Let’s go 4 it!
Mkhitaryan promises United fight in quartet of competitions
Jose Mourinho’s Manchester United are the oonly club in England with an interest in a quartet ofo competitions – the English Premier League, Europa League, FA Cup and the League Cup. Their success means United could face as many as 67 games – and has led Mourinho to criticise the English fixture schedule as “nonsense”. Yet, Henrikh Mkhitaryan (pic) insists that the Red Devils are taking all four competitions seriously.
LONDON: Henrikh Mkhitaryan insists Manchester United are taking all four competitions they are involved in seriously as they struggle to cope with a demanding fixture schedule.
Jose Mourinho’s club is the only one in England still retaining an interest in a quartet of competitions – the English Premier League, Europa League, FA Cup and the League Cup, in which they can look forward to a Wembley final against Southampton next month.
Their success means United could face as many as 67 games should they advance to the finals of the other two Cup competitions and has led Mourinho to criticise the English fixture schedule as “nonsense”.
But after a weekend in which a number of Premier League teams were eliminated from the FA Cup after choosing weakened line-ups, Mkhitaryan claimed United want to succeed in every tournament.
“We are taking all the competitions seriously,” he said.
“For Manchester United, every Cup is very important.
“A trophy is a trophy. It doesn’t matter if it is the League Cup, the FA Cup or the Europa League. We want to do our best to try to win them all.”
United face drop candidates Hull at Old Trafford today, with Mourinho again likely to make sweeping changes to his team selection.
The weekend FA Cup win over Wigan saw the United manager make nine changes from his previ- ous game, a League Cup semi-final, also against Hull, and hand debuts to young substitutes Axel Tuanzebe and goalkeeper Joel Pereira.
Despite the Portuguese boss having expressed concerns about the lack of depth in his squad, Mkhitaryan claimed the competition for places and the emergence of young players at Old Trafford, was healthy.
“It’s great for them to play their first game,” said the Armenian.
“You know as a player that, when young players come into the squad, you have to help them and offer them some advice and I thought they both did well on what is a great experience for them.”
England fullback Luke Shaw was handed his first start in two months against Wigan but is far from cer- tain to retain his place when United return to league action.
And Bastian Schweinsteiger, who started a game for the first time in over a year, is unlikely to be involved either despite Mourinho having confirmed that the German has been named in his squad, submitted to UEFA, for the knockout stages of the Europa League. — AFP