Zlatan Ibrahimovic announced his arrival in English football with an 83rd-minute victor as Manchester United edged Leicester City 2-1 at Wembley on Sunday to win the Community Shield. “That is new and we won today and hopefully we can win more”. “We can be happy with the performance and be confident for the season”.
Advertisement
He said: “My ambition is a stupid ambition, I have to confess, because it is an impossible ambition”. He’s really good, he’s composed on the ball, he doesn’t tend to rush and he was strong at the back.
“Nothing got past him and I’m really looking forward to seeing the player that he’s going to become”.
United’s first game of the season is at Bournemouth on Sunday. It’s the first time I’ve worked with such a number of players because I’m used to working with 20 plus the keepers.
“So we are competing in every competition the club is in and we want to win whatever we can”.
“It’s exciting times. I’m optimistic because we have a great squad and we already have our first trophy with the Community Shield and there’s a lot more to come”.
Mourinho said after the game that his decision was purely tactical, that he substituted Mata because Leicester were bombarding United’s goal with aerial balls, and he wanted a taller presence for the final few minutes.
“It would be unfair to criticise their relationship after one game, but the question is whether Rooney still possesses the necessary dynamism to make continuous sprints and exploit the space created by Ibrahimovic, or whether they will simply play in front of opponents rather than offering penetration, which was a major problem under Van Gaal”. This is what we work hard for and sacrifice. And we’re happy to have it.
Advertisement
But that argument would appear to be at odds with the philosophy of Mata who once said: “When you lose, a certain kind of player – the creative players – always get the blame”.
