Jose not fazed by the hostile Anfield atmosphere

MANCHESTER UNITED will feed off the atmosphere inside Anfield when they visit Liverpool today and the hostile reception they receive from the home fans will only serve as extra motivation, manager Jose Mourinho has said.

United have made a strong start to the Premier League season and are second in the table behind Manchester City on goal difference, but face a tough test at the home of their bitter rivals.

Mourinho knows his team cannot expect a warm welcome but is confident they will be equal to the occasion.

“This is quite funny for me because when people speak about big atmospheres it looks like we don’t like them,” the Portuguese said yesterday.

“It looks like it is a big problem for us to go to a certain place and to face a big atmosphere. This is what we want. I am surprised that you speak about that in a negative way.

“I’m even more surprised when I see former big players speaking about atmospheres like something sinister that worries us. It motivates us.

“It’s something that we want. It’s something that if we could have in every match, we would have in every match.”

The manager used Barcelona’s La Liga match against Las Palmas on October 1 as an example. Barcelona played the game behind closed doors following clashes between police and voters in Catalonia over a disputed independence referendum.

“When Barcelona played against Las Palmas in an empty stadium, do you think the players were happy with that?” Mourinho asked. “Do you think the Las Palmas players wouldn’t prefer to play in a Nou Camp that is full with a great atmosphere?

“We go to play against a big team with a big tradition, in an amazing stadium. We know the fans have huge animos- ity against Manchester United historically but this is what we want.

“So we are very happy in our careers to have one more opportunity to play in these beautiful conditions. It is beautiful to play at Anfield. Beautiful.”

United are unbeaten so far this season with six wins and one draw, while Juergen Klopp’s Liverpool are seventh with three wins, three draws and one defeat, and Mourinho said both teams were evenly matched.

“I look at them with the potential they have, the quality of their players and the team. It’s a very difficult match for us and I believe they think it is a difficult match for them,” he added.

When Manchester United paid £75 million to sign Belgian striker Romelu Lukaku from Everton in July, few doubted the club were recruiting a player with the ability to score goals in the Premier League.

With 85 Premier League goals for West Bromwich Albion and Everton, including 25 in the previous season at Goodison Park, Lukaku’s record spoke for itself.

Already only the fourth player to score more than 80 goals in the Premier League before turning 24 – following Michael Owen, Robbie Fowler and Wayne Rooney – Lukaku looked a good bet to continue to find the net at an impressive rate.

Yet there was one aspect of his scoring record that raised an element of doubt about whether the target man could lead United back to the pinnacle of English football – his record against the top clubs.

Today, with United facing their biggest test of the season so far, at Anfield against Liverpool, Lukaku has the perfect chance to prove a point.

The doubters, however, have plenty of evidence to support their case.

Last season, 21 of his 25 goals for Everton came against teams in the bottom 13 places in the league.

That record is part of a trend across his time in England where in 57 games against the so-called “big six” in the Premier League, he has managed just 15 goals and finished on the winning side just nine times.

Statistics, however, can be misleading.

Lukaku was relying on his Everton teammates to create chances, something they have not always been able to do well against top clubs.

This season he has found the target seven times in seven Premier League games and he has scored in 12 of 13 matches for club and country.

It has been exactly the form that United manager Mourinho would have hoped for and after last season, where United had a league-high 15 draws, Lukaku has helped deliver six early wins.

But those goals have come against mid- to- lower table teams and now the United faithful will be anxious to see if he can produce the goods against the elite.

“He’ll be defined by his performances in big matches,” says former United skipper and now Sky Sports pundit Gary Neville.

“Lukaku has settled in brilliantly and done everything he was asked to do in terms of converting those home draws into wins. But games like this one are the real test.” – Reuters