Belief, resilience returns, says José
MANCHESTER: Manchester United manager José Mourinho says he inherited a good group of players from predecessor Louis van Gaal, but that they lacked happiness and belief.
United extended their unbeaten run to 24 games in Thursday’s 0-0 derby draw against Manchester City, despite a lengthy injury list and the additional workload of a Europa League campaign that has taken them into the semi-finals.
Mourinho has a reputation for creating a siege mentality at clubs he manages, and he has used the injury crisis – which saw top scorer Zlatan Ibrahimovic and key defender Marcos Rojo suffer serious knee injuries last week – to create a spirit of resistance among his current squad.
“Mr Van Gaal left here a good group of boys with very good relations between them.
“(But) I think they missed happiness, they missed trust, belief, this extra bit that brings resilience, brings fight and they have it (now),” he said.
“When we meet again next season, they will be a stronger group. When the new players arrive they will find a group more ready to go for big things.”
While he has frequently lamented the injuries his squad has suffered in the second half of the season, Mourinho also believes that misfortune may have helped create the new spirit he talks of.
“Maybe it is a bless(ing), an opportunity to make the team strong, an opportunity to make them mentally stronger.”
Mourinho said midfielder Paul Pogba, who missed the derby with a muscle injury, will also sit out tomorrow’s Premier League game with Swansea but will be back for Thursday’s Europa League semi-final, first leg game in Spain against Celta Vigo.
United also have attacking midfielder Juan Mata and central defenders Phil Jones and Chris Smalling out with injuries. – Reuters
FOR 22 years, there has been one certainty in the Premier League: Arsenal finishing above Tottenham. Arsenal fans have even coined a term to celebrate the point in the season when their team cannot be overtaken in the standings by Tottenham: St Totteringham’s Day.
Even when Tottenham entered the final day of last season in second place behind Leicester, a loss to already-relegated Newcastle still allowed Arsenal to overhaul its north London neighbours.
That looks like it’s about to change, and it could come as soon as tomorrow.
If Tottenham win the derby, there will be no St Totteringham’s Day celebrations this year. The constant in Arsene Wenger’s 21-year reign will have been eradicated, and
Tottenham will have secured their first finish above Arsenal since 1995.
“It’s not a motivation and it’s not a distraction,” Tottenham manager Mauricio Pochettino said. “We know what that game means but we are not thinking about being above Arsenal.” Yet. Unlike Arsenal, for once Tottenham have greater ambitions: a first league title since 1961.
They will have to rely on Chelsea dropping points and Tottenham extending their first eight-game winning run in the league since their last title-winning season. With five games remaining, Chelsea are four points in front.
Like Arsenal, perhaps, who have won the league six times since Tottenham’s last success. Now, though, the Gunners are in a scrap to make the top four and qualify for the Champions League after sinking to sixth place, 14 points behind secondplace Tottenham.
The three derbies since Tottenham’s February 2015 success have been draws, but now Pochettino’s team looks to be the one more capable of killing off games – unlike so often in the history of the rivalry.
Dele Alli, whose dynamism and scent for goals has already guaranteed Tottenham’s biggest point haul in the Premier League era, wasn’t even born the last time Arsenal finished behind his team.
Wenger’s 50th north London derby comes at a time of uncertainty and change.
Wenger’s contract expires at the end of the season, with no announcement yet about his future, and Tottenham are preparing to leave White Hart Lane for a new stadium on the same site.
They will have a 61 000-capacity – 1 000 more seats than Arsenal’s Emirates Stadium. But Tottenham hope for more than symbolic victories over their neighbors in future. CHELSEA’S CHALLENGE It has been 12 games since Chelsea kept a clean sheet, a spell that has seen a comfortable 10-point lead at the summit slashed to four.
Even though Chelsea overcame Southampton 4-2 on Tuesday, their defence was breached by Oriol Romeu and Ryan Bertrand – both former Stamford Bridge players.
Not the time to be facing another old boy at Everton tomorrow, particularly one as prolific as Romelu Lukaku. With 24 goals – four more than Tottenham striker Harry Kane – Lukaku is the league’s top scorer despite his Everton side being in seventh place.
There’s even considerable transfer chatter about the 1.90 metre forward returning to Chelsea, were he left in 2014 after failing to secure a regular place in the team. RED’S TOP FOUR HOPES Former Liverpool stalwarts Graeme Souness and Jamie Carragher expressed concern for the club’s prospects of a return to Champions League football after an unexpected 2-1 home defeat by Crystal Palace last Sunday.
It left them only two points ahead of Manchester City and three in front of Manchester United, who each have two games in hand.
Jurgen Klopp’s side remain the Premier League’s top scorers, but they have conceded more goals than almost every other team in the top half of the table.
Former centre half Carragher, a Champions League winner in the famous comeback against AC Milan in 2005, picked out Serbian defender Dejan Lovren for his part in both Palace goals.
“He’s one of the most experienced players in the squad and he got it wrong on both occasions, trying to jump in and nick the ball,” Carragher told Sky Sports, for whom he now works as an analyst. “You’re looking at the same problems we’ve spoken about all season: centre back and set pieces. I think they’re in a big fight now.
“Manchester United, City and Arsenal are all in there. It’s a massive lift for United and Arsenal winning today and then seeing Liverpool’s result.”
United won 2-0 at Burnley in the league, while Arsenal reached the FA Cup final with a 2-1 extra-time victory over Manchester City at Wembley.
Former England international Carragher added that his old club have become predictable in their style of play.
“You know how to play against Liverpool. They play a very narrow front three and when a team comes to do a job against them they find that very difficult,” he said. “There’s no winger without (the injured Sadio) Mane and the changes from the bench were far too late.”
Fellow pundit Souness, who won three European Cups and five league titles with the Merseysiders, believes Liverpool may need to win their four remaining games, against Watford, Southampton, West Ham United and Middlesbrough, to finish in the top four.
“They were never on easy street but all of a sudden that (Palace defeat) has put them under pressure,” he said. “They can’t afford any more slips.”
European champions five times, Liverpool have not played in the premier competition since 2014-15 and missed out on continental football altogether this season after finishing eighth in the league. RELEGATION FIGHT Sunderland are clinging on to their top flight status going into tomorrow’s game against Bournemouth. They are 12 points adrift, with five games remaining.
Middlesbrough beat their northeast rivals on Wednesday and are six points better off but tomorrow they host a Manchester City side trying to lock down a top-four finish.
Swansea’s collapse in recent weeks has sent the club back into the bottom three. They travel to Manchester United tomorrow two points from safety. – ANA-AP & Reuters