Poor old Jose Mourinho. He hates losing and despite spending squillions in the transfer market he just can’t seem to close the gap on the Top Four at all. While Arsenal were making mincemeat of Tottenham, Man United dropped 2 more points in a draw at Southampton, and is now wallowing 8 points behind us and the Spuds.
The rumours of problems between Jose and his players are rife, and he is certainly not happy in any of his press conferences lately, and now he has to face an in-form Arsenal team that hasn’t lost in 19 games and are full of confidence. Of course Mourinho has got his ready-made excuse ready, that Arsenal have had an easy time racking up their unbeaten run. “It’s a very difficult match for us,” Mourinho was quoted as saying in the Express.
“We play against a good team in a good moment with a good run of results [but] without the accumulation of matches because they play Europa.
“When you play Europa League you normally play with second choices and you can give a good rest to your [first team] players compared to those in the Champions League, where we have to play in the maximum of our potential.
“It’s an accumulation of matches and you arrive in December where many teams pay the price for that.
“When you play Europa – I have done that – it’s not the motivation for the club but it’s good to develop the team and to have people fresh.”
It sounds like he is expecting to lose, which is not what we are used to hearing from such an arrogant man, but at least he clearly has his excuses ready for when we smash them at Old Trafford!
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Sam P