Ever since the departure of Sir Alex Ferguson from the club, Manchester United have looked nothing like themselves, with their domestic and European performances being far below the standards their fans have grown accustomed to.
To be fair, no one expected United to just keep going at the same pace with the departure of such an iconic figure as well as the likes of Paul Scholes and Ryan Giggs from the playing squad, but a few seasons later, things are still not really picking up and the fans have grown restless.
This is why United's owners decided it was time to splash some cash and bring in the big guns. More than anything else, United needed a coach who can get things done and who better than The Special One, Mr. Jose Mourinho himself?!
Of course, Mourinho wasn't going to run the same United side that finished fifth last year, so the likes of Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Henrikh Mkhitaryan and Paul Pogba all arrived at Old Trafford, certainly forming a squad to be reckoned with.
The question beckons, with so much spending, what can we really expect from Manchester United this season? Can Jose Mourinho make things happen and take the Red Devils back to the very top? The season is just days away now and the fans will surely be looking for a strong start and Mourinho and Ibrahimovic already showed that they can provide in the Community Shield match against the champions Leicester City. Their first test for the league season will be the away match against Bournemouth and the bookies are heavily favoring United to start off with a win. You can track of this and all the odds for Manchester United season matches at OpenOdds.
While we can't tell yet if Manchester United have what it takes to win the EPL Mourinho's first season on the bench, there are a few things we can undoubtedly expect. For starters, with the arrival of such talents and a very strong attacking squad at the moment, United will look a lot more dangerous up front. We can expect Mourinho to utilize the full attacking force he has in the new arrivals and it seems we will be seeing a lot more of Rooney up front this season as well, if a recent Mourinho interview where he said Rooney is not a midfielder is to be taken seriously.
Furthermore, it is likely that Mourinho will be looking to clean up the squad and flop players may see the door before they get another chance at the club. Mourinho already stated that he doesn't want clashes among the players in the locker room and since he usually likes his clubs to have fewer players in general it can be expected that some of the players who didn't do so well last season such as Memphis Depay to potentially leave the club within the first year of his reign.
Another very important element for Mourinho seems to be the development of young players as he stated in one of his early conferences and having the likes of Marcus Rashford and Timothy Fosu-Mensah at the club, this should not be too big of a challenge as they are already players who have shown they can play with the big boys. Expect Mourinho to keep nurturing these two and bring in others from the youth squad with time.
Finally, as if the rivalry between Manchester United and Manchester City wasn't deep enough already, the city rivals will be entering the season under the leadership of Pep Guardiola, Mourinho's arch nemesis and it will be more than entertaining to see these two clash horns and compete for the biggest domestic football title in the world. With a little luck, we will be having some major laughs watching the post-match conferences this season.
When all is said and done, one thing is for sure, Manchester United will be looking as strong as ever and if Jose can make the best use of his new reinforcement and line things up well we can expect to see them back in the title chase in a big way. After all, with so many winners in one squad, you just know they will be shooting for the very top. Whether Jose and the others can make it remains to be seen, and the first few weeks may easily be indicative of the rest of the season.
