Jose fears the price of progress
THE last time Manchester United met Saint-Etienne their fans faced a marathon trip for the home leg. This time Jose Mourinho is worried about a marathon season.
Before tonight’s Europa League clash with the French club, Mourinho warned of possible “trouble” ahead with fixtures.
Back in 1977, supporters faced a 560-mile round trip to Plymouth Argyle’s Home Park after UEFA ordered United to play their European Cup Winners’ Cup first-round second leg a minimum of 186 miles from Old Trafford as a punishment for crowd trouble in the first leg.
United won 2-0 with goals from Steve Coppell and Stuart Pearson and the United manager would be happy with a similar result this evening, despite his concerns that progress in the competition will further complicate a fixture list that is already congested.
They are facing a minimum of 66 matches – three more than the Treble winners of 1999 – if they go all the way in every competition but Mourinho insists he is not prepared to dismiss any of the cups simply to ease the schedule.
He is particularly keen to progress in the Europa League because it offers a back-door route to next season’s Champions League.
“We know it’s going to be difficult and can have an impact in the Premier League because we compete against teams in other circumstances,” said Mourinho.
“Liverpool, for instance, play only in the Premier League, Chelsea in the Premier League and the FA Cup. Tottenham are in the same situation as us. But we prefer to progress and for it to be difficult rather than be out of the competition to make life easier.
“The Europa League is not a competition we want to play in but we respect it. The plus is that it provides an opportunity to qualify for the Champions League. It’s also a good way to give the team more international experience.
“The accumulation of FA Cup, League Cup and postponements [in the Premier League] makes it really hard for
MAN UNITED v SAINT-ETIENNE
(4-2-3-1) DE GEA; VALENCIA, BAILLY, SMALLING, BLIND; HERRERA, POGBA; MATA, MKHITARYAN, MARTIAL; IBRAHIMOVIC. (4-2-3-1) RUFFIER; MALCUIT, THEOPHILECATHERINE, PERRIN, POGBA; VERETOUT, PAJOT; HAMOUMA, SAIVET, MONNET-PAQUET; ROUX REF: P Kralovec (Czech Rep). TV: BT Sport 2. KICK-OFF: 8.05p us. If we progress in all the competitions we will be in trouble in May.”
Mourinho says Yeo Pogba is in an “impossible” situation when her two sons, Paul and Florentin, go head to head for the first time this evening.
“I know from Paul that his mum wants a draw but next week [after the second leg] one son will be happy and another one will be sad. It’s not difficult for the lady to choose – it’s impossible,” he said.
Mourinho, meanwhile, has delivered another snub to left-back Luke Shaw by naming an unchanged back four.
“He’s not playing because my team are playing well and I am happy with my back four,” he said.