eritvnews: Manchester United slower than my Real Madrid team – Mourinho

Manchester United boss, Jose Mourinho, has said
that he has had to adapt to the quality of the
players in his squad, because they are slower than
his Real Madrid side.


Mourinho took charge of Madrid for three seasons,
before he returned for a second spell at Chelsea.
During his time there, Madrid scored a league-best
121 goals in their title-winning campaign of
2011/2012.
Mourinho admits he would be in trouble, if he used
a counter-attacking style at Old Trafford like he did
in Spain.


Asked if he does not like possession-based play,
he told France Football: “That is not true. This
season, we have an enormous percentage of ball
possession in almost all our matches. But again,
everything Mourinhos on the technical characteristics
of the players that you have at your disposal. On
what will enable the team to win.



times confuse ball possession with
the number of goals you score. They forget that the
aim is to always score and win. At Real, I had a
team that broke the record for the number of goals
scored in the history of the Spanish league: 121
goals in one season. It was the best in the world
in terms of transition play, in terms of being
effective in recovery, and then in terms of
projecting the ball towards the goal.


“Cristiano Ronaldo was 27, [Angel] Di Maria was
23, [Karim] Benzema and [Gonzalo] Higuain were
23 or 24. It was the team that killed everyone. Why
would I change that? Because the Manchester
United team is different. It is slower. They do not
have quick players and have a desire to have the
ball, in order to be dominant with play.
“Zlatan Ibrahimovic needs touches of the ball in
order to play. [Ander] Herrera, [Michael] Carrick and
[Paul] Pogba, too. Sometimes, in the last 20
minutes, I explore other options, and I put Marcus
Rashford on to go in another direction. But,
generally, I try to make do with the qualities that
my players have.


“My team plays in this way or that way because
that corresponds to the players that I have. It is as
simple as that. If I tried to play on the counter with
Manchester United, I am in s**t. If you want to play
possession with a team where the players dribble
a lot, take the maximum risks, push forward
quickly, I would kill the potential of the players.
“I could have said to Di Maria, who was faster than
an arrow: ‘You do not dribble, you play with one
touch, you pass the ball, because I do not want to
lose’. But I prefer to play with the qualities that my
players have.”