets get into the mind of Jose for a bit
The most obvious threat for juventus would be the presence of 5 time ballond'or winner, christiano Ronaldo a player he onced managed,so he will know fully well the strengths and weaknesses of his fellow countryman,but however that is not the only threat the old lady carry,Paulo dybala is another player who can cause a lot of damage for united and so it remains to be seen how Mourinho would contain the both of them
Man marking however is a tactic that has worked well for him in the past,and Mourinho could be looking to deploy midfield enforcer Ander Herrera to do the dirty work against Ronaldo
Down to gameplay, juventus dominated possession at old Trafford and love to play that way,so for Mourinho it will be sticking to the basics, trying to hurt juventus on the counter a formula that has continuously worked for him,to achieve this however he will be looking to start both Anthony martial and alexis sanchez on the flanks and replace Juan mata with a now fit Jesse lingard in the number 10 position,while giving Marcus Rashford another chance upfront, then deploying paul pogba in a deeper role,where he can influence proceedings for the club,these players have enough pace to harm a rigid juventus defence,but they will have to be very decisive and put on their best show
Manchester United's defence will be needing more cover at the back,which means using the combative nemanja matic or ander herrera in front of the defence,marouane fellaini is another player that gives mourinho a lot of options and could come in and make a difference,Paul pogba would need to be at his creative best gainst his old club in his 1st appearance at Turin since departing for Manchester united in 2016
If Jose Mourinho considers all of the aforementioned then united would be filing out in a 4-2-3-1 formation or a 4-3-3 formation,whatever one the united boss chooses,the Portuguese has no scruples in causing setbacks, so let's see if he can pull off another 'José classic' tonight
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