Manchester United boss, Jose Mourinho, has said that he has had to adapt to the quality of the players in his squad, because they are slower than his Real Madrid side.
Mourinho took charge of Madrid for three seasons, before he returned for a second spell at Chelsea.
During his time there, Madrid scored a league-best 121 goals in their title-winning campaign of 2011/2012.
Mourinho admits he would be in trouble, if he used a counter-attacking style at Old Trafford like he did in Spain.
Asked if he does not like possession-based play, he told France Football: “That is not true. This season, we have an enormous percentage of ball possession in almost all our matches. But again, everything depends on the technical characteristics of the players that you have at your disposal. On what will enable the team to win.
“People sometimes confuse ball possession with the number of goals you score. They forget that the aim is to always score and win. At Real, I had a team that broke the record for the number of goals scored in the history of the Spanish league: 121 goals in one season. It was the best in the world in terms of transition play, in terms of being effective in recovery, and then in terms of projecting the ball towards the goal.
“Cristiano Ronaldo was 27, [Angel] Di Maria was 23, [Karim] Benzema and [Gonzalo] Higuain were 23 or 24. It was the team that killed everyone. Why would I change that? Because the Manchester United team is different. It is slower. They do not have quick players and have a desire to have the ball, in order to be dominant with play.
“Zlatan Ibrahimovic needs touches of the ball in order to play. [Ander] Herrera, [Michael] Carrick and [Paul] Pogba, too. Sometimes, in the last 20 minutes, I explore other options, and I put Marcus Rashford on to go in another direction. But, generally, I try to make do with the qualities that my players have.
“My team plays in this way or that way because that corresponds to the players that I have. It is as simple as that. If I tried to play on the counter with Manchester United, I am in s**t. If you want to play possession with a team where the players dribble a lot, take the maximum risks, push forward quickly, I would kill the potential of the players.
“I could have said to Di Maria, who was faster than an arrow: ‘You do not dribble, you play with one touch, you pass the ball, because I do not want to lose’. But I prefer to play with the qualities that my players have.”
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