MAN UNITED TOLD TO MAN UP
Jose: Beat the pain barrier
JOSE MOURINHO has told his Manchester United stars to man up in the battle for a top four finish.
The Old Trafford boss is desperate to seal Champions League qualification.
But his chances have been hit by injuries and suspensions as the season reaches a climax.
Mourinho will be without the suspended duo of Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Ander Herrera for today’s visit of West Brom.
Stretched
To make matters worse England stars Phil Jones (toe) and Chris Smalling (knee) are both out for the foreseeable future while Paul Pogba (hamstring) will also miss the visit of the Baggies.
United are in fifth and trail big rivals Liverpool in fourth place by four points with two games in hand.
Mourinho admits his squad is stretched to the limit and has ordered his stars to go through the pain barrier to achieve their goal.
He said: “They have to be resilient and professional.
“They have to be team players, they have to understand the team needs and go to the limits.
“They have to play with small injuries, they have to play with pain, play ® with fatigue because there is no other chance. “The boys have to be very resilient, very strong physically, they have to cope with everything like they did in that week against Rostov, when they coped with the bad pitch, coming from London by bus after the Chelsea game. “We need to be strong and need to believe and a good starting point is by saying the ones that are not with us are not important – the only ones that are important are the ones that are available.” Mourinho says United are now in the lastchance saloon as one more league defeat would end their hopes of a top four finish. This would leave them having to win the Europa League to book a place in the Champions League. He added: “Every match now for us is a big match. The Europa League is a case of play well in the quarter-final or go home. “In the Premier League one more match, one more victory and we are in the running but one defeat maybe and we are not in the running anymore. So we just have to think about this season. “We want every match to be important until the end of the season and to be in the running in the two competitions.”