Jose Mourinho claimed Manchester United will be in “trouble” come the start of the new Premier League season.
The United boss was speaking after he saw his side lose 4-1 to Liverpool in Michigan. It may have only been a pre-season friendly but the Portuguese looked miserable after the final whistle and revealed he expects only one more signing before the deadline, and Nemanja Matic will miss the start of the season with injury.
For him that means only one thing, a sorry start to the new campaign which gets underway on Aug. 10.
“I would like to have two more players,” the United manager said.
“I think I am not going to get two. I think that it’s possible I will have one. I gave a list to my club of five names a few months ago and I wait to see if it’s possible to have one of these players. If it’s possible, it’s possible. If it’s not, it’s not. If it’s possible, it’s good. If not then we keep fighting and working and believing in the players that we have.”
He added: “This is nothing to do with reinforcements. The reinforcements are (Paul) Pogba, (Marouane) Fellaini, (Victor) Lindelof, (Marcus) Rashford, (Jesse) Lingard, (Nemanja) Matic, (Antonio) Valencia. These are reinforcements. This is not our team ... We started the game with almost half of the players who are not even going to belong to our squad on August 9. They will not be here.”
Even by his increasingly morose standards this was a particularly bleak assessment by the United manager who is trying to steer the club to their first league title since 2013.
Jose Mourinho says United are in ‘trouble’ ahead of Premier League season
Jose Mourinho says United are in ‘trouble’ ahead of Premier League season
Man United climb to third, Fulham sink sorry Spurs
- Red Devils have taken their tally to 19 points from a possible 21
LONDON: Benjamin Sesko stretched his hot streak with the winning goal as Manchester United beat Crystal Palace 2-1 to go third in the Premier League, while Tottenham failed to dispel relegation fears after defeat at Fulham.
Sesko was handed his first start in seven games since Michael Carrick took charge at Old Trafford and rewarded his boss with another vital goal to edge United closer to a return to the Champions League.
Palace had taken an early lead at Old Trafford when Maxence Lacroix outmuscled Leny Yoro to guide in a header from Brennan Johnson’s corner.
But United hit back to remain unbeaten under Carrick and take their tally to 19 points from a possible 21.
The game swung on one incident as Lacroix was sent off and conceded a penalty for pulling back Matheus Cunha just before the hour mark.
Bruno Fernandes confidently stroked the resulting spot kick past former teammate Dean Henderson.
Fernandes was then the creator for the second as his curling cross was powered in by Sesko.
The Slovenian has now scored seven times in his last eight appearances to quieten critics of his £74 million ($100 million) price tag after a slow start to his career in England.
Tottenham remain perilously poised just four points above the relegation zone as interim boss Igor Tudor again failed to halt their alarming slide after a 2-1 defeat at Craven Cottage.
Harry Wilson and Alex Iwobi gave Fulham a deserved half-time lead as they moved up to ninth and back into contention for European football next season.
Richarlison headed in a late consolation for Tottenham, but they remain the only Premier League side without a win in 2026.
The one crumb of comfort for Spurs was defeat for relegation rivals Nottingham Forest, 2-1 at Brighton.
All three goals arrived in the first 15 minutes as Diego Gomez and Danny Welbeck netted for the Seagulls either side of Morgan Gibbs-White’s reply.
Forest sit two points above the drop zone ahead of a daunting trip to Manchester City on Wednesday.
