Jose Mourinho is embarking on his first season in charge of Manchester United, but both he and United fans would have been hoping for a slightly better first three months.

The Red Devils are sixth in the Premier League having won just five of their opening 11 matches, and are already eight points adrift of league leaders Liverpool.

United started the campaign by winning their first three league games, but have since stuttered and suffered disappointing defeats at home to neighbours Manchester City and away at Chelsea.

However, a comfortable 3-1 win at Swansea prior to the international break will give United fans hope that their side can hit a bit of form, and they’ll look for back-to-back wins when they host Arsenal on Saturday.

Their Europa League campaign very much hangs in the balance though, having won just two of their first four games, and Mourinho knows that two victories from their last two matches may be needed to qualify from the group.

Nevertheless, with internationals taking over the football calendar at present, we at Shoot! thought it be worth looking back at United’s history, and have thus selected their TOP THREE strikers of all time…

3) Ruud van Nistelrooy

Manchester United have had several excellent strikers over the years, Andy Cole, Dwight Yorke, Eric Cantona, but none of them were as prolific donning the Manchester red as Ruud van Nistelrooy.

The Dutchman moved to Old Trafford in 2001, and immediately set about replicating the form he showed for PSV in previous years in his first season in England, scoring 36 times in 49 games.

Van Nistelrooy went on to net 150 times for United in just 219 games, including 95 goals in the Premier League, and 38 in Europe, the latter of which remains a United record, albeit he has now been joined there by Wayne Rooney.

A goal every 0.69 games is an incredible effort from a world-class striker and, although he left Old Trafford having handed in a transfer request, much to the frustration of United fans, van Nistelrooy’s goal-scoring prowess should not be forgotten.

He was absolutely brilliant at United.

2) Wayne Rooney

England’s record goal-scorer, United’s joint-record European goal-scorer, now Wayne Rooney is well on his way to becoming United’s all-time top goal-scorer.

The 31-year-old has scored 247 goals in 535 appearances for the Red Devils, having moved to Old Trafford in 2004, and is just two goals behind Sir Bobby Charlton’s record, which has stood for 43 years.

Rooney has won five Premier League titles, an FA Cup and a Champions League in his time at Old Trafford, and his 179 Premier League goals for United, as well as 15 for Everton, means he is second on the Premier League goal-scorer’s chart.

Say whatever you like about the man, but you cannot argue with what he has achieved.

1) Sir Bobby Charlton

United’s best, and for a long time England’s best, Sir Bobby Charlton is a Manchester United legend.

The 1966 World Cup winner scored 249 goals in 758 games for United in his 16-year spell in the North West, and won three First Division titles and a European Cup in his time at the club.

The Ballon d’Or winner in 1966, the BBC Sports Personality of the Year Lifetime Achievement Award winner in 2008, and knighted in 1994, Charlton’s contributions to football at United and in England are unprecedented, and has rightly been recognised.

A true footballing legend.