Mourinho marvels at Romelu’s rousing start
MANCHESTER, England — Romelu Lukaku’s flying start to his Manchester United career has lifted the pressure on the Belgian striker, according to manager Jose Mourinho.
Lukaku, a $98 million summer capture from Everton, netted United’s first two goals against West Ham United as Mourinho’s men cantered to a 4-0 home win in their opening Premier League match on Sunday.
Having scored in United’s UEFA Super Cup loss to Real Madrid, Lukaku has three goals in his first two official games for the club and Mourinho said it would expedite his adaptation to life at Old Trafford.
“He’s playing well, he’s working hard. He likes the team, the team likes him,” said Mourinho, who managed Lukaku at Chelsea.
“For any striker, they can play phenomenally well, but if they don’t score goals the pressure is on them.
“So, good for him, good for (Everton’s) Wayne Rooney, for (Arsenal’s Alexandre) Lacazette, for (Chelsea’s Alvaro) Morata, for all the guys arriving in new clubs and scoring goals on the first day.
“It’s always oxygen, happiness and confidence for them. Romelu knows me well. He knows that sometimes strikers can play very well for the team without scoring goals.
“He knows that from me, no pressure at all. But today was good. Very effective, with the first goal especially.”
Lukaku, 24, finished crisply off the post from Marcus Rashford’s pass in the 33rd minute and climbed to head in a Henrikh Mkhitaryan freekick in the 52nd minute.
Late strikes by substitute Anthony Martial and Paul Pogba gave United its biggest opening-weekend win since a 5-1 rout of Fulham in 2006 and sent it to the top of the standings on goal difference.
Mourinho, however, was eager to point out that despite a 3-1 win at Bournemouth in its opener a year ago, United ended up finishing sixth.
“Last season we were also top of the league in the first match and we finished sixth, so this means nothing,” said the Portuguese, whose side visits Swansea on Saturday.
“I want to make it clear. This just means we played well and with confidence levels really high and now our challenge is to keep these confidence levels.
“The fans have reasons to be optimistic, because we also are optimistic. But for me, (with) years and years of experience, and experience in the Premier League, my feet are on the ground and I’m calm.”
Lindelof ‘needs time’
While Nemanja Matic also excelled on his home debut, there was no place in the squad for United’s third new signing, Swedish defender Victor Lindelof.
However, Mourinho said the 23-year-old former Benfica player would be eased into action gradually.
“I think Victor needs a little bit of time,” the United manager said. “He’s going to have that time.”
West Ham had four debutants on show in Joe Hart, Pablo Zabaleta, Marko Arnautovic and Javier Hernandez, but outside of a couple of near misses, the Hammers never looked like causing the host problems.
With London Stadium offlimits due to the World Athletics Championships, the Hammers face away trips to Southampton and Newcastle United before their first home game against Huddersfield Town on Sept 11.
But manager Slaven Bilic played down the inconvenience and expressed confidence that his team would be able to flush the United thrashing out of its system.
“It is difficult, but it’s not that difficult,” he said of the run of away games.
“We’re not going to forget about this game and say, ‘It just happened.’ We have to analyze this game and correct our mistakes.
“But we can’t lose confidence just because of one game and especially a game against Man United.”
Bilic will have Michail Antonio back from injury for Saturday’s trip to Saints and hopes to have Cheikhou Kouyate, Manuel Lanzini and Andy Carroll at his disposal for the Newcastle game at St James’ Park on Aug 26.