Bumpy road ahead
Mourinho reminds high-riding players they are yet to be tested
LONDON: Manager Jose Mourinho believes Manchester United have found their missing confidence after making a dream start to the English Premier League season with back-to-back 4-0 wins.
United saw off Swansea on Saturday, three goals in the final 10 minutes completing a second successive rout after they hammered West Ham in their opening game of the season.
Mourinho feels the biggest difference in his team from a year ago, when he had just taken charge, is in their mentality, although he warned his players they are yet to be tested.
“The word that better describes the team now is ‘confident’,” said Mourinho, whose side won in South Wales with goals from Eric Bailly, Romelu Lukaku, Paul Pogba and Anthony Martial.
“The team starts the game confident, the team starts the second half confident.
“The thing that I want to see – but I don’t want to see – is the team losing and see the way they emotionally react to it, because that’s another change – losing and trying to change the result.
“Because in this moment everything is going in our favour. But it’s not always a motorway. You always find difficult roads and roadworks and we have to be ready.
“We started last season with two matches and six points and we finished sixth.
“It’s not a lesson, it’s a reality of football – two matches are not the end of the world for people that lose and it’s not paradise for people that win.
“I am happy, of course, and the quality of the performance gives me even more confidence.”
Mourinho praised his side for keeping their feet on the gas in the second half and paid tribute to his substitutes after Martial came off the bench to score for the second game running.
“In both matches, winning 1-0 at half-time, we didn’t start the second half looking like we had to keep a clean sheet to win the match,” said Mourinho.
“We always looked like, ‘Let’s at least control the game by having the ball and trying to score more goals.’ And we did that in both matches.
“Then players on the bench have great quality, so it is easy for me to make changes, and good players make managers look even better.”