It all looked so bright at the beginning of the season for Manchester United fans. The appointment of the serial trophy winning ‘Special One’ and a big transfer war chest suggested the good times could be on their way back again for the red side of Manchester.

Then came the signings, which looked to be exactly what United needed, albeit expensive.

A strong defender in Eric Bailly, a world class midfielder in Paul Pogba, a creative and goalscoring attacking midfielder in Henrikh Mkhitaryan, and finally the big personality and reliable goalscoring machine that is Zlatan Ibrahimovic.

What was so great about these buys is they looked to fill positions that United exactly needed. Jose looked to have pinpointed the exact areas that needed improvement and got the men he wanted.

The start of the season also looked promising for Jose and the Red Devils as they won the Community Shield and picked up three straight wins in the Premier League, although worrying signs were evident.

However, the arrival of high-flying Manchester City at Old Trafford at the beginning of September is where it all began to unravel.

A defeat to Mourinho’s bitter rival Pep Guardiola left a sour taste in the mouth, things went from bad to worse.

Another two defeats in a row and extremely poor performances saw the atmosphere take a swift turn. A dire game at Anfield against Liverpool didn’t do anything to quash the negativity and a crushing blow to Chelsea is probably the worst yet.

So, what’s going wrong? There have been signs in recent weeks that United could be sparking into life, but this doesn’t dispel the issues Manchester United have had this season so far.

Shoot! look at five things that could be going wrong for Jose and United…

Jose doesn’t know his best team

This is clear in most games so far. There are changes every game and players moved into a variety of positions.

It’s no wonder given the amount of players at his disposal. Looking at the midfield area alone there are endless options; Ander Herrera, Michael Carrick, Paul Pogba, Marouane Fellaini, Morgan Schneiderlin, Bastian Schweinsteiger and that’s not including any of the wingers or attacking midfielders!

This is an issue and not like any Jose Mourinho team we’ve known. Mourinho’s teams are renowned for having a strong consistency throughout it, especially through the spine of the team and we’ve just not seen anything of the kind so far this season.

It’s fair to say though that the United team has been like this for a few years now and is in dire need of a clear out.

Jose’s not been in the dressing room long and so expect a massive clear out and reshuffling over the next year – especially next summer.

Paul Pogba

This is a big issue. For £89m and for someone who has been at Manchester United before and briefly experienced the Premier League before, it’s just not clicking.

This feeds into the first point and Mourinho just does not know where to play him and who to play with him.

At the moment it looks as though he’s trying to fit a square peg in a round hole, and when you invest that much money into someone, the team should be built around him and that’s not happening at the moment.

The game looks to totally pass him by at times and he looks like a lost child wondering around the pitch not knowing where to be.

There have been some encouraging signs and some leeway should be granted to him as we’re still early in the season in a team that doesn’t have a set style, formation or starting XI, but there’s no doubt this is a factor in the Red Devils’ shaky start.

Defensive Frailties

Defensive frailties aren’t something you’d normally associate with Jose Mourinho’s team, but so is the case this season.

Whilst shipping goals has been an issue so far with just one clean sheet in six games in November alone, along with conceding four against Chelsea in October, it’s once again the inconsistency in selection.

Historically, Mourinho’s defence has been the foundation for all of his winning teams. A solid and consistent back four that rarely concedes, but this has been sorely missing in the first part of the season for Manchester United.

Eric Bailly started his United career well, but people around him were continuously shuffled and since he’s been out injured, things have gotten worse.

Luke Shaw, Chris Smalling, Daley Blind, Marcus Rojo, Matteo Darmian, Phil Jones and Antonio Valencia (who is having a fantastic season so far) have all been used, along with Bailly  across a variety of positions across United’s back four.

Injuries and suspensions are inevitable of course, but the defence needs to sharpen up fast and you’d expect this to be sorted sooner rather than later knowing the importance Mourinho places on defence.

Henrikh Mkhitaryan

There’s no doubting the talent of Mkhitaryan. The Armenian was last year’s Players’ Player of the season in the Bundesliga and led the way in assists along with a healthy goal return.

However, while many had Mkhitaryan down to be one of the Premier League’s standout performers, it’s been anything but so far.

It’s been a season mired with injuries and mediocre performances, which is a disappointment to all who expected him to excel.

Injuries seemed to keep him out, but a couple of wonky performances also saw him ousted from matchday squads altogether by Mourinho, who believed that the Armenian wasn’t ready for some of the high-pressured Premier League games, such was the case with his omission from the Arsenal game back in November.

The attacking midfielder’s form could undoubtedly be the key to United’s successes and failures this season, and a couple of promising performances in the last couple of weeks will be of huge encouragement to Mourinho.

If he can find anything of the form he showed last season for Borussia Dortmund, then Manchester United’s fortunes could well change for the better.

Times have changed… Has Mourinho?

This is an extremely curious point. Since Mourinho broke onto the scene with his infamous touchline sprint at Old Trafford whilst managing Porto, he’s won it all and with ease at times.

Trophy, after trophy, after trophy spanning multiple countries. Teams built around an impossible to break down defence, a never say die attitude and a dressing room made to feel like the world was against them.

These were the foundations to Mournho’s success, but the times are changing.

The emergence of not only Pep Guardiola’s scintillating ‘Tiki-taka’ football, but the high pressured high paced game is more prominent now than it ever was.

Guardiola, Jurgen Klopp and Mauricio Pochettino all employ this game to, at times, resounding success, while Jose is still employing the tactics that has worked so well for him over the last 12 to 13 years.

Nothing’s to say there’s anything wrong with this, and there’s many cases to say that this will still be a success.

But he’s struggled over the last year and a half. First with Chelsea and now with Manchester United, and while this new style of game is proving fruitful to plenty of other managers, Mourinho currently seems very stuck in his ways and that tactical nous we’re so used to seeing from him, appears to have temporarily gone missing.

What Now?

Well, for the most part, a lot of these points are rectifiable and Jose Mourinho just needs a bit of time.

The job at Manchester United is a mammoth task and will definitely take some work.

Signs are already there of improvements and you can never take away that Mourinho is a serial winner.

I doubt this type of form will last and while the struggle this season will be to find a consistent team and style of play while trying to finish in the top four, next season could be explosive for Mourinho and United if they can find the right formula.