Manchester United manager Jose Mourinho met the media a couple hours ago to preview his side’s UEFA Champions League group stage clash at CSKA Moscow tomorrow night.
During the session he covered a wide array of topics including: his happiness over escaping further punishment from his touchline infraction at Southampton this past Saturday, the health status of Marouane Fellaini, and the development of Victor Lindelof at United/how he plans to use the defender.
Regarding Lindelof, Mourinho said he will continue to ease the club’s first summer transfer window signing into the side slowly. The Swedish central defender hasn’t cracked the first team, or received any Premier League minutes yet in 2017-18.
Lindelof has seen some time in the League Cup, Champions League and UEFA Super Cup though.
“Victor will be given time and no pressure for his evolution,’ Mourinho said of the £30.7 million signing.
“He has a very specific position on the pitch and I was saying he needs time, he needs time and he will be given time but also opportunities. Because just time and no opportunities to play then the evolution gets slower.”
“He needs time, no pressure, but also he needs opportunities. The fact that he played against Basel and then against Burton then in the future he’s going to have more opportunities to play.”
“He will prove step by step that he is ready to play.”
“We cannot guarantee this line of success, but the way to try to keep it going is to do what we’re doing,” said Mourinho.
Mourinho has the luxury of not having to immediately play Lindelof, because he has depth, talent and most importantly health at that position. Thus, the 23-year-old has not been forced into action yet. The same could not be said in the midfield, where there is an injury crisis.
Three key players at this position will be unavailable in Moscow.
“We don’t have Fellaini, we don’t have Pogba and we don’t have Carrick, all three midfield players we lose for this match, so there are not many solutions,” said Mourinho.
“For me, Craig Pawson is one of the big talents in refereeing in England. He had an amazing game in my opinion. He was calm and so much in control, he had a great performance.”
“It was only after the game I watched it [the challenge on Fellaini] on televsion. No camera for Craig and he made that decision.
“Fellaini was lucky, because it could have been a much worse situation.
“In a moment where we don’t have Pogba and Carrick, Marouane becomes even more important than he always is, and not to be here is a difficult situation for us. But I don’t expect Fellaini to be out for a long time.”
“After Crystal Palace there is an international break and Belgium, having already qualified for the World Cup, he’s not under pressure for a special big match for them, so hopefully he’ll be back for us.”
Finally, Mourinho warned his team not to get complacent in their undefeated start to the season. The Red Devils are heavily favored in this one.
“We try to play well and in some moments of the match, if the opponents have moments of superiority we have to be humble, like we were against Southampton and to cope with the difficult moments,” the Portugese continued.
“So I think it’s a mixture of our quality and to try to be dominant, like we want to be always, but accepting the reality of high level football, that when the opponent has a strong moment,you have to cope with it.”
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank.net and TheBank.News, which is partnered with News Now and Minute Media. Banks, a former writer for the Washington Times, NBC Chicago.com and Chicago Tribune.com, currently contributes regularly to WGN CLTV and Chicago Now.
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