What Jose Mourinho will hope to see from Man Utd's pre-season tour of America

Hope Sanchez can join USA tour and finally look like Man Utd player

One of Jose Mourinho’s chief objectives before the start of the new campaign is to ensure Alexis Sanchez looks more like the player he was for Arsenal in a Manchester United shirt.

Having flexed their financial muscle, as well as their lingering global pulling power, to beat Manchester City to the signing of the former Udinese and Barcelona star back in January, United did not end up with the player they thought they were getting when they agreed to make him the Premier League’s highest paid player.

Sanchez looked disjointed, uneasy and ineffective, scoring just three goals in 16 appearances, often sparking groans rather than cheers as he ran off down another blind alley. As is so often the case with high-profile new arrivals who struggle to justify the huge sums involved to sign them, the harder Sanchez tried, the worse he got as United ended the season without a trophy.

There were some encouraging signs before the summer break, Sanchez was far more dynamic in the FA Cup final for example, but if United are going to challenge for the title in Mourinho’s third season, they need the 29-year-old to be at his marauding best down the flanks, while simultaneously easing the goalscoring burden on Romelu Lukaku.

The Chilean should have returned refreshed and rejuvenated after missing out on the World Cup, so the news he has not been given a visa to enter the USA is both embarrassing and costly. Sanchez received a suspended sentence in February for tax fraud and Mourinho must hope US Immigration are willing to wave their objection on appeal. United are confident that will be the case, but it is not a decision they can control.

This is the best opportunity Mourinho and his coaching staff will get to bed Sanchez in and ensure he is firing on all cylinders ahead of the new season. There were times last season when he simply did not look like a United player. That needs to change quickly.

If he does not get a visa to join United in the USA, Sanchez may well get just one first-team friendly run out before the Premier League action resumes. That would be a blow, giving the forward little chance to show he can be as effective for United as he was for Arsenal.

Ensure McTominay continues to improve after breakthrough year

Just like the plucky newly-promoted team that scrapped and fought to avoid relegation, only to find they have become predictable and one dimensional the following season, or the band that won critical acclaim and commercial success with their first album but cannot come up with a single catchy tune for their second, this is a potentially challenging time for Scott McTominay.

The Scotland international was United’s breakthrough Academy star last term and is clearly a favourite of Mourinho’s. The Portuguese frequently singled the 21-year-old for lavish praise – as well as constructive criticism – as he thrust him into the first team ahead of more senior rivals.

Despite the satisfaction that followed McTominay’s emergence, United have already signed the Brazil international Fred for more than £50m this summer as a replacement for Michael Carrick. They also still have Marouane Fellaini and Nemanja Matic, who can play in front of the back four, while the form of Paul Pogba in France’s World Cup triumph is a tantalising glimpse of what he could bring to United’s midfield if he is at full tilt. There will be an argument to push Pogba into a more attacking position, but the role he played for France is similar to the one he is expected to do for his club.

That ensures there is severe competition for McTominay to overcome if he is to play as regularly next season, but while the others recover from their World Cup exertions, he has a chance to cement his place in Mourinho’s heart in USA.

How he plays in these pre-season games, against some tough opposition, may well determine how much we see of the Scot in the first few months of the season. It would be a real shame if he spends most of his second season warming the bench because he failed to continue on the same trajectory as last term.

Find a way to play with speed and precision on the counter attack

Manchester United supporters must realise they are not going to change Mourinho’s view of football. He has always played roughly the same way, relying on defensive solidity to create the pressure that allows attacking flair to blossom. He is not a defensive manager, as such, but he will never play the sort of edge of your seats attacking football that some believe has to be the United way.

To convince them otherwise, United have to play a better version of Mourinho’s brand of football. If they do not, the doubts about whether he is the right man to lead such an expensively constructed team will grow.

United were not boring, as such, last season. They scored plenty of goals, as they finished second behind Manchester City, but there were periods when Mourinho’s default setting sucked the life out of the team as an offensive force. In the big games, against the best opposition, United were overly cautious and drew criticism for it. Much of that was far too severe from those who hold a grudge against the Portuguese, but it left a mark all the same.

That is nothing new to Mourinho. He will shrug it off, either with a sneer or a smirk, but he will also recognise that his team were too ponderous going forward.

He may want to suffocate and deprive opposition sides of chances, particularly against their direct rivals, but the whole point of his system is that, when it is played well, his teams should be devastating on the counter attack. This is the Mourinho way, but United are not a vintage version. Not yet.

Time and time again, their manager pointed out the problem, the lack of speed and bravery in their passing. It is something that also hindered England in the World Cup once they got into the latter stages, the constant temptation to make an easy pass backwards rather than a more difficult – but far more hurtful - ball forward at speed.

This is the opportunity to try and change that, to drill the players and get them used to playing at a higher tempo, whenever they win the ball and have an opportunity to counter. If United cannot get it right in pre-season in July, they are unlikely to get it right in the Premier League in August either.