Manchester United’s 4-1 loss to Liverpool in a friendly in Michigan tipped over the cup in a frustrating pre-season for Jose Mourinho.
Manchester United’s missing men
Manchester’s manager is without the likes of Paul Pogba, Romelu Lukaku, Marouane Fellaini, Phil Jones, Ashley Young, Jesse Lingard and Marcus Rashford, all absent following the World Cup. Victor Lindelof is missing as well, Anthony Martial controversially left to attend to his wife and newborn child, while Chris Smalling and Antonio Valencia are injured.
Jose Mourinho Liverpool press conference
“We are not playing here to improve the team, the dynamic or our routines.”
“We are playing just to try to survive and not have some ugly results.”
The Red Devils are yet to record regular time win in four pre-season matches, drawing to Club America, San Jose Earthquakes and AC Milan (won 9-8 on penalties) and lost to Liverpool.
Alexis Sanchez was visibly distraught following the Liverpool game, in which he was the only experienced striker in the squad. Jose Mourinho was quick to defend the Chilean.
“Do you want me to be very happy with the players he has around him?”
“We don’t have wingers, we don’t have strikers. He is the only one who is here and the poor man is trying his best with the frustration of somebody who wants more.”
“We start the game with almost half the players who are not even going to belong to our squad on August 9.”
All of this comes on top of Mourinho’s frustrations regarding the lack of activity on the transfer market by his club.
“I would like to have two more players. I think I am not going to get two. I think that it’s possible I will have one.”
“And that one, I gave a list to my club of five names a few months ago. And I wait to see if it’s possible to have one of these players. If it’s possible, it’s possible. If it’s not, it’s not. If it’s possible, it’s good. If not then we keep fighting and working and believing in the players we have.”
Mourinho tense relationship with Ed Woodward and Manchester United board
Executive vice-chairman, Ed Woodward does not seem at all fazed by Jose Mourinho’s comments. United has invested €80 million so far on Fred, Diogo Dalot, Lee Grant and Woodward and is reportedly not ready to release any more funds until a couple of players are offloaded.
The tension keeps rising as the 9th August PL transfer deadline approaches. According to the Guardian (https://www.theguardian.com/football/2018/jul/30/manchester-united-back-jose-mourinho-despite-managers-transfer-frustrations), Mourinho has the full backing of Manchester United’s board. If that’s really the case, then we should expect the club’s transfer activity to ramp up in the coming days. Mourinho wants a central defender and a forward, with Harry Maguire, Yerry Mina and Ivan Perisic looking as the most likely options at the moment.
Until then, Manchester United will have to suffer through another friendly with a top team when it takes on Real Madrid on Wednesday (02:00 GMT+2).