Manchester United boss Jose Mourinho says Wayne Rooney won’t be involved against Feyenoord as he wants to keep him “fresh”.
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‘I know the situation is not a case of clicking your fingers and everything is ideal.
“But I think today we were very good physically and they didn’t create a lot”.
“I am not saying bad, but I’m saying not with the ambition you need to win football matches”. With more matches on the horizon, players are sure to be handed more opportunities than in the early stages of the season and this should help with any lack of cohesion within the squad. You lose matches and people are sad and feel it. It starts minute zero at 0-0 so I think it has nothing to do with the previous two matches. It would be better if we had the privilege of playing on a Monday after a Thursday game to have one day [recovery] but we didn’t get that privilege.
‘But, of course, I’m here not to let them be in a negative mood or in a negative period because we lost two matches in six days. So (next month) we play Liverpool on the Monday, Fenerbahce on the Thursday and Chelsea on the Sunday. I don’t think this is Feyenoord.
The Red Devils did show more urgency after the break, but were caught cold by Tonny Vilhena’s 79th-minute victor despite suspicions of offside against Nicolai Jorgensen – who provided the assist.
“It is obvious that we left players like (Antonio) Valencia and (Luke) Shaw at home to play and to rest so we go back to a normal team without so many changes”, Mourinho told BT Sport. Despite an improved second half performance, United were made to look second-rate by their City counterparts.
Mourinho has also admitted that the Europa League is “not the big dream for every big player” but they have to find motivation and United want to win the competition.
As mentioned before, the performance of the team was very similar to the performance in the derby, where a slow start turned around and looked promising in the second half of the game.
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‘In that moment we were pushing and they capitalised because it is exactly at that moment where we lose the game. We are lucky it is not closed, just half of it, but half is not the same as full.
