Mourinho: Maybe no Premier League title for United this season

Jose Mourinho spent a world-record £89m on Juventus midfielder Paul Pogba in August as the new Manchester United manager gave his midfield a face lift.

Last week’s 1-1 draw at home to West Ham left United 11 points adrift of table-topping Chelsea in sixth position.

The appointment of Jose Mourinho was met with a high level of optimism from the Old Trafford faithful. “I don’t care”, he said. “In the Premier League, apart from four against Leicester and three Swansea, the matches were all about zero and one”.

“It is not easy when the team has been going in one direction for so long to suddenly be told that they have to go in another way, on another route”, he added. Some I lost, some I won, but always a great match. “This season, I just play in the midfield defensively and I’m happy like that”.

The Portuguese manager, in his first season at United, needs to close an eight-point gap that existed at present between United and fourth place in the English Premier League.

Manchester United come into the game after back-to-back home games against West Ham United.

“So he was continuously working for a month and we thought that it could be a good opportunity for him to play a little bit”.

“You (reporters) have to make a decision”, Mourinho said.

“Of course he can”.

Manchester United manager Jose Mourinho says Bastian Schweinsteiger will decide his own Old Trafford destiny in January.

The Toffees do not look up for it and apart from Manchester United’s own inability to convert chances, there isn’t much that could save Everton the blushes on Sunday and the Red Devils may just be the latest of defeats in a poor run of results for Koeman’s side. I demand a lot from myself, I demand a lot from the people that work with me, I demand a lot from the players, and I like the clubs to demand a lot from myself, too.

In an honest assessment, Mourinho has admitted that the club may be out of the title race already.

“When you score goals I think it helps for happiness to be back”. You can see the happiness he showed the other day.

Arguably of more concern is the absence of leftback Luke Shaw, who came off at halftime on Wednesday with a hamstring problem. And the reaction he got at Old Trafford when he came on against West Ham suggested United fans would be happy to see more of the 2014 World Cup victor. He also impressed against West Ham, setting up two goals and potentially doing enough to keep his place for Sunday’s match at Everton in the Premier League.