The best-equipped team appear to be Manchester United. Although they lack the attacking spark of Manchester City or Liverpool, their defensive record this season -- and, indeed, over the past three years -- is excellent. Jose Mourinho is a manager built for knockout competitions, and his record of reaching the Champions League semifinals is outstanding.
Mourinho's team selection for the draw this weekend at Stoke City was interesting. Whereas Mourinho previously fielded Nemanja Matic as the sole holding midfielder with Paul Pogba moving forward from deep, this time the Frenchman was pushed forward with Ander Herrera coming into the side alongside Matic. This is likely to be Mourinho's Champions League formation, at least in big games, and will depend upon sporadic counter-attacking down the flanks.
United's weakness is at left-back. Daley Blind has been found wanting in terms of pace, and Matteo Darmian tends to stick too tightly to his opponent, opening up space for the opposition's overlapping right-back. But otherwise this side genuinely seems to offer everything required for a team going deep in this competition, and an easy draw means United should top their group and get a favourable second round draw.
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