Manchester United manager Jose Mourinho explains he had to leave Anthony Martial on the bench to focus on other areas during his sides 2-1 over Leicester on Friday night.
Manchester United came out on top in a tight game at Old Trafford but manager Jose Mourinho admitted he would have ideally liked to have made “six changes, not three” in the win.
United had players that were recovering from World Cup duty with Paul Pogba a particular concern for their manager. Yet Anthony Martial, one of the French stars to miss out on a place in the World Cup squad, was left on the bench throughout.
Mourinho revealed that he would have liked to use Martial to replace either Sanchez, who had an off night, or Mata but the need was greater elsewhere in his formation, forcing the United boss’s hand.
With Pogba, fresh from World Cup duty, and summer signing Fred among those included in the starting XI, the United boss told Sky Sports on the tough decisions he faced: “A match where I needed six changes not three.
“Not enough for me. I wanted to play Martial for [Juan] Mata or Alexis [Sanchez] but I can’t.
“I know that Paul doesn’t resist for 90, the same with Fred. I need more changes but I couldn’t. So it was not easy to manage the game by the touchline point of view.
“In the second half, I have Andreas Pereira and Fred both with a yellow card. Paul, he was fantastic his contribution was amazing, but the fuel was disappearing every minute so we were in trouble and I needed [Marouane] Fellaini and [Scott] McTominay to give me that balance in midfield.
“But at the same time I felt I wanted more in attack, I felt that Martial coming into the game last 20 minutes for Mata or Alexis it could bring us a second goal, but I couldn’t make that change so it was really hard.”
Fellaini and McTominay did manage to shore things up for United upon entering the game, and Mourinho’s first substitution, which saw Marcus Rashford replaced by Romelu Lukaku, helped United establish a two-goal lead.
Leicester and England forward Jamie Vardy reduced the arrears toward the end of the match, but Manchester United held on to claim their first win of the season.
They face Brighton away next Sunday and will be hoping that more of their players are back to peak fitness.
The post Man Utd boss Jose Mourinho explains why he didn’t bring Anthony Martial on vs. Leicester appeared first on Squawka News.
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