Victor Lindelof’s Manchester United career hasn’t really gotten off to a promising start. A summer signing from Benfica, he’s yet to feature for the club in the Premier League. Many blame a lack of confidence for his prolonged spell on the sidelines.
He looked shaky in preseason and was struggling to keep pace with the pace of Real Madrid in their Super Cup loss.
Mourinho has sighted the vast difference between the Premier League and the Primera Liga as the main reason for Lindelof’s absence from the matchday squads.
Mourinho has trodden this road before, with his handling of Mkhitaryan last season. Mkhitaryan had a mixed start to his United career. He gave the ball away too easily and didn’t really do anything spectacular to justify his selection. His long absence from the squad after his 45-minute cameo at Manchester City raised a lot of eyebrows.
In what can be termed as an alternative method of man-management; Mourinho managed to revive Mkhitaryan, bringing the best out of the Armenian. His influential displays in the Europa League helped United in adding the elusive trophy to their glittering cabinet.
This approach by Mourinho has its doubters too. While asking a player to prove his worth to get a way back to the starting XI could get the best out of him; it could also sap his confidence massively.
Arsene Wenger tried the same with Rob Holding. Holding was awful in Arsenal’s narrow win against Leicester and was subsequently left out of the squad for Stoke. Wenger sighted that this was to motivate the lad and to bring back his confidence. He was brought back into the Starting XI vs Arsenal and he produced one of the worst performances by an Arsenal CB.
We’re yet to see Lindelof feature this season; but Mourinho has him in his plans for United’s opener against Basel. Suspensions for Eric Bailly and Phil Jones, the preferred CB pairing for Jose Mourinho up until now; could mean the second start of the season for both Lindelof and Smalling.
One can point to his defensive partner for his faltering start to his United career. Chris Smalling too, has suffered a massive drop in form following a stellar season under Louis van Gaal. He seems to be a shadow of his old self and this would have had an impact on Lindelof’s performance.
Jose, however, is optimistic. The belief and the mood in and around Old Trafford is reminiscent of the times of Sir Alex Ferguson.
Jose has spoken about Lindelof and seems to be happy with the progress he’s making. It remains to be seen, however, if he turns out to be like Mkhitaryan or another Rob Holding.
