Jose Mourinho has hailed Ander Herrera’s introduction as ‘fundamental’ in securing a late comeback win for Manchester United at Bournemouth on Saturday.
The Red Devils trailed to an early Callum Wilson goal at the Vitality Stadium before in-form Frenchman Anthony Martial pulled them level going into half-time.
Mourinho’s side then laid siege to the Bournemouth goal in the second half. But it wasn’t until the 92nd minute that United finally grabbed a winner, through Marcus Rashford, after some dogged and resolute defending from the Cherries.
But rather than lavishing all the praise upon the goalscoring substitute, Mourinho has instead highlighted the impact of Herrera, who came off the bench after 56 minutes for only his fifth Premier League appearance of the season.
“In the second half I knew by having the two brothers on the bench – Rashford and Lingard – I knew the brothers could come in and make an impact,” the Portuguese manager said after the game, as reported by Manchester Evening News.
“But I think the impact was Ander Herrera. I think [he] was the impact in the team.
“[He] was the one that changed the game by giving the team, the balance, the intensity, the high pressure, the organisation that the team didn’t have until then I think he was fundamental for us.”
Mourinho was also impressed with how the 29-year-old’s ‘tactical knowledge’ and ‘balance’ allowed the likes of Ashley Young, Luke Shaw and Paul Pogba to get forward and support United’s attack more.
He added: “He’s a player of balance, he’s not an incredible creator, he’s not an incredible goalscorer, he has a little bit of everything but I think he’s a player of balance, knowledge, his tactical knowledge is big, he understands what I want, what the team needs.
“And today, in theory, you say ‘Come on, 1-1, you bring Herrera’. I bring Herrera. But then Ashley Young and Luke Shaw start attacking more, Paul gets much more freedom, the team recover balls higher and then we become more offensive in the period after Ander. So I think he was really good for us.”
The win for United means they are now level on 20 points with Bournemouth, and are four games unbeaten in the Premier League, following a less-than-convincing start to the season.
Mourinho’s next challenge comes in the form of a Champions League tie with Juventus on Wednesday, while Bournemouth travel to Newcastle United next Saturday.
The post Jose Mourinho: “Fundamental” Herrera was behind Man Utd comeback v Bournemouth appeared first on Squawka News.
From Squawka NewsSquawka News https://ift.tt/2yZf7lR
No comments:
Post a Comment