5 Truths: United worse now than under Van Gaal, time for Yaya?

The football may have been prosaic and tenuous but they were never humiliated quite like this. Antonio Conte’s Chelsea are also a work in progress but, truth be told, they look miles ahead of United. The worrying thing is, Mourinho was heavily, heavily backed in the transfer market over the summer but United look a poorer outfit then they were last season.

If they continue like this then they will struggle to make the top four. And if they fail to do that then Mourinho’s position begins to look untenable.

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Mourinho is and always has been more of a manager than a tactical innovator. His brilliance is – or was - steeped in an innate ability to motivate players to what had seemed previously unattainable; see his stints at Porto, Chelsea (first time) and Inter as evidence of that. There is nothing wrong with that. Sir Alex Ferguson was of exactly the same mould.

However, while Ferguson’s modus operandi changed as the world of football changed, Mourinho seems stuck in some sort of mid-to-late noughties time warp. The motivational tools that worked so well back then are outdated. The world has changed but Mourinho has not, and if he does not change soon, well, the game is up.

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Eden Hazard’s two best performances in a Chelsea match over the last 18 months have come during ‘grudge’ matches. Tottenham at the back end of last season and Sunday’s fixture against United. He has shown on both occasions that he remains an outrageous talent that can turn it on at will.

However, the fact that he has pretty much underperformed for much of the last 18 months does not reflect well on the Belgian. If he wants to be considered one of the best players in the world then he needs to produce more consistently.

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Defenders react differently to advancing age. Some adjust to their decline, continuing to exert influence deep into their 30s. Other, normally those who relied on physical prowess in their prime, struggle - their brains unable to compute that loss of pace and agility. John Terry exemplifies the first group, Rio Ferdinand the second. Terry has maintained his level, while Ferdinand's performances dipped markedly late in his career.

If 30-year-old Vincent Kompany wants a future at City, he needs to be a Terry. He must make his team-mates better, to organise, to communicate. What he doesn't need is an incident like Sunday's, when he stepped up just as John Stones played him the ball and Nathan Redmond was gifted an opening goal. Stones will play the fall guy, but Kompany was just as culpable; Guardiola is ruthless at the best of times, and these are not the best of times at City.

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We know why Pep Guardiola exiled Yaya Toure from his team - not enough energy, not enough commitment to pressing and winning the ball back. But watching City drift listlessly through the first half against Southampton it was hard not to long for Toure's loping directness and eye for a big goal out of nowhere.

The Ivorian remains in purgatory at the Etihad - supposedly until his agent apologises for being mean about Guardiola – but could be recalled at a moment’s notice. He might not represent a long term solution, but City need something now to reignite their sputtering season. It's a long shot, but Guardiola should really consider recalling the big man.