Mourinho wants more goalscorers

LONDON: Jose Mourinho says more players need to chip in with goals this season if Manchester United are to challenge for the Premier League.

Europa League, EFL Cup and Community Shield glory was a decent return in Mourinho’s first campaign in the Old Trafford dugout, as was Champions League qualification.

However, United finished in sixth place and an eye-watering 24 points behind champions Chelsea, despite losing the same number of Premier League games as Mourinho’s former club.

A knack of drawing matches they dominated proved their undoing, struggling to break teams down when top goalscorer Zlatan Ibrahimovic was absent or stuttered.

Mourinho knows they were over-reliant on the injured exSwedish striker’s goals and wants more support for this season’s main man Romelu Lukaku.

“In my other clubs what I had was more players scoring goals,” he said. “Midfield players scoring goals, wingers scoring goals, central defenders good in the air scoring goals at set-pieces.

“We always had that so my teams always had the goalscorer, we always had the guy that scores more goals, but then we had the winger that scored 15 goals, we had the midfield player who scored 10 goals, we had the central defender that scored five goals.

“Last season that didn’t happen much — we were focused on the goals that our striker was scoring and when he was not scoring, the team was a little bit in trouble to win matches.”

Mourinho does not necessarily buy into the idea that more goals are needed, just a fairer spread to help them win more matches.

Lukaku, Victor Lindelof and Nemanja Matic have been brought in to help boost their title challenge, with the United boss looking to continue his remarkable record of winning the league in his second campaign in all five spells in charge of a major club.

“It’s not because I always did it that I am going to do it,” the exPorto, Chelsea, Inter Milan and Real Madrid boss said.

“There’s no relation between clubs and countries and seasons and periods, so obviously there is no guarantee. I don’t think I am going to win because I always win in the second season — not at all.

“I just think naturally a manager in the second season knows the players better, knows the club better. I don’t say the league because I have been in this league a long time. Daily Mail