Do Manchester United need an overhaul of their defence?

With Manchester United down in sixth in the table, and statistically closer to the relegation zone rather than the top of the league, plenty of soul searching has been going on at the club to find out why they’ve mad such a poor start.

Of course, there’s not just one reason. Sure Manchester United’s profligacy in front of goal, especially at Old Trafford in the Premier League, has directly cost them around eight points, but there’s also been a nervousness about United’s play in the latter stages of these games, which has meant that they’ve not only struggled in front of goal but they’ve in fact looked more likely to concede.

Just take the goals against Arsenal and West Ham. Against the Gunners Marcus Rashford was beaten far too easily on the wing by Alex Oxlade Chamberlain, while Daley Blind had been sucked too deep into the box rather than offering protection, and as Olivier Giroud rose home to powerfully head past David De Gea Phil Jones was falling to the ground and Antonio Valencia was cowering as he still prepared to jump. The repercussions of which was two points dropped.

While Ashley Fletcher’s goal for West Ham on Wednesday wasn’t nearly as damaging, as United ran out 4-1 winners, the fact that Antonio Valencia back-tracked as rapidly as Nigel Farage regarding the NHS on Brexit morning meant that Dimitri Payet blasted a shot straight at David De Gea from 12 yards out that the Spaniard had little chance of holding, allowing Fletcher to profit.

It’s not just Valencia, Jones, and Blind that have been exposed. Chris Smalling’s performance against Chelsea will go down in the pantheon of diabolical displays, and Jose Mourinho has been brazenly open about how much he wants the 27-year-old and Luke Shaw to improve, with the latter especially poor at Watford. Overall, only Eric Bailly has really shone.

Of course defensive partnerships and back-fours need more time than any other position to settle and adjust. But haven’t we already given Chris Smalling and Phil Jones enough time to prove that they’re the heirs to Nemanja Vidic and Rio Ferdinand?

This is Smalling’s seventh season at Old Trafford, and Jones’ sixth, and while Smalling was a revelation for the first half of last season he struggled towards the end and at the start of this campaign. Jones, meanwhile, has been so hampered by injury it has been impossible to get a concrete opinion on his talent or potential, which at 24 he should now be hitting.

Jones’ displays in recent weeks alongside Marcos Rojo, who, like Mateo Darmian, is destined to be a useful utility man at United but nothing more, have suggested that now is the time for him to prosper. After his great start and since United spent £30 million on him in the summer, Jones is almost certainly going to be partnered by Bailly instead of Smalling, who at 27-years-old, and having already provoked the public ire of Mourinho, could see his days at United numbered.

It depends on if Jones can remain injury free, and how Smalling handles his comeback from his own mysterious injury, which might have been exaggerated and used as an excuse to drop him, that has kept him out for the last eight games following the Chelsea debacle.

With Bailly seen as one half of United’s centre defence for the foreseeable future, both Jones and Smalling are going to have to be more cut-throat as they duel it out and try to impress between now and the end of the season in order to prove that they can partner him over the next few years. Otherwise Jose Mourinho will have to delve into his kitty once more to find someone who can.

Meanwhile, there’s every chance that Mourinho might do the same for his full-back slots, too. We’ll have to wait to the end of the season to see how the dust settles regarding left-back. Mourinho’s treatment of a Luke Shaw is still up for debate, but could prove a masterstroke if it allows the 21-year-old to sharpen mentally and physically and fulfil his obvious potential, something that he obviously deserves more time to try and do at Old Trafford.

And while Antonio Valencia has impressed at the start of this season, the West Ham and Arsenal goals prove that he’s always likely to be found out against top notch opposition, as is Daley Blind, but his ability to play across the back-line and in midfield means that he should be kept on regardless.

This might be expecting too much, but these are the expectations that Manchester United had become used to under Sir Alex Ferguson, whose triumphs were achieved with the likes Bruce & Pallister, Stam & Johnson, and Vidic & Ferdinand as a defensive cornerstone. That’s what Jose Mourinho needs to replicate in order to be a success. Sadly, at the moment the current crop just doesn’t look capable of reaching such heights.

[Image via Dave Thompson/Getty]