Alexis Sanchez's struggles reveal Manchester United's main problem in attack under Jose Mourinho

When their stars are out-of-sorts, United have no attacking structure to fall back on and spending more money will not solve that

If one utterance stood out more than any from Jose Mourinho’s extraordinary post-Sevilla press conference, it was his claim that “everything needs to change” at Manchester United if the club is to compete at the highest level of European football.

This was strikingly similar in tone to comments made around Christmas, when he suggested that whatever the club was spending on players was “not enough” to rival neighbours Manchester City on the pitch.

Though a terse, bristling Mourinho was in no mood to discuss specifics on Tuesday night, he seemed to once again suggest that greater investment was part of the solution. “Everybody spends money,” he said. “Not just us, no? It’s a natural process, every team invests.”

There was an elephant in the corner of Old Trafford’s already cramped and over-crowded press room, though.

Alexis Sanchez may have arrived for no transfer fee but United are yet to see much of a return on his significant salary. His display against Sevilla was perhaps the poorest of his short time at the club so far and while his signing was something of ‘one in the eye’ for City, it will not single-handedly bridge the gap.

How much of Sanchez’s slow start is down to Sanchez himself? He has been given plenty of opportunities to impress, playing all but an hour of United’s matches since his signing.

Sanchez has been accommodated too, deployed all the way across Mourinho’s band of attacking midfielders in search of his best role, even what that has meant moving an in-form player out of position.

The Chilean, meanwhile, is manifestly out of form and misplacing an alarming amount of passes, more than his eagerness to always want the ball can excuse. United need their newest recruit to snap out of this current funk and quickly.

Yet Sanchez’s struggles also speak to a problem that was present at Old Trafford before his arrival, one that will linger on even if Mourinho’s wish is granted and yet more money is invested in the playing squad.

Simply put: United’s attack lacks fluency and structure, especially when its stars are out of sorts, and their manager too often looks powerless to correct it.

Mourinho is best understood as a manager who lays strict, rigid defensive foundations on which his attacking players then improvise and, hopefully, thrive.

His most successful teams were not solely masters of parking the bus but married silk and steel brilliantly, and though he is thought of a coach who clashes with creative spirits, he is also one who trusts his most technically-gifted players to win him matches.

Mesut Ozil and Eden Hazard had their disagreements with Mourinho but both also excelled under his management, perhaps playing their best football to date. Wesley Sneijder and Arjen Robben can credit him with some of their best spells too.

Sanchez thus fits the mould of a Mourinho forward. On form, the Chilean could have strung this disjointed attack together and broken Sevilla’s resolve with moments of sheer invention. Instead, another sub-standard display meant United looking no different to the incoherent outfit that was seen too often before his arrival.

As discussed, Sanchez must take some of the responsibility for his form, but when Mourinho cannot rely on the talent of his players to pull him through, he needs an overarching attacking plan.

The win over Liverpool featured a rare example of this United side identifying an opponent’s weakness and ruthlessly exploiting it. Yes, it involved the rather rudimentary technique of kicking long, winning an aerial challenge and feeding off the second ball, but it was at least a plan and one, in those circumstances, that worked.

That, however, is about as systematic as Mourinho’s United have looked during his tenure so far. More often than not, their attack is a mishmash - amorphous chaos in need of clear structure. Spending another £300m and bolting on another superstar would not be a cure-all. Sanchez’s slow start has shown us that.