Guardian - 21 January 2018, 21:02 (+ 2300 days 8 hours and 20 minutes) Eurofootball
Arsène Wenger’s pressing issues will not be solved by another creator but his front-foot tactics may galvanise a player who looked lost under José MourinhoOne game – or, more accurately, one half‑game – dominates the memory of Henrikh Mkhitaryan’s time at Manchester United. In the league derby at Old Trafford last season, the first meeting in England of José Mourinho and Pep Guardiola, the Armenian looked lost. He was partly responsible for the opening goal because of the way he initially did not press Pablo Zabaleta and then finally went far too late, and he was withdrawn at half-time. He did not play for two months after that.That seems to have contributed to a general sense that Mkhitaryan was somehow lightweight, unsuited to the defensive demands Mourinho makes of his players. It is true that Mkhitaryan is not as robust as many in this United squad, which is, after all, the tallest of any team in Europe’s five major leagues. It is also true that, although he had occasional flurries of good form, most notably in the Europa League towards the end of last season, there were far too many games in which he wandered about uninvolved, looking dispirited and vaguely confused. Continue reading...