Mourinho says United’s October fixture list is “poisoned gift”

Manchester United manager, Jose Mourinho, has claimed that his team’s October fixture list is a “poisoned gift”.

The former Chelsea boss was speaking after their 1-0 win over Zorya Luhansk, in the Europa League at Old Trafford on Thursday.

Zlatan Ibrahimovic scored the winner, as the Red Devils struggled to defeat the stubborn Ukrainian club.

Mourinho has now turned his attentions to upcoming games in October, when they will travel to Liverpool before their next Europa League tie against Fenerbahce on October 20.

That is followed by a trip to Chelsea the following Sunday and a League Cup tie against Manchester City three days later.

“We could have played Liverpool on the Saturday or on the Sunday. We play Liverpool on the Monday, so maybe we don’t have the best conditions.

“We have this kind of poisoned gift of playing on a Monday, which creates a very difficult situation, but we want to try to get to the next round.

“Before that we have Stoke. Stoke is another poisoned gift. Stoke is not what the table says — that’s not Stoke’s position”, Mourinho said.

#mourinho