Now I want to preface this by saying I think Mou should stick to his current 4-1-4-1 (or whatever variant it is) formation, given its' relative success over this long period of games. Also, I understand our reluctance with 3 at the back given the failed LvG stint with it at the start of his tenure.

However, I got to thinking today after reading how Mou likes Darmian at LB because with Valencia pushing on the right, Darmian helps Rojo and Jones if the other team counter-attacks, whether or not a 3-5-2 could realistically work really well in this situation. Although I prefer Darmian over Shaw defensively, I think the lack of offensive force with Darmian hurts them on the left site with Martial, eg. they could have attacked Alexander-Arnold more against Liverpool, but Martial was basically being triple-teamed with Darmian staying back.

So let's say they stay with the same lineup as they started with against Liverpool, except Shaw draws in for Darmian:

De Gea

Jones - Carrick - Rojo

Valencia - Mkhitaryan - Pogba - Herrera - Shaw

Ibra - Martial

There's a couple of reasons I really think this could work:

1. Carrick effectively sits in front of the defense right now in our current formation, where he can dictate play and yet provide cover for Jones and Rojo. He's not outstanding as a CB, but he can play there, and if he can provide the link between the backline and the midfield, with Jones and Rojo helping with his issues dealing with his pace, this could be an outstanding backline. I could even seen Bailly working well here whenever he comes back.

2. This also helps us with the problems we have with pace on the wings. Valencia and Shaw pushing a bit higher gives us more speed on the wings (and both have the ability to get back, their problems happen with positioning which can hopefully be covered by having 3 CB's). Mkhitaryan loves using his speed to cut in front the right, which he can do in this formation. Pogba remains the anchor of the midfield. Herrera seems to do most of his magic to the right of Pogba, so that's one thing that may not be the best with this formation. But his hard work and technical ability overcomes that I bet.

3. Martial loves cutting in from the left and supplying Ibra in the box. Here, he doesn't have to work as much defensively as he does now (which I would guess is the reason Jose is hesitant to use him at times), and can still use his ability to draw opposing defenders with his speed, and find Ibra.

So that's my ramblings. Once again, I'm still totally in favour of sticking with the current formation, but I would love if it Jose tried this one game in the future.