Jose Mourinho has said Manchester United could struggle in attack, following the departure of Romelu Lukaku.
Speaking on Sky Sports, Mourinho predicted that Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s side will face difficulty against teams who defend deeper.
Solskjaer opted to offload Lukaku to Inter this summer, which means Anthony Martial, Marcus Rashford, Alexis Sanchez and 17-year-old Mason Greenwood will be competing for the central striker role.
Martial and Rashford both scored, as United beat Chelsea 4-0 in their Premier League opener at Old Trafford on Sunday.
But after the game, Mourinho raised doubts over whether Martial and Rashford will be able to maintain consistency throughout the season against more organised sides.
“I think they can when they are facing teams like Chelsea, I think they were too soft.
“It’s difficult to qualify them, they [Chelsea] were not compact defensively, too much space to play, not enough aggression on the ball, the defensive line, the midfield, the attack, they were not compact.
“I think United will find it much more difficult to play against teams with low compact blocks.
“If the blocks are low blocks it will be really difficult for them without a pure striker.
“With high blocks who can press them higher and be more aggressive, in the Premier League we have very good teams who can do that who are not in the top six, I think it can be difficult.
“In this moment, I think they don’t have a reason to feel anything but positive. A 4-0 result against Chelsea in the debut of the season is an amazing result.
“It’s very important that the dressing room feels like they can play to be champions. It’s very important they have that feeling.
“I think they will not be champions but they can obviously have a good season,” Mourinho said.
Comments