Why Manchester United's Heavy Tour Loss Should Cause No Panic for Jose Mourinho

Louis van Gaal's Manchester United had an excellent record in pre-season, but Borussia Dortmund ensured that Jose Mourinho's Red Devils' summer tour got off to a bad start.

The Germans' 4-1 win on Friday was comfortable, even if Mourinho suggested 3-2 would have been a more accurate reflection of the balance of the game, per Richard Morgan of Sky Sports. There is some merit to that—once Henrikh Mkhitaryan had made the score 3-1, United enjoyed a period of creativity unlike any that had come earlier in the game.

However, whether the score slightly flattered them or not, anything other than a Dortmund win would have been a travesty. Thomas Tuchel's side looked much fitter than United, much closer to their stride.

As Mourinho said in his post-match press conference, per Morgan again:

"

I know that in pre-season the team that is in the advanced stage of preparation looks far better than the other team. This happens year after year, some good teams lose to a big result, but I think it was too obvious, it was too obvious.

If we do not know, I think after 10 minutes we know that one team started training 10 days ago and played one match and the other team started one month ago and already played four matches. It is too easy to see the difference in intensity and sharpness, so for us it was very difficult and I think the second half was better, we adapted better to the game.

"

The first half was a tough watch for United fans, with precious little done with what little possession their team managed.

Although the golden rule of not reading too much into pre-season applies, it still seems unlikely Mourinho will opt for Memphis Depay in a lone-striker role too often this season. The former PSV Eindhoven player still looks bereft of the certainty of touch that comes with confidence.

Mourinho has a lot of rebuilding work to do if he intends to make Memphis a regular feature in his side in any position.

Equally, the new manager is unlikely to consider Jesse Lingard a reliable source of goals or assists. The United academy product is a willing worker, is clearly committed to the cause and has the kind of goal he scored in last season's FA Cup final in his locker, but his output has never been consistent.

Lingard averaged a goal or assist every 327 minutes of league football last season, per WhoScored.com—not a particularly impressive haul given he always played in an attacking role. He had one of United's few first-half chances against Dortmund. One-on-one with Roman Weidenfeller, he stroked his shot harmlessly into the 'keeper's hands. 

The other performance of real concern came from Marcos Rojo. Even with the caveat he may have acquired some ring rust over the summer, he was in dire form and was complicit in the German side's third and fourth goals.

For the third, he was sold a bill of goods by Ousmane Dembele, whose fine dribbling run was made a lot easier by Rojo's attempt at defending—he stuck out a leg, unbalanced himself and fell over. For the fourth, he was easily held off, allowing Gonzalo Castro enough space to hit a net-bound rocket.

That Lingard is a relatively limited forward, Memphis is desperately short of form and confidence and Rojo is prone to serious defensive errors is not new information.

Anyone paying the slightest attention to United last season could have seen all of those things, and given the balance of the squad, it seems unlikely any of the three will be in Mourinho's first-choice XI once competitive football arrives.

"

Henrikh Mkhitaryan has scores his first ever goal for Man Utd.

It comes vs. former club Borussia Dortmund. pic.twitter.com/9BPJ3xzg8d

— Squawka Football (@Squawka) July 22, 2016"

Indeed, of the XI that started against Dortmund, only Luke Shaw and Mkhitaryan can be considered guaranteed starters. Assuming they remain in the squad, then Phil Jones, Antonio Valencia, Juan Mata, Eric Bailly, Daley Blind and Ander Herrera will probably play a lot of games, but it is not certain any of them would command an automatic spot.

United's new manager addressed the issue of his squad make-up in the post-match press conference and indicated that nothing would change in his approach on the basis of the loss to Dortmund. He said, per Charlie Phillippe of the Daily Express:

"

I said at the first press conference at Old Trafford, our market has a fundamental part, and that fundamental part is four players: one central defender, one midfielder, one striker, and one creative player. And when we finish that fundamental market we are balanced.

Maybe today you don't feel it [that the squad is balanced] but no [Zlatan] Ibrahimovic, no [Marouane] Fellaini, no [Anthony] Martial, no [Morgan] Schneiderlin. So lots of them who are not here yet.

The market will be open until the 31st of August, and sometimes things happen that you are not expecting, and we have to react. But our fundamental market is 75 percent done. And when we sign one midfield player that crucial work will be done.

"

When Van Gaal's United beat LA Galaxy 7-0 in July 2014, it felt like the dawning of a bright new era. They played a back three, as the manager had done to such effect at the World Cup with the Netherlands, and optimism blossomed.

They went on to beat Real Madrid on that tour, as they did Barcelona the following summer. Both sides were then the reigning European champions. Of course, in the end, those results meant little. Van Gaal's side was further ahead in fitness on those occasions, and in neither case did impressive league campaigns follow.

Uncredited/Associated Press

There was no bright new era.

That is not to suggest Mourinho's loss at the hands of Dortmund guarantees the reverse—that would be ridiculous. Rather, it is to suggest that nothing about the Dortmund game should bring about a change of approach. The manager must have known, as all those observing the club do, there are still some underwhelming players in the squad.

However, as he said, there are players to come back. It is not yet clear how much of a bearing Ibrahimovic will have on the campaign ahead, for example, but he scored 38 league goals and provided 13 assists last season, so it would be reasonable to suggest it won't be trivial.

United started with a front four of Memphis, Lingard, Mkhitaryan and Mata. It would be no surprise if only one of those players starts against Bournemouth when the league campaign begins in August.

They instantly looked livelier with Marcus Rashford up front—no surprise to anyone who has been swept up in the well-earned hype around the young man.

And if the midfielder discussed does turn out to be Paul Pogba—as Pete Jenson of the Daily Mail, among others, reports that it will be—that dramatically changes the picture in terms of the overall quality of United's squad.

If they do sign Pogba, they will have added players who scored 57 league goals and notched 40 assists across Ligue 1, the Bundesliga and Serie A in 2015/16.

So the 4-1 defeat made for an uninspiring watch, and there was not too much for the fans who gathered in Shanghai in such numbers to sing about. But that is where the disappointment ends.

It was only pre-season, only a run-out, and Mourinho did not learn anything he did not already know. The real work—and the real tests—lies ahead when the season begins in earnest. Until then, there is most certainly no need to panic.