Instead of blaming the Man United players for poor results, Steve Nicol says Jose Mourinho should bear some responsibility.

With club football taking a two-week hiatus to observe the international break, ESPN FC sought out Michael Cox to diagnose what's wrong with some of Europe's biggest clubs and reveal how they can improve.

Manchester United: find the right system

The most pressing task for Jose Mourinho at Manchester United is finding the right system for a talented squad that should be higher in the Premier League table than their current sixth place. More than anything, this means fielding Paul Pogba in his best position.

Pogba's struggles at United have been somewhat exaggerated. There have been fantastic goals, powerful runs and a string of chances created -- and often wasted. But it's impossible to ignore the fact that 4-2-3-1 doesn't particularly suit Pogba: in the deep role he's too restricted in a positional sense, while as a No. 10 he struggles to find space and is often receiving the ball with his back to goal.

Pogba is essentially a 4-3-3 player, a box-to-box midfielder who needs freedom to dart forward regularly into attack. It's somewhat surprising Mourinho hasn't changed to that system already: while he has various players -- Wayne Rooney, Juan Mata and Henrikh Mkhitaryan -- who like playing as a No. 10 and would prefer the 4-2-3-1 formation, it's not like any of those appear to be Mourinho's favourites anyway.

With Zlatan Ibrahimovic happy as a lone striker and the likes of Marcus Rashford and Anthony Martial happier when playing as wide forwards rather than wide midfielders, a switch to 4-3-3 doesn't simply benefit Pogba, it would benefit United's entire squad.

Borussia Dortmund: become better at regaining possession

Borussia Dortmund were expected to push Bayern Munich hard for the title this season, so it's something of a surprise to see them six points adrift in fifth position. Attacking hasn't been a problem -- they've scored 25 goals in 10 matches, the highest figure in the Bundesliga -- but 12 goals against is double the number of league leaders Bayern.

Andre Schurrle

Andre Schurrle and Borussia Dortmund's wealth of attacking options have made for exciting football, but it's left the back line exposed.

The departure of Mats Hummels was always going to be problematic, although identifying his loss as the major reason for the club's poor defensive record would be slightly simplistic. Sokratis Papastathopoulos and Matthias Ginter are capable centre-backs who boast a good relationship, and are comfortable in the air or on the ground.

Instead, Thomas Tuchel probably has to look at the overall structure of his side. The 4-1-4-1 formation he's generally preferred offers tremendous attacking possibilities, with a highly exciting line of four -- often Christian Pulisic, Gonzalo Castro, Raphael Guerreiro and Ousmane Dembele, though Mario Gotze, Andre Schurrle and Shinji Kagawa are also options -- playing behind Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang. But such a lineup necessitates incredible organisation without possession, and that hasn't always been obvious this season.

Julian Weigl is a hugely promising young defensive midfielder, but has sometimes been left exposed in front of the defence. It's notable that Dortmund have made the fewest tackles, the fewest interceptions and won the joint-fewest aerial duels in this season's Bundesliga.

Tuchel has sometimes deployed a second screening midfielder alongside Wiegl, but Sebastian Rode hasn't particularly impressed this season, while Mikel Merino, signed from Real Sociedad, has barely featured. There's probably no quick fix here; Dortmund simply need to be more cohesive and more compact without the ball, which should come with more work on the training ground.

Paris Saint-Germain: get Cavani involved in build-up play

Third position is hardly disastrous for Paris Saint-Germain, but it's been an unusually difficult start to the league campaign for a side accustomed to running away with Ligue 1. They still boast a solid defence, but the attack has been, at times, thoroughly unconvincing.

In part, this stems from the departure of Ibrahimovic. The concept of "Ibradependence" has proved difficult for many of his previous clubs to get over, in part because the Swede is so much more than a goal scorer. He's a No. 10 as much as a No. 9, a link man and a playmaker as much as a goal scorer. That's something that Edinson Cavani, now the main man at PSG and a regular in the central striking role, is struggling with.

Edinson Cavani

Edinson Cavani's inconsistencies in 2016-17 have highlighted his inability to offer PSG much in their build-up play.

Cavani has had a strange campaign so far. It seems ludicrous to criticise a player who has smashed in 11 goals in 11 league appearances, and yet the Uruguayan's form has been woefully inconsistent. His performance on the opening day against Metz -- admittedly in a 3-0 PSG win -- was one of the most bafflingly incompetent centre-forward displays you'll see all season, a display that suggested Cavani had genuinely forgotten how to play football. Then, less than a month later, he scored four goals at Caen.

When Cavani isn't scoring, however, he's not doing much. When PSG have dropped points -- against Monaco, Saint-Etienne, Toulouse and Marseille -- Cavani has been almost invisible, barely involved in build-up play. It's too easy for him to complain that he's lacked service: top-quality forwards, like Ibrahimovic, drop deep and feed others. Cavani must become more of an all-around attacker, or PSG will continue to suffer from this disconnect in their attacking play.

Manchester City: get more physicality into the side

It feels somehow cliched and predictable to suggest that Pep Guardiola's Manchester City are struggling in recent weeks because they lack the physical qualities to cope in the Premier League. Looking at the weekend draw against Middlesbrough, however, it strengthens this argument.

We know what Guardiola is all about: technical players, clever passing football, intelligent use of space and quick passing combinations. When it's worked, it's produced generally sensational football, cutting teams apart quite majestically. At other points, however, it's fallen rather flat.

Guardiola is happily using a team featuring the shortest goalkeeper in Premier League history, a centre-back duo compromised of an attacking full-back and a defender whose defensive weaknesses are well established, two short full-backs and a short holding midfielder more renowned for his energy than his ball-winning qualities. It's fantastic to watch, it's extremely brave and it creates a team with fantastic strengths -- but also obvious weaknesses.

It was a huge surprise to see Middlesbrough snatch a point at the Etihad on Saturday, but if City were going to concede, it was exactly in that manner: a header from a cross. Guardiola cannot be completely inflexible, and there's probably a need to introduce more physicality and aerial power into the City defence. Vincent Kompany, who spent Saturday on the bench, would have been an obvious solution to these problems, even if as a defensive Plan B, introduced when City were on the back foot, and in need of more aerial ability.

Claudio Bravo

Manchester City's undersized rearguard has left Claudio Bravo to pick the ball out of his net more frequently of late.

Barcelona: improve the passing

There's something not entirely right about Barcelona at the moment. Although still capable of superb attacking performances -- largely thanks to the brilliance of Lionel Messi, Luis Suarez and Neymar -- they seem unusually brittle and prone to complete off-days, too.

A 2-1 home loss to Alaves is the type of defeat Barcelona simply don't suffer. A 4-3 reverse at Celta Vigo was also somewhat curious. Even their victories have been unconvincing: their last three La Liga wins have been by a single goal.

Luis Enrique's side have certainly suffered from defensive injuries, and while many have suggested they're lacking cover at the back, their depth in this department is probably better than at most points throughout the past decade. Indeed, the likes of Lucas Digne and Samuel Umtiti or Javier Mascherano (depending on which isn't the first-choice alongside Gerard Pique) have performed rather well this season.

Unusually, though, Barcelona's major problem has been their midfield passing. In the past decade we've become completely accustomed to them being flawless in this respect, but with Sergio Busquets off-colour and Andres Iniesta now out injured, Barca have been rather unconvincing in midfield. Too many balls have gone astray, while the structure of the team doesn't feel right; the forwards aren't showing to offer the option of balls into feet as much as usual, while Dani Alves, renowned for his energy, is also a huge miss for his passing quality from right-back.

The answer might be a slight chance in system, perhaps using Messi deeper than usual to help overload the midfield, or perhaps by switching him and Suarez's positions more frequently. It's very unusual to see Barcelona with a slightly lower pass completion rate than Real Madrid so far this season, and while that's not a problem in itself, it suggest Barcelona aren't doing typical Barcelona things.

Source:
courtesy of ESPNFC

by MICHAEL COX

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