Is it time for Jose Mourinho to try a new tactical system at Manchester United?

Though dependent on having the basics, tactics and systems evolve - to stay on top you must either innovate or do what you know very well. If there is one thing Mourinho should be good at, it's setting up the defensive side of a formation he knows inside out. And if his players aren't as au fait, he should be able to coach them.

Against Watford, United played a 4-3-3 in the first half. Marouane Fellaini's job in this system is to sit slightly behind the two central midfielders - the attack minded Paul Pogba and Wayne Rooney, who has somehow earned himself a free role.

Fellaini is good at helping out the back four, wins headers in the middle of the park and gives the team some aggression but he is not good enough to play the most essential role in this system. At Juventus it was Andrea Pirlo, at Barcelona it's Sergio Busquets and at Mourinho's old clubs it was Claude Makélélé. Forget the Rooney criticism for a moment - starting the season with Marouane Fellaini in this position, having the ambitions that Mourinho has, is bizarre.

Fellaini's lack of positional and tactical sense resulted in Watford's opening goal.

Pogba and Rooney are both caught trying to be the advanced player, Fellaini gets drawn in by the ball. He is a decent midfield destroyer, but is not switched on enough to play this pivotal role. Rooney is neither helping in attack or defence in this situation.

Forcing Wayne Rooney in the team

Here you can see how United's problems in attack start with Rooney on the pitch. Pogba is much better than Rooney at attacking from deep these days (he was also surely signed to do this) and Zlatan wants to be in the space between midfield and defence to link play. Rooney is standing in that space.

As a result, Rashford drops deep to link play and takes control of the situation.

A sharp turn and run towards the box later, Rashford is in the number nine position, Zlatan is just off him and Rooney, again is forced out of where he wants to be to keep the balance of the team. He's a constant bystander, always on the periphery of play without actually contributing.

Intriguingly, despite Rooney's apparent decline, as a direct comparison Oscar at Chelsea as created the same number of chances in the Premier League this season as United's captain. Oscar has also made 18 tackles and four interceptions though - Rooney has made just four tackles and two interceptions.

Five games is a small number to draw conclusions from, but Rooney isn't having enough of an effect on games to warrant a guaranteed start. It's not as if he isn't trying either - Rooney has run 55.24km so far this season, which is more than Idrissa Gueye at Everton and even more impressive when you consider United have run less as a team than any other Premier League side.

For most of the game against Watford the midfield triangle held its shape. However, Rooney - who according to Mourinho's own mouth, "will never be a No. 6, playing 50 metres from the goal," - kept taking it upon himself to roam where he thought he was needed.

If Mourinho said this before the seasons started:

You can tell me his pass is amazing but my pass is also amazing without pressure. To be there and put the ball in the net is the most difficult thing. For me he will be a 9, a 10, a nine-and-a-half but never a 6 or even an 8.

Why has Wayne Rooney been allowed to do a terrible impression of Paul Scholes all season? Mourinho was right in his assessment of Rooney's best position, and fitting him into the team ahead of Zlatan Ibrahimovic is impossible, Marcus Rashford nonsensical and is detrimental to the group as a whole.

Confusion on the pitch

Mourinho only ever really plays two systems. This confusing snapshot of his 4-3-3 shows Zlatan has dropped into midfield - as he did constantly against Watford in a bid to be involved -  Rooney as the right inside forward and Ashley Young the striker. It's either evidence of a fluid rotational system, or one in which some players are trying to take control of the situation while others have drifted off into new positions.

Most of the time, United are in Mourinho's tried and tested 4-2-3-1, with two holding midfielders, two wide full-backs and a narrow attacking three. But Rashford wants to play through the middle and Rooney keeps dropping deeper and leaving the number 10 position.

More confusingly though: why did United spend £89.3million on Paul Pogba to play him as a utility man? Pogba is a box-to-box runner, best when allowed creative freedom and supported by a solid midfield and defence. Mourinho is no fool but keeps Rooney in the team, and a leash on Pogba's attacking forward runs.

When you consider that Phil Neville used to do this job very well for United, it makes even less sense spending all of the money in the world on a player who certainly didn't star for France in this same role at Euro 2016.

Watford's second goal is a defensive nightmare for Mourinho, who will be exasperated that his players just don't read the play like some of his old employees used to. 

Fellaini should hold position but spots the runner in behind, Pogba reacts too late to the situation.

Juan Zuniga moves into the space vacated by Fellaini and slots home from the cross, played to him by another player in far too much space.

If Rooney wasn't on the pitch, Ander Herrera, Daley Blind or Morgan Schneiderlin - three players more adept in a defensive midfield position - would (should) have had this organised, and Pogba would be where Wayne Rooney is above. 

Rooney's football intelligence and desire to win might be his downfall. He's supposed to be a second striker at this point in the game but has been drawn into this position and has probably already noticed the danger posed by Zuniga. Caught in two minds as to whether to get back and help - ignoring Mourinho's tactical instructions - or stay further up the pitch and keep defenders looking after him, he does neither.

The LVG hangover

Louis Van Gaal was a big fan of Rooney too but his team always looked better without him on the pitch. It also kept its shape the entire time. This is his 4-3-3, in a Europa League match, with Rashford in the number nine role. 

Mourinho's 4-3-3 differs in that the players are allowed to switch positions and run independently of each other. When Rooney isn't playing, this gives Pogba freedom.

In this setup against Feyenoord, Pogba was able to join in attacks, supported by a midfield of Schneiderlin and Herrera. Although United suffered a 1-0 defeat, the team looked more balanced. They just defended too much.

They were also unlucky to concede a clearly offside goal.

Mourinho is a defensive minded coach and might be finding it difficult to make the subtle changes to LVG's system that allow them able to turn defence into attack at speed, when a slow buildup is still deep in the minds of these players.

Clearly, part of the plan behind buying Paul Pogba was his ability to do exactly that, very quickly.

Here against Feyenoord he drops back to win the ball:

With a turn and a few giant strides later, Pogba has Feyenoord on the back foot, links with Rashford, and puts United on the attack, allowing the front three to counter.

Mourinho's preferred style of football has always been to play on the counter-attack - he's called those who don't play this way stupid in the past. If Rooney is the player to turn defence into attack, United aren't very dangerous.

What's left to try?

Leicester brought the 4-4-2 back into fashion last season and that seemed to work quite well. Mourinho has wingers, two great strikers and a choice of midfielders to accompany Pogba.

If Mourinho is ever going to change his ways, the Rashford-Zlatan partnership is worth doing it for. Lining United up in a 4-4-1-1 isn't too dissimilar to the 4-2-3-1 he has always preferred anyway but unfortunately for Rooney, no matter how you try and setup a United starting XI, it always looks stronger without him in the side.

The problem Mourinho has is that the players aren't getting his current system right and it's not ideal to change to a new one five games into a season. It takes time to learn and understand a manager's ideas... over at Man City, Pep Guardiola already looks to have gotten it right. Has Mourinho lost his touch?

Alex Ferguson was capable of reinventing his team and adding new ideas and systems when they were needed. Up until now, Mourinho has enjoyed unprecedented success with the same methods he has been using since winning that UEFA Cup with Porto in 2003.

Jose Mourinho used to be the Special One and has acknowledged that even he knew at some point his luck would run out. There is no need to hit the panic button at Manchester United but Mourinho himself will be concerned the tactics he has come to rely on are not yielding the same results they used to. Yet.

If Mourinho can’t inspire his players to victory, if the opposition managers have figured out how to beat his tried and tested system, and the luck goes against his more talented, more expensively assembled team, Mourinho is just someone who wins when his players play well.