4 Truths: United a collection of individuals, Sunderland down

For a man wedded to the concept of periodisation, Jose Mourinho still has no idea what his best starting XI is. And that represents a shocking indictment of Manchester United’s transfer policy in the post-Sir Alex era. The club appear to have a firm eye on the marketing department when acquiring players.

It has left Mourinho with a collection of individuals that he is desperately struggling to mould into a team. Looking at the side he fielded side against Everton, the club still lack a reliable partner for Eric Bailly, a ‘controlling’ midfielder (Michael Carrick is yet to be offered a new contract) to set the tempo and get the best out of Paul Pogba and a centre forward as, for all his hubris, Zlatan Ibrahimovic has been pretty profligate this season.

In other words, they need to create a spine to bring the best out of a collection of individuals.

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Sunderland’s continued Premier League status has been the result of luck more than judgement the last few years. Alas, for the patrons of the Stadium of Light, said luck has run out and years of mismanagement are about to bear the rotten fruit of relegation. The Wearside club are eight points adrift at the bottom and have won once in the Premier League since the turn of the year. It’s over, and the club's board have no one to blame but themselves.

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Jamie Vardy seemed a shadow of the goal scoring machine of last season for so long this season but with normal service resumed, in the form of team-mates Marc Albrighton, Danny Drinkwater and Riyad Mahrez, the England striker has now scored five goals in his last five Premier League appearances (incl. tonight).

Before then, he had netted just five times in his first 22 Premier League matches this season. It is a miraculous turnaround in fortunes that mirrors Leicester City's spike in performance since Claudio Ranieri was relieved of his duties. They have now won six on the bounce since the appointment of Craig Shakespeare and the Foxes are in tenth place.

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Tony Pulis said before his West Brom side's 2-0 defeat at Watford that he did not envisage the Vicarage Road club flogging striker Troy Deeney this summer. After the forward scored his 100th goal for the club, you can be sure Pulis was on the money. Quite literally. Watford apparently rejected three bids of £25m for the club's captain from Premier League holders Leicester last close season.

He is now up to six goals in his past seven league games with Walter Mazzarri's under-rated side hoisting themselves up to ninth in the standings. They even survived for the final 30 minutes with 10 men after Miguel Britos was sent off.

Deeney is the beating heart of Watford, a figure who symbolises a squad willing to work for each other in the pursuit of happiness. As bizarre as it sounds, Watford's board clearly know what they are doing when they can dismiss a successful manager in Quique Sanchez Flores, and bring another one in. As long as they don’t flog the family jewels, Watford will be safe.