The week before the international break was the most tumultuous of Jose Mourinho’s Old Trafford reign so far.
The Red Devils faced three huge home matches across three different competitions, beating Liverpool in the Premier League and Brighton to qualify for the last four of the FA Cup but losing the most important encounter.
That 2-1 Champions League defeat to Sevilla brought about quite the fallout; about the negative way Mourinho approached the game, about the abject nature of the performance in both legs and more generally about how much progress United have made under the Portuguese.
All that is a debate for another day but we’ve run the numbers on which individual United players have the best win percentages to see which players, progress or not, Mourinho can’t do without.
One player makes a staggering difference to United but we’ve compiled the best five so click to see who topped the rankings…
De Gea and Lukaku have been virtual ever-presents this season, and although the Spaniard has been rested for the domestic cup competitions, no such luxury has been afforded to the former Everton man.
Therefore, this 65% win rate is more or less around United’s average this season and underlines the importance of both players to the team, especially goalkeeper De Gea.
Lukaku has improved in terms of effort in recent months and became just the eighth man to score 25 goals in his maiden United season with his opener against the Seagulls but the Belgian still receives criticism.
Another dead heat in fourth, between two men who have enjoyed different levels of playing time. Matic has been a mainstay of the United side since his summer arrival from Chelsea.
Mourinho’s holding midfield options have been limited by the extended absence of club captain Michael Carrick but the Serbian has performed well all season, despite fatigue showing at times when the fixtures pile up.
On the other hand, Martial has struggled to impress Mourinho and nail down a starting berth. That was the case before the arrival of Alexis Sanchez but the purchase of the Chilean has shunted the former Monaco man even further down the pecking order. The win percentage with the Frenchman in the side may make Mourinho rethink.
Two defenders left over from the Sir Alex Ferguson era are tied in third. Valencia has established himself as first-choice right-back in recent years. While Ashley Young looks to make the permanent transition from winger to full-back, the former Wigan man did so long ago.
He has been captain on the pitch for much of the season and another man who has had the armband at times this campaign is Smalling. There is still the feeling that he is behind where he needs to be – Christian Benteke gave him the runaround at Selhurst Park – but in the absence of Eric Bailly, he has largely been the best Mourinho has got this season.
Players in their respective positions might well be on Mourinho’s shopping list this summer but United win nearly 7 in 10 of their matches when they play.
Rashford, like Martial, is another who has struggled for regular gametime under Mourinho and the arrival of Sanchez hasn’t helped him either.
United have an array of attacking talent but it is the presence of Rashford on the pitch that brings about more wins than almost all the others and England will hope he can have a similar impact at this summer’s World Cup.
The academy graduate is a centre-forward by trade and may well fancy his chances of increasing the figures if he featured through the middle on a more regular basis.
What a truly staggering record the 41-cap Spain international has. United fans have become frustrated with Mourinho bringing him in and out and on this basis, you can see why.
The other United front players have pace in abundance but while Mata doesn’t, he possesses the guile and quality to unlock a packed defence and has always had an eye for goal.
A full 10 per cent ahead of his nearest rival, Mata makes such a difference to United’s fortunes that you wonder why he is not one of the first names on the team-sheet.
