Reply With QuoteLovely ball from @McTominay10 💫
Inch-perfect cross from @RomeluLukaku9 🎯
Thumping header from @jesseLingard ☄️
It's our February Goal of the Month! 👏 #MUFC https://t.co/PCVcQj6te3
McTominay
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JOSE'S PRESS CONFERENCE: PALACE V UNITED
Jose Mourinho addressed the media on Friday afternoon ahead of Manchester United’s Premier League clash with Crystal Palace at Selhurst Park on Monday night.
The boss discussed a range of topics from the form of Scott McTominay to where the Reds can finish in the Premier League.
Read the main points from his press conference below...
HOW THE SNOW HAS AFFECTED PREPARATIONS
“Yesterday, [we trained] indoor and today, outside but [it has been] difficult. We tried, we worked. The atmosphere is positive and we can't complain because it's over. So, for the rest of the day, they [the players] can be at home.”
SCOTLAND OR ENGLAND FOR MCTOMINAY?
“My advice to him is not about national teams - it's not about that. My advice to him is to keep the way he is - very humble, very open to learn, intelligent and keep going in the same direction and the same profile, trying to fight to have minutes with Manchester United which is not easy. Then the national team will just be a consequence of his work at the club. But I can't confirm at all that both national teams [England and Scotland] have contacted him because I don't know.”
SCOTT IS STAYING GROUNDED
“I think the people around him are the right people. I have never met them but I have to believe that the kid with his attitude towards the others and towards football, the parents must be really good people that pass to him the right values. The kid is keeping his feet on the ground and is very calm. I think he passed some important tests - not from the football point of view but more from the mental point of view, with his maturity, calm, playing against the champions and knockout football in the Champions League. Two tests by the mental approach. So, I think there is a long way to go, obviously, but his feet are very much on the ground, very stable and I just hope he can keep the same direction.”
WE WILL FIGHT FOR THE BEST POSSIBLE FINISH
“First of all, the gap is a very short gap - six points between the second and the fifth teams is really short and really open for everybody. But all four are in the Champions League still, so we have other focuses and targets all of us. I have to say all of us are very good teams - in spite of some times the way I read, it looks like all the others are better than us. But I'm not so sure that is the reality. I would say four very good teams and one will be out of the Champions League. If you ask me second or fourth, I say by the financial point of view it doesn't make a difference, by the prestige point of view, it doesn't make a difference - you go to the Champions League and even the fourth team doesn't have to even play a last qualification match. But, from the personal point of view, second is better than third and third is better than fourth. So, we are going to try the best possible finish. Of course, the top four is very difficult and, at the moment, that's the main target for us. But, if you can finish third, we are not going to finish fourth. If you can finish second, we are not going to finish third.”
Last edited by perumal; 03-02-2018 at 07:59 PM.
Lovely ball from @McTominay10 💫
Inch-perfect cross from @RomeluLukaku9 🎯
Thumping header from @jesseLingard ☄️
It's our February Goal of the Month! 👏 #MUFC https://t.co/PCVcQj6te3
McTominay
Sent from my Redmi Note 3 using Tapatalk
Rift?? What rift??
https://www.manchestereveningnews.co...mpression=true
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Mourinho wants his attacking players to do some defensive duty also ...even the forwards also have to track back...that's his way
Hazard , Mikhi and now Pogba (?) all reluctant to do this
Pogba has to do...He is a centre mid! He should not leave matic exposed!! Especially in 4231!Originally Posted by Giggs
Now with 4222 (4312) ,pogba was more free...Worked vs chelsea..May be coz they played 343 formation...Need to see how this would fare vs other top teams!
@Giggs watch this..It is not that mou wants to play some rigid formation every time...With the players he has ,it's tough to stick on to one particular formation..Each of them has problems!! I hope that he gets all his players by next window ..
Mourinho: ?Marcus is a fantastic boy. He is also very grounded and, for sure, we love him, and we believe in him and he?s going to have the chances to keep developing.?
Mourinho on Rashford: ?At his age, what he?s doing is more than enough, and the experience that he?s getting at every level is more than enough, for us to be happy with what we think is going to be his future.?
Mourinho: ?The good thing with Marcus is he can play in the three attacking positions so, even when he doesn?t start, to be on the bench is such a security for me and for the team.?
#MUFC
BREAKING: @manutd midfielder Scott McTominay chooses to play for @ScottishFA over @England - Sky sources. #SSN
Last edited by perumal; 03-05-2018 at 08:08 AM.
MOURINHO: WE BELIEVE IN RASHFORD
Jose Mourinho has been singing the praises of Marcus Rashford ahead of Manchester United?s Premier League trip to Crystal Palace on Monday night.
The 20-year-old forward has featured 38 times for the Reds in all competitions this season, with ten goals and eight assists to his name. When asked about Rashford?s progress, during a press conference to preview the Palace match, Mourinho responded positively and highlighted the youngster?s versatility.
The United manager said: ?The good thing with Marcus is he can play in the three attacking positions so, even when he doesn?t start, to be on the bench is such a security for me and for the team.
?Marcus is a fantastic boy. He is also very grounded and, for sure, we love him, and we believe in him and he?s going to have the chances to keep developing.?
Rashford has not started for the Reds since the Emirates FA Cup win over Yeovil in late January, but the boss dismissed any talk of this affecting his England prospects in the lead-up to the World Cup.
?If the national coach trusts him, he selects him,? said Mourinho. ?It doesn?t matter if he plays or if he doesn?t play.
?I don?t [verbally] reassure anybody, anyone. The main reassurance for Marcus is that he?s always selected [if available]. There is not one single match when he is not selected to start or to be on the bench.?
Last Wednesday was the second anniversary of Rashford?s Premier League debut, when his brace as an 18-year-old helped United to register a 3-2 win over Arsenal at Old Trafford.
That came just three days after he had scored two goals on his full debut against FC Midtjylland in the Europa League, and Mourinho feels the forward is sometimes a victim of that early success.
The boss said: ?Because Marcus had such an impact in the beginning, probably people are expecting him to play even more than he does and score even more than he does and to perform even more than he does. But that?s not so simple.
?At his age, what he?s doing is more than enough, and the experience that he?s getting at every level is more than enough, for us to be happy with what we think is going to be his future.?
The making of Scott McTominay: Growing up at Manchester United
Scott McTominay has made the breakthrough at Manchester United, but how has he done it? Adam Bate speaks to the player’s former coaches to discover the tale of a club’s commitment to youth and one young man’s determination to succeed against the odds...
The scarlet thread. That is how Manchester United's long-serving coach Tony Whelan likes to describe it. The tradition of youth development that runs right through the entire club. It is now 3908 consecutive first-team squads that have included a home-grown player - a sequence that dates back over 80 years. Scott McTominay is just the latest to emerge.
As the man who helps youngsters make their first fledgling steps within the club, Whelan feels the history acutely. He has spent the past 20 years working full-time within the academy but the association runs far deeper than that. Once a United player himself, he even had his master's degree dissertation about the Busby Babes turned into a book.
"I have been here a long time," Whelan tells Sky Sports. "I was here under Sir Alex Ferguson. I worked with Paul McGuinness and some fantastic coaches going back to the days of Eric Harrison, Jimmy Murphy and Sir Matt Busby. I follow in their footsteps in developing young players. When I see a lad like Scott come through, I doff my cap to the mentors of the past."
McTominay embodies that tradition. It is not just that the midfielder has started the last three matches under Jose Mourinho. It is not just that he was preferred to Paul Pogba for the Champions League tie in Seville. It is the fact that he has been here since the beginning, coming through United's academy from the age of nine. It is some story.
"I have known Scott since he first came to the club," says Whelan. "For anybody to come through our programme - going right the way through the age groups from under-9s to under-16s to under-18s and under-21s to the first team - it is such a long journey with so many hurdles to get over. In his case, leaving home at an early age was a big thing.
"We introduced a schoolboy scholarship system in 2008 which brought boys in for a full-time residency and put them into a school. Scott was one of the first into that programme so in that sense he was a bit of pioneer. Up until the age of 13, he had been commuting all the way from Lancaster so it was a big commitment from his family's point of view.
"He had to deal with the emotional aspect of leaving his home for us but he made the sacrifice and committed to it. He comes from a good family so always had a great attitude. But this was a big decision to make for him and them so they all deserve this and they share in his success. They are as responsible for it as we are. It is down to years of hard work."
Hard is a good word for it. For McTominay, it has been a struggle at times. Even amid the scrutiny at Manchester United, where youth-team games can be watched by crowds that are the envy of some Football League clubs, he was below the radar for much of his development. It was not a question of talent. McTominay simply did not feature that much.
In his first season with the under-18s he was exposed to under two hours of competitive football. There was a bit more action the following season but when he moved up to the under-21 team in 2015, he started only two of their 22 matches. It was not until last year that he got a run of games at that level, culminating in his senior debut last May.
McTominay's growth problems are already well documented. Now 6'4" tall, he was only 5'7" at the start of 2015. The player himself has since acknowledged that his "body was not ready" and spoken of his gratitude to coaches McGuinness and Warren Joyce for managing that process, restricting his game time and even his training sessions where necessary.
"The good thing about being in a football club is that you have people here who have seen it before and understand it," says Whelan. "People like Brian McClair, Paul McGuinness and Colin Little supported him. That is crucial. They knew that talent can sometimes appear to be latent but with a bit more time and patience, a player can grow and get over that.
"He was patient with us too remember. It works both ways. He had to trust the club. He wasn't playing in games because he wasn't ready but it would have been very easy for him to wonder whether he was being kidded on about one day getting in this team or that team. He went through all of those trials and tribulations and dealt with them well.
"We can talk about coaching and programmes but that is just the opportunity. I have always believed that players achieve things because of their sacrifices and because of their dreams and their vision. It is down to him. He never gave up. He kept plugging away and plugging away. Yeah, he was under the radar a bit. But in the end his ability shone through."
It is easy to look at the lack of game time and believe that McTominay was not that highly rated within the club. But those who worked closely with him reject that idea. "He always had a lot of talent," adds Whelan. "But he always had to play against bigger or stronger boys. At one point his physicality was going to come and the talent would reveal itself.
"He has had a similar trajectory to Jesse Lingard in that sense. He had issues with his size. But it goes to show that if you are patient and there is two-way trust, anything can be achieved. Some boys get written off because they are too small but what you can never account for is a boy's spirit and what is in his heart. That is the great intangible."
Speaking to Danny Welbeck in 2014, he recalled a similar process. "When I was growing up there were a lot of players who were bigger and quicker than me," he told Sky Sports. "So I had to think of different ways to get past defenders. That still helps me today." McTominay also learnt to protect the ball back then. No wonder it all looks so easy for him now.
"Scott is a good example for young players and clubs of the learning and development that can occur when you are restricted by being a late developer," says another source who worked with the young McTominay at United. "The constraints of being smaller help develop skills and understanding to thrive against bigger players."
There are not many bigger than McTominay now, something that was seized upon by Ryan Giggs. "When I was assistant manager we involved him in a lot of the 11 v 11s with the first team," he explained to Super 6 as part of the Class of '92 Diary. "We used to use him as a target man because of his physical presence and he was actually a really good finisher."
He was occasionally used as an auxiliary forward for Joyce's under-21 team too and even shared the No 10 role for the under-16s with a certain Marcus Rashford. The pair would play one half each. But Whelan puts this down to development, insisting that McTominay was "always going to be a midfield player" - and it is there that he has earned Mourinho's trust.
McTominay boasts the best passing accuracy in the opposition half of any United player this season, ranking among the top 10 midfielders in the Premier League. It is an indication of a risk-averse approach but also evidence that he is technically sound and can be relied upon to retain possession of the ball. The belief is that there is much more to come.
"This is just the tip of the iceberg," says Whelan. "He has always had a grit and determination to succeed. He has always been prepared to dig in when it matters. He is an intelligent and mature young man, reliable and trustworthy. I think what speaks volumes is how well he has dealt with this recent success. He has dealt with it admirably well."
Mourinho has been keen to stress that McTominay will not play every game but there is a growing feeling among supporters that playing the youngster in a midfield three alongside Pogba and Nemanja Matic may well be the club's strongest starting line-up right now. The boy from the youth team helping to get the best from British football's record signing.
For the coaches at Manchester United, that feels entirely appropriate. The history of the country's most successful club has always been marked by big-money signings. That is nothing new. But even more important at Old Trafford is the tradition of home-grown stars taking centre stage at the Theatre of Dreams. That scarlet thread of youth development.
"I call it the scarlet thread because it goes back beyond the Busby Babes," says Whelan. "As we commemorate the 60th anniversary, to see Scott in the team is a testament to everyone who has been part of that tradition at this club over the years. It was a different era but the same principles applied and we are just continuing that tradition. The legacy goes on."
Mourinho reaction after kicking a water bottle
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