After a decent start to the Premier League season, Manchester United went through a rough patch where they struggled to find an identity and suffered a number of damaging results.
Michael Carrick was not being picked in the team at that stage, and while pundits all over England were clamouring for his inclusion, there were questions over whether or not he would have to leave the club to find first-team football.
Mourinho soon restored Carrick to the starting XI, and the team has looked far more balanced ever since. The upturn in performances and results is no coincidence as Michael Carrick has proven to be an irreplaceable part of side both organisationally and in starting attacks, but that in itself presents a problem. He needs to be replaced.
Carrick is 35, and can not be expected to play 50 games a season, so a replacement must be found sooner rather than later. Gary Neville has his own ideas, and he made them known during an impromptu Twitter Q & A with his followers.
While unquestionably good shouts, they don't seem very realistic. Xabi Alonso would surely never burn the bridge between him and Liverpool in joining Mourinho's United, Luka Modric is widely considered to be the most important player at Real Madrid so again that seems unlikely, which leaves Sergio Busquets, someone who looks destined to stay with Barca until retirement, and Toni Kroos, who is the most feasible on the list but still would need to be convinced to swap Madrid for Manchester.
Replacing Michael Carrick is going to be a very tough task for Man Utd, that much is clear, but while he is still fit to play and is linking up so well with Ander Herrera and Paul Pogba, it doesn't need to be solved in the upcoming January transfer window.
On the subject of transfers, Neville also revealed that he identified Antoine Greizmann as the one player he would like Man Utd to sign the most from his time in Spain.
Here are some of the other interesting responses Neville gave to some interesting questions from his followers:
