Ibrahimovic reacts to his poor performance as Manchester break awful record

Speaking to ManUtd.com and reporters after the final whistle, the England global explained why he feels the captaincy has a positive impact on his form.

The Frenchman was not spared from his manager’s criticism either, with Mourinho accusing him of not providing enough penetration in his new #10 role.

“You can’t let one mistake affect you and you don’t want it to bring you down all week”. I just have to try and do my job for the team, and wait for my chance.

Liverpool legend Vladimir Smicer thinks the Reds would have been in much better shape to beat Manchester United if the game had been played before the worldwide break.

“I need to get my fitness and confidence back”.

‘I think we’ll be challenging this season – we’ve still got that belief and it is even stronger after working with this manager, and the players over the last few months, I think we’ve got a fantastic squad, that is ready and capable of challenging. “I’ve started through all my career, this is a new challenge, it is a new period”.

“It was without a doubt more due to the system than the player”.

‘He’ll be disappointed because he was taken off so early but it did change things when Lallana came on.

Chris Smalling has said he is confident that Manchester United can establish themselves as a Premier League title threat over the coming games. At the same time, we haven’t had a lot of luck. Hopefully the medical staff can also get Wijnaldum up and running for an important stretch of games against mid-to-lower table teams, where the Reds will be looking to pick up maximum points to cement their spot at the top end of the table. With United defending so deep made it hard to get into the game.

“I think it was a fair result”.

After a midweek Europa League tie against Fenerbahce, Mourinho will return to Stamford Bridge for the first time since being sacked by Chelsea in December. “Sometimes we were better, sometimes they were better”, the German said, insisting it was “all okay” and that he wasn’t “interested” in “why United were here”.

No Premier League team have gone from seventh place after eight games to champions. “He will get a rapturous round of applause”, said Wilkins, in reference to the Chelsea supporters. I think we have shown we can score goals and on nights like this we can keep a clean sheet and not give too many chances to them.