Saints not Chelsea on Mourinho’s mind
Zlatan goal sets up Cup quarter-final with Blues
BLACKBURN: Jose Mourinho refused to dwell on the prospect of facing his former club Chelsea in the FA Cup quarter-finals after Manchester United negotiated a difficult fifth-round visit to Blackburn Rovers in a 2-1 victory.
It took the substitute pairing of Paul Pogba and Zlatan Ibrahimovic to combine for the latter to score the winning goal in the second half, maintaining United’s interest in all four competitions.
Now United must visit Stamford Bridge, where they have not won since 2012, although Mourinho did appear to be employing his favoured tactic of playing mind games when he discussed the draw and appeared to hand the league title to Chelsea.
“I have no reaction,” said Mourinho of the draw.
“I have to play Saint-Etienne, I have to play the final, I have to play, hopefully, another game in the Europa League, I have to fight for a top-four position in the Premier League.
“So I have so many things to think about. Probably Chelsea can only think about that because they are champions. They have nothing else to play for. The FA Cup is something I believe is important for them.”
In October, United lost their only league meeting with Chelsea so far this season 4-0, Mourinho’s worst result as a Premier League manager although his team has improved immeasurably in the intervening months.
This week alone, United are involved in two more cup competitions — they must travel to France for the second leg of their Europa League last 32 tie against Saint-Etienne (after winning the first leg 3-0) and then play Southampton in the League Cup final on Sunday.
United’s fixture problems might have been even worse had they faced an FA Cup replay and, after Danny Graham’s opening goal was cancelled out by Marcus Rashford, that appeared a likely outcome.
But the Pogba-Ibrahimovic pairing combined for a goal that underlined their growing understanding with the Swedish striker taking his season tally to 24 goals in all competitions.
“People learn how to play together, that’s normal,” said Mourinho.
“They’ve played together for seven or eight months so I think the connection between quality players is helped by time.
“The number of goals Zlatan would score, I didn’t know. I knew he would be a very important player for us.
“I didn’t know whether it would be one more or one less goal but I knew what his contribution would be.”
KANE HAT-TRICK
Harry Kane’s fifth hat-trick for Tottenham and second this year eased the Premier League club past second-tier Championship side Fulham 3-0 and into the FA Cup quarter-finals on Sunday.
The 23-year-old England striker, who took his tally to 19 for the season, ended a difficult week for Spurs and manager Mauricio Pochettino on a winning note following defeats by Liverpool in the league and then Belgian outfit Gent in the Europa League last 32 first leg.
Pochettino’s team selection reflected his desire for a positive result as he started with Kane, Dele Alli, Victor Wanyama and Christian Eriksen whilst bringing back Belgian central defender Jan Vertonghen for his first start since injuring an ankle last month.
“We had to recover the right feeling after two defeats,” said Pochettino.
“We had to believe in the way we work and play and that is what is important. We had lost that a little bit.”
Kane said the margin should have been bigger.
“We played very well and probably should have had a few more goals,” he said.
“I thought the manager was going to take me off soon but fortunately I was able to sneak the third one in.”