Jose Mourinho has been tinkering with his Manchester United starting lineup in recent weeks.
The boss has been switching between a 4-3-3 and 4-2-3-1 formation following the arrival of Alexis Sanchez from Premier League rivals Arsenal last month.
Mourinho has also played a back three at times this season as he doesn’t appear settled on using a single formation over the course of the season.
We have also been hit with a number of injuries during the season, especially in defence, that have disrupted the Portuguese coach’s options.
Here is what we believe is the strongest Manchester United XI if all our players were fit and available:
Goalkeeper: David de Gea
Arguably the best goalkeeper in the world, David de Gea is expected to be under strong interest again from Real Madrid this summer. It’s essential that we keep the Spaniard if we’re to compete for next season’s Premier League title.
Defence: Antonio Valencia, Eric Bailly, Marcos Rojo, Luke Shaw
Captain Antonio Valencia has been one of the best right-back’s over the past few seasons and despite turning 33 at the start of next season, the Ecuadorian remains fit and strong with seemingly several years at the top left in him. Eric Bailly is clearly our best centre-back but has had several injuries during both his seasons with us now which has to be a concern to Mourinho. We’ve used several centre-backs this season and I think we’ll sign a new one before the start of next season. Neither Chris Smalling nor Phil Jones have been consistent, whilst Victor Lindelof has struggled badly in his first season in England. Therefore, I believe Marcos Rojo is our strongest option as the left-sided centre-back. Luke Shaw came back over the Christmas period with a number of impressive displays and has made the left-back role his own in recent weeks despite a number of options in this position, including Ashley Young and Daley Blind.
Midfield: Nemanja Matic, Ander Herrera, Paul Pogba
Nemanja Matic’s performances have slowed down in recent weeks following an excellent start to his career at Manchester United. The Serbian can excel in a midfield three with a more mobile midfielder alongside him and that’s exactly what Ander Herrera brings. Despite the Spaniard really struggling in attack this season he works his socks off off-the-ball to win it back for us and plays a simple passing game to maintain possession. Playing along with Paul Pogba is ideal for Herrera who can just lay the ball off to one of our attacking playmakers and let them do the rest of the work.
Attack: Alexis Sanchez, Romelu Lukaku, Anthony Martial
Despite starting his career on the left-hand side I think Alexis Sanchez will end up on our right in the long-term. Juan Mata has predominately played this role for us but the Spanish playmaker hasn’t always been in Mourinho’s good books. Jesse Lingard and Marcus Rashford have both failed out here whilst Sanchez has plenty of experience on the right from his time at both Arsenal and Barcelona. On the left Anthony Martial has proven to be much more effective than Marcus Rashford, with the youngster offering a good backup to the French ace and our striker. Although Romelu Lukaku isn’t testing opposition goalkeepers too often of late, he’s the best striker we currently have on our books and did show at the start of the season what he’s capable of with supply and confidence.
Here is our strongest XI on paper:
In your opinion, what is Manchester United’s strongest lineup? Leave your starting XI in the comment section below:
