JOSE LETS SANCHEZ OFF LEASH
Alexis gets roaming contract
JOSE MOURINHO is giving Alexis Sanchez a licence to thrill at Manchester United.
Sanchez celebrated his home debut with his first United goal to help Mourinho’s men to a comfortable win over troubled Huddersfield.
Romelu Lukaku fired United ahead with a volley on 55 minutes after his best mate Paul Pogba was dropped to the bench – but it was Sanchez who stole the show.
He was man of the match after terrorising the Terriers from start to finish, despite getting a kicking for his troubles.
Mourinho allowed his new star signing to roam freely across the front three positions and admits he now has a complete arsenal of attacking weapons.
Sanchez will be allowed to do and go where he wants on the pitch and Mourinho said: “That’s the point, that’s the objective.
“We have Alexis, Lukaku, Anthony Martial and Marcus Rashford.
“Rashford can play on the left and the right, Alexis is exactly the same. All of them apart from Lukaku can play from behind as the second striker.
“So that’s why I say that it’s bad for you because you like to have things to write and speculate about, especially in the summer, but I don’t want attacking players – so don’t speak about attacking players that are coming here because nobody is coming here.
“We have Juan Mata, Lukaku, Rashford, Martial and Alexis. I don’t want attacking players. In terms of attacking players, I am really happy.”
Spain star Mata’s place in the side could be under threat now Sanchez has arrived but the player himself reckons the transfer window signing from Arsenal is a huge boost for the club.
Mata said: “When you’re an attacking player and you arrive to a new club, you feel like the sooner you score, the better.
“We are so happy for him, he scored a goal and he created a lot of things, so we’re happy to have him with us.”
After Lukaku opened the scoring, Sanchez won a penalty 13 minutes later.
He took the spot-kick, scoring from the rebound after Jonas Lossl saved the initial shot.
The Terriers have not won for eight games, have lost their last five league games on the spin and find themselves in the relegation zone for the first time this season. But captain Tommy Smith insists they defied the odds to reach the top flight in the first place and can do so again by staying there.
Smith said: “We were written off all last season and that worked out well. The bookmakers have probably said we were favourites to go down from the beginning, but that is totally irrelevant to us.
“It was irrelevant to us last year and it is the same this time. All that matters, come the end of the season, is that we can look back and be able to say, ‘We gave it our best shot’.
“This group – and the club as a whole – has great spirit and great togetherness. That counts for a lot in this league, I firmly believe that.
“If we stick together, we will be okay. And we have proved people wrong before, it is our job. We can do it again.
“People can write us off all day long. But if we do our jobs and stick together, we can do it.”