Jose Mourinho was not quite with his Manchester United squad even after beating Swansea City 3-1 at the Liberty Stadium on Sunday. The Portuguese manager had raised a lot of questions relating to a couple of squad players and their mentalities towards pain. It appears like Chris Smalling, and Luke Shaw could be the one’s Mourinho was pointing out at.
Mourinho had assembled a makeshift squad following injuries to United’s backline. Mourinho revealed that he had to figure out a new defence in the morning before the game on Sunday after Chris Smalling and Luke Shaw pulled out from the squad as they were not ready to play through their pain. As a result, the Manchester United manager was forced to play Matteo Darmian at left-back and Ashley Young at right back.
“Chris Smalling doesn’t feel he can play 100 percent with his pain and Luke Shaw this morning told me he was not in a condition to play,” said Mourinho. “There is a difference between the brave, who want to be there at any cost and the ones for whom a little pain can make a difference,”
“We have players with problems,” he added. “I have friends in other sports, and they play at the highest level at other sports, and how many times do they play when not 100 percent? I have a friend that is a big tennis player. He tells me he remembers more the time he plays with pain than the time he plays without any pain, and that’s what I mean. To compete, you have to go to the limit.”
When Mourinho was asked about his players not being prepared to play through pain, he said: “It’s a cultural thing for some. That’s not my culture.” Manchester United ended their four-match winless run in the Premier League on Sunday.
But when the Manchester United boss was asked about the 35–year-old Michael Carrick who is a veteran at the club he said, 'I would love to play him every game,'
Zlatan Ibrahimovic had also scored a double against the Swans and also the 25,000th goal in the Premier League. When asked about the feat that he just made for the club Zlatan quipped, “I thought that was only me who had scored 25,000.”
Manchester United climbed to sixth place in the Premier League just three points behind Tottenham who lie in 5th place after their 1-1 draw at the Emirates.
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