Mourinho: Man United Not Team Yet, Will Get Better With More Training Sessions
Manchester United manager, Jose Mourinho, admits that his side is not a team yet after they struggled to a pre-season draw with San Jose Earthquakes.
The Red Devils were without some of their key stars like Marcus Rashford, Paul Pogba and Romelu Lukaku who are still on break after representing their country at the World Cup.
The likes of Alexis Sanchez, Anthony Martial and Juan Mata however featured in the game.
Nevertheless, United and the Earthquakes played out a largely uneventful game in Santa Clara , with the only moments of note coming when Eric Bailly hit the crossbar in the first half, and when San Jose’s Chris Wondolowski did the same later in the game.
Mourinho was not disappointed, however, insisting that the game was merely training for the season ahead.
“We are not a team. We’re a group of players from different teams,” he told MUTV .
“Some are first team, some Under-23s, some coming from loans and going on loan, some are younger, Under-18s. We don’t have a team to play much better than we did but [it’s] one more training session.”
Mourinho however, has8 an injury issue to deal with, as Antonio Valencia limped off early in the game.
“He’s injured and I think we need to get used to it,” Mourinho added.
“Last season he was already in this type of situation and this season he will probably have more of that.”
The United boss was at least content with the performances of Alexis Sanchez, who was featuring for the first time in pre-season after a delay in linking up with the squad in the United States, and Andreas Pereira.
“Good for Alexis,” he said. “The first time he plays after some individual sessions. He needed this and he made a good effort, a good physical effort, which is important for him in this moment.
“Andreas is playing okay. In the first match, he was okay and today too. I think he has to play even more simply than what he’s doing but he has the personality to want the ball and to organise. I’m happy.”
