Henrikh Mkhitaryan is vital to Manchester United’s playing style

In the 81^st minute of Sunday’s game between Manchester United and Tottenham Hotspur, Danny Rose lunged into a desperate tackle on a marauding Henrikh Mkhitaryan. The Old Trafford crowd momentarily held its breath. Then let out a collective groan as Mkhitaryan held his ankle in agony and subsequently left the field on a stretcher. Every forthcoming touch by Rose would be booed loudly, with the crowd cursing at the left back for causing, what looked like at that moment, a serious injury.

It was through this anger that the Old Trafford faithful showed it’s appreciation for a swashbuckling performance by the Armenian. It was the kind of performance everyone had anticipated when the big-money signing joined in the summer from Borussia Dortmund.

The kind of performance that was becoming exceedingly commonplace. Since the game against Feyenoord in the Europa League in Manchester he has reaped in 2 goals, one, an audacious dribble from the centre circle followed by a composed finish against Zorya Luhansk, the other an emphatic finish into the roof of the net against Spurs, and 2 assists.

Prior to that game, Mkhitaryan had only played a measly total of 133 minutes across five games, which included an ill-fated start against Manchester City. Niggling injuries did not help and Jose Mourinho, wisely now in hindsight, decided that Henrikh needed more time bedding in.

Jose Mourinho: “He needed a period of adaptation at every level and in that period he was a great professional. Maybe another guy would find excuses and blame the manager, or the pitch or the weather, like many players now do. But he was quiet, worked hard and waited for the opportunity.”

All settled in?

This settling-in period seems to have done wonders. Mkhitaryan looks much more at home now with the team than he did in his cameo appearences. In fact it would be reasonable to say he might just end up defining the United playing style for years to come.
Everyone was rightly excited with the signings of Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Paul Pogba, but it is Henrikh Mkhitaryan, with an eye-watering 23 goals and 32 assists in 53 appearances for Dortmund in 2015-16, who might just end up having the biggest impact on Manchester United’s season.

The X-factor he brings to the team seems to have been missing since the days of a rampaging and rapidly improving Cristiano Ronaldo. He has the ability, thanks to his expertise in the final third of the pitch, to knit the play for the team in the way Mesut Ozil does for Arsenal or Eden Hazard does for Chelsea.

These are the final killer pass-makers, the ones who make things happen every time they have the ball. His astute passing skills and knack for running behind defences makes him the ideal attacker to play alongside Ibrahimovic, a typical deep-lying forward who needs runners either side of him to properly flourish. These qualities make Mkhitaryan a better option than Juan Mata, a top-class player but lacking the pace to run behind defenders.

Finally found our man

Two years ago, thanks to Angel Di Maria’s blistering start to life in Manchester, supporters were hopeful that they finally had their go-to guy and we all know how that ship sailed into the horizon.

Hence the fans need to treat this bright spell with a cautious optimism. Football is as unpredictable as ever nowadays but if Mkhitaryan keeps up this level of performances, we might just end up listening to the chants of “Henrikh Mkhitaryan!! He’s our midfield Armenian!! ” for a long time to come.