Jose Mourinho said he should probably be called a “head coach” rather than a “manager” after Manchester United beat Leicester City 2-1 without the playing personnel he expected.
Mourinho claimed he needed “six changes, not three” in Friday night’s Premier League opener at Old Trafford due to several of his first-team regulars missing much of their pre-season following the World Cup.
Goals from Paul Pogba and Luke Shaw ensured victory over a team which Mourinho pointed out had “invested more than us”.
“In the Premier League, we must get used to playing teams with the same quality we have,” Mourinho told Sky Sports. “Forget the name, forget the history, forget the shirts. Every team is a good team.”
Mourinho gave United’s hierarchy a list of players he wanted to sign before the window closed on Thursday, but the deadline passed without any further additions.
Toby Alderweireld, Harry Maguire, Yerry Mina, Jerome Boateng and Diego Godin were all identified as centre-back targets.
Asked if there was a problem with United’s board not agreeing with the names put forward, Mourinho said: “That’s football management.
“Football is changing. Probably football managers should be called more head coaches. We have big multi-functional coaching staffs and I think we are more the head coach than the manager.”
Mourinho claimed he told his players to “give me what you have” ahead of their first league fixture, with players including Marouane Fellaini saying he could contribute only 10 minutes of game time.
He added: “I had my plans for many months and I find myself in the beginning of the Premier League, with the market closed, I find myself in a situation which I did not think I was going to be in.
“I think it will be the last time I speak about it. It’s finished, the market is closed and no more talk about it.”
Jose Mourinho hails ‘monster’ Paul Pogba performance for Manchester United. Mourinho labelled Paul Pogba a “monster” after the World Cup-winning midfielder captained Manchester United to victory on the opening day of the Premier League season.
Pogba was a force in United’s midfield and showed no sign of fatigue in Friday night’s 2-1 victory over Leicester, which came just 26 days after he inspired France to World Cup glory.
United’s captain sent them on their way to victory with a third-minute penalty – the first goal of the 2018/19 season – and answered his manager’s call by lasting 84 minutes when alternatives were sparse.
“Pogba was a monster,” Mourinho said in his post-match press conference. “We thought maximum [he would play] 60 minutes, but he managed more than 80.It was not a hard decision [to start Pogba], the decision was down to him. With Ander Herrera injured, I had only two options, Scott McTominay or Pogba.If I played Scott, I would have two kids and a new player [Fred] in midfield. So I asked Paul and he put himself forward for the team and was very, very good for us.”
Mourinho also singled out Luke Shaw for what the Portuguese described as a “complete performance”.
The left-back scored what proved to be the winning goal with United’s second on 83 minutes – the first goal of his senior career.
With Mourinho keen to highlight the lack of options at his disposal after the World Cup and a testing summer transfer window, a reminder of the talent Shaw possesses proved timely for the United manager.
“His game was very complete,” Mourinho added. “If I forget the goal, which was an important goal for us, the performance was very complete.
“I think there was one defensive mistake, and probably the linesman could have helped him and given a free-kick against Leicester. But it was a very, very complete performance, now he has to just keep going.
“The mentality was very good, the tactical discipline was very good too. He still had the power to go forward and score an important goal for us.”