JOSE MOURINHO PRAISED the efforts of his makeshift defence following a 3-1 Premier League victory for Manchester United over Swansea City on Sunday.
Injuries to Antonio Valencia, Eric Bailly, Chris Smalling and Luke Shaw left Mourinho short of options at the back, while Daley Blind was only fit enough for the bench.
United played with a back four of Phil Jones, Ashley Young, Matteo Darmian and Marcos Rojo in south Wales, only conceding once the three points were all but secured by Paul Pogba’s opener and a Zlatan Ibrahimovic brace.
“I’m really pleased,” Mourinho, who served his one-match touchline ban in the stands, told MUTV. ”I think for all of us from the United side it was a calm day.
“I think since the first minute we felt that we were in the game, that we were stable and that we were in control.
“The players were really good in their focus, in their effort, in their concentration.
“Following the gameplan I think they were really good and I’m very happy for all of them, but especially for people like Ashley Young, playing outside his position, and Phil Jones – brave guy to say ‘I’m ready for the team’ when he wasn’t ready.
“After two or three months without kicking a ball he was ready only [in the head], but [in the head] is where it matters.
“I’m happy for Marcos playing his third consecutive match as a central defender, I’m happy for Matteo because left-back is not his position, so the defensive line showed great personality. I’m pleased for them.”
Ibrahimovic’s goals ended a run of six matches without a goal for the United forward and took him to 400 in his club career.
“He’s a great player for the team,” Mourinho added. ”Okay today he scored goals, he didn’t in the past few matches, but that doesn’t matter at all.
“One thing is a striker who doesn’t score goals and doesn’t do anything else. Another thing is a striker that doesn’t score goals but does everything else.
“During this period where he was not scoring goals he did everything else for the team. So I’m very happy that he’s back to scoring.”
The42 is on Snapchat! Tap the button below on your phone to add!
Great to get through but it’s not the one we wanted, Roll on the Huns on Sunday
@Alan Brazil: Jesus Alan. We have something in common. Big game for the hoops
@Alan Brazil: same craic every year , start to improve after getting knocked out of champions league..still though would have got some spanking in the group they would been in , Barca ,Dortmund, inter . Gone are the glory days when they could get a champions league result . .
I don’t know what has gone on with Lennon and Sinclair. Sinclair good for 20 goals a season and he’s been frozen out in favour of Lewis Morgan.. Lennon seems to make stupid decisions, Celtic clearly through with 20 mins to go and he leaves all his star players on with an important game on Sunday. Edwaurd then goes off injured..
@David Garland: Stop your whinging, they won 4-1 what more do you want? Get behind Lennon and the team rather than complain
An away win in Europe is rare. A score line of 4-1 is unheard of. Good to see the holy goalie back in Glasgow.
A nice double on Sunday would be nice. Starting with the Celts and finishing with 5 in a row.
Hail Hail.
Up the Dubs.
It’s not whining wanting to know why one of our better players is not even making the bench. As I said Sinclair contributes around 20 goals a season and by the looks of Rangers this season Celtic could do with his goals, he’s a far better option that Morgan who shouldn’t be near a Celtic jersey..
Very poor performance but still put 4 goals on the board. Great going forward but my good God the backline is woeful. Whoever scouted Boli needs sacking, that lad is a bomb scare. Hopefully Lennon can get it right before the transfer window closes and get in a few decent signings for a change.
Played well, can they meet rangers in group?
@Dougal67: not until the knock out stages, teams from the same country are kept apart