United boss bemoans laboured transfer activity and
TROUBLED Jose Mourinho admitshewouldnothavepaid to watch his weakened Manchester United side on their pre-season tour of the United States.
United’s troubled International Champions Cup campaign suffered another blow with a 4-1 defeat to Premier League rivals Liverpool in Michigan on Saturday night.
“The atmosphere is good but if I was them I wouldn’t come,” United boss Mourinho said.
“I wouldn’t spend my money to see these teams. I was watching on television Chelsea against Inter and the people in Nice decided the beach was better. They didn’t go to the game, the stadium was empty.
“I think the passion many Americans have list, with Toby Alderweireld a key target with Leicester City’s Harry Maguire one of the alternatives should Tottenham prove too stubborn.
Mourinho is frustrated with his lack of options and senior players and made his feelings clear following the 4-1 hammering at the hands of Liverpool in the early hours of yesterday morning.
“I would like two more players. I don’t think I’m going to have two,” he said.
“I think it’s possible I’m going to have one.
“I gave my club a list of five names a few months ago. I wait to see if it’s possible to have one of these players.”
Andreas Pereira scored a stunning free-kick to cancel out Sadio Mane’s early opener before Liverpool galloped away, scoring three more through Daniel Sturridge, Sheyi Ojo and Xherdan Shaqiri.
Despite the hammering, Mourinho was keen to stress how few of his first-choice stars he had available to him, in comparison to Liverpool, who were nearly at full strength.
“This is not even 30% of my squad,” he said.
“What about Paul Pogba, Marouane Fellaini, Marcus Rashford, Jesse Lingard, Nemanja Matic and Antonio Valencia? This is our squad.
“We are trying to play these matches as best we can and to avoid ugly defeats but this one gave me nothing at all.”
The United boss — whose side face Real Madrid on Wednesday morning before tackling Bayern Munich on Sunday — did, however, hit out at a number of his first-team players following the humbling in Ann Arbor.