Jose Mourinho will hold a press conference on Friday morning ahead of Manchester United’s Premier League meeting with bottom-of-the-table Fulham at Old Trafford on Saturday.
United remain eight points off their target of a top-four finish after drawing 2-2 with Arsenal in midweek and are still struggling to get their season off the ground. Mourinho praised the “heart” and “spirit” of his players on Wednesday night, having called their desire into question of late, but United are without a win domestically since the start of November.
Basement-dwelling Fulham have conceded a staggering 36 goals in their opening 15 games of the season, though faint signs of improvement are there under new manager Claudio Ranieri. The Italian could become only the third manager to win a Premier League match at Old Trafford with two different clubs, after Martin O’Neill and Rafael Benitez. Follow live updates from Mourinho’s press conference below.
Welcome to The Independent's live coverage of Jose Mourinho's pre-Fulham press conference on Friday morning.
Manchester United remain eight points off their target of a top-four finish after drawing 2-2 with Arsenal in midweek and are still struggling to get their season off the ground.
Mourinho praised the “heart” and “spirit” of his players on Wednesday night, having called their desire into question of late, but United are without a win domestically since the start of November.
We'll have live updates from Carrington with you from 10.15am...
We already know that Alexis Sanchez won't play again this season after suffering a hamstring injury in training last week, and the club have now given him permission to leave the country and head home to Chile for his recovery, while also spending Christmas with his family.
Our chief football correspondent Miguel Delaney has the latest:
Mourinho is here!
Off we go...
Did United show their character against Arsenal?
Yes, even the numbers, the stats that for me are not fundamental but sometimes they give us, they support our feelings, our ideas, or sometimes a contradiction to it but is just a confirmation with the numbers of the match where my team the globality of my players run more, and run more with higher intensity too. We press the ball more, put differences to the opposition, we were fast in our transitions, so we had that spirit, we had that mentality that brought our game to a good level, to a better level.
On who stood out?
There are special players with special characteristics and just to five you a couple of examples, Ander Herrera, Marcus Rashford are the kind of players that even if their game is not phenomenal, that intensity, desire, sacrifice is always present – but I prefer to say the team as a team had that mentality.
On needing a win over Fulham this weekend:
I know only two days is not easy, Fulham are in the same situation as us, but probably the way they are coming to play or try to play will not demand as much from them as us. But no excuses, I sat here a few weeks ago speaking about December and no defeats and that's a reality, good fights, good spirit, but just one victory against Young Boys and three draws and we need points, but Fulham are the same, they need points.
Is not beating Fulham an option?
I want to be positive and think we are going to win but if we don't give credit to the people that deserve credit - and the game is not going to be 11 against 0 it's going to be 11 against 11 - good players in other side, I repeat the position, the points sometimes don't say much about the real potential of the team, no one of the two most important managers in the history of the PL, so they have the potential to come here tomorrow and to give us a very difficult match.
Was finishing second last season a great achievement in hindsight?
I don't understand your question. Because I'm not speaking about our own situation but you can finish 10th, I'm not saying us, a team can finish 10th and a manager feels like a champion. Correct? If you speak with David Wagner, Rafa Benitez, Claudio now, if you speak with them and tell them you are going to finish 10th they will feel like a champion.
I made a fantastic job, I stayed in front of teams with more potential than my team, last season we finished second and I felt we stayed ahead of teams with more potential than us.
Latest injury news?
I don't know. Training session (is at) 11 o'clock (and) will give us some answers. Smalling, Jones, Martial, Bailly.
Of course Lindelof and Alexis Sanchez we don't even speak about them but we need answers and for sure we are going to play with players not with the max of their potential but players who will put themselves available for the team like Smalling did last match, Jones at Southampton, players in difficulty who go one step forward to try and help the team.
What about Fred?
Step by step, you have also other players in other clubs that needed their time and you have some of them that played even less than what Fred is playing.
I think Fred, when the team is defensively stronger and doesn't need in midfield people that is more working in giving balance to the team than being involved in creation and attacking dynamic, the day we are stronger defensively I think the horizons for Fred change completely.
And that's all from Mourinho!
Round-up:
- Mourinho unsure on the fitness of Chris Smalling, Phil Jones, Eric Bailly and Anthony Martial
- Believes Fred still needs time to develop in to what United need
- Pleased with United's character shown against Arsenal
- Wants a victory against Fulham to end their poor form in the league
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