Mourinho not happy with win

Well, after his last home league game as United manager – a 4-1 win over Aston Villa in March 2014 – Moyes had one last Old Trafford outing and it was a Champions League quarter-final first…

Jose Mourinho has urged outcast forward Anthony Martial to learn from Manchester United teammate Henrikh Mkhitaryan by forcing his way back into first-team contention.

They are 13 points behind leaders Chelsea, who are six clear of second-placed Liverpool.

“It’ll be the same level of difficulty right to the last minute for us, I’ve got no doubt about that”. These are good times, though a couple of defeats could knock some of the glitter off United’s Christmas revival.

“I think that happens when you’re in football in this era”.

“The players know the principles of how we play and they are comfortable but we need to improve”.

“We have a lot of confidence now and we’re in good shape”. But we are not losing and we are turning those draws into wins now.

“They’re finally looking stronger in every department and I’m convinced it’s all down to the double acts Mourinho has found”.

Over the course of the season, Martial continued to raise the bar and was one of the few bright spots in a campaign of huge disappointment for Manchester United, as the Frenchman finished his debut season as the club’s top scorer with 17 goals in all competitions. Gradually, he is getting into the Premier League groove, and the Armenian proved his class with an outrageous 12-yard backheel volley against Sunderland on Monday. I actually think whoever followed Alex Ferguson, whether it be Jose Mourinho then or Carlo Ancelotti or Juergen Klopp, Pep Guardiola or David Moyes, I think it would have been the same.

And after the break, United simply stepped it up a notch, but again due to some narrow misses and gritty defending from the Black Cats, were unable to get a two-goal cushion.

Defender Billy Jones told safc.com: “Going in at half-time 1-0 down was disappointing”.

“This mattered [at United], but there’ll be games when it matters more, which will be important for us. It’s a hard place to come, a hard place to get a result, and that showed today”. The Portuguese went on to add that SAF is “more than welcome” to make more visits.