The Herald (Zimbabwe)

Mourinho slams players

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MANCHESTER. — Manchester United manager Jose Mourinho openly criticised four of his key stars after yet another frustratin­g league game at Old Trafford ended in a 0-0 draw with West Bromwich Albion on Saturday.

Mourinho’s side have now drawn eight English Premier League games at home this soccer season, and in seven of them they were comfortabl­y the more dominant team but ultimately failed to turn possession and chances into goals.

The latest disappoint­ment on Saturday followed that pattern with United enjoying 75 percent possession against Albion but failing to end a run of home draws that has left them facing an uphill task if they are to finish in the top four. And Marcus Rashford, Jesse Lingard, Henrikh Mkhitaryan and Anthony Martial found themselves publicly criticised by Mourinho as a United team without six key players through injury or suspension, took their total of home points dropped in drawn games to 16 for the campaign.

“This is deja vu all season,” said Mourinho. “We’re not consistent. We miss easy chances. We have moments or periods when we push but then a couple of players disappear for 10 minutes, when you don’t see them.

“You always see the same people, the same guys in front of the train, pulling the train. It’s disappoint­ing.

“We need to kill off teams. When you see the number of goals we score compared to our domination, it’s a big contradict­ion. “If you’re somebody who doesn’t know, you would think we’re a defensive team, a counter-attack team, waiting for opponents’ mistakes. And it’s completely the opposite.”

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