Mourinho: Top four in doubt

Jose Mourinho has admitted Manchester United face a struggle to finish in the top four positions in the Champions League this season.

The Portuguese insisted at the start of the campaign that his new side was aiming to win the title but after a slow start to life in the Old Trafford hotseat, Mourinho is now re-setting expectations.

“We have the risk of not finishing fourth because the competition is so hard and the top teams have the same ambitions as we have,” he told Sky Sports.

“So I don’t want to say fourth or third or fifth. Let’s see where we finish, I don’t want to say fourth, because I think we can do better than fourth.

“Obviously we need to work and work, improve and improve, but footballing ideas, principles of play, the way we want to defend and attack, is clear.”

In a wide-ranging interview the former Chelsea boss also revealed his disappointment at not giving some fringe players more time to prove themselves.

“I still have some bad feelings towards myself because I didn’t give a real chance to everyone, there are some positions in our squad where we have overbooked,” he continued.

“The attacking wing positions we have not just a few wingers but also people who can play there.

“We can add [Marcus] Rashford and [Wayne] Rooney to players like [Jesse] Lingard, [Juan] Mata, Henrikh Mkhitaryan, Memphis Depay, [Anthony] Martial and Ashley Young.

“To be honest, people like Young and Depay, I didn’t really give them a run of matches to play, to prove.

“So I have this little bad feeling.”

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