Mourinho
The Manchester United manager insists he is restoring the club’s DNA, defending his indifferent start to the Premier League season since replacing Louis van Gaal.
The former Chelsea boss has defended his indifferent start to life at Old Trafford, insisting he is laying the building blocks for his philosophy after Louis van Gaal’s reign.
Mourinho takes his team to Goodison Park for Sunday’s clash against Everton, with United 14 points off the pace.
United have drawn four consecutive Premier League fixtures at Old Trafford to allow Chelsea, Liverpool, Manchester City and Arsenal to pull clear in the race for the title.
But Mourinho has defended his start in Manchester as United look to move on from Van Gaal’s possession-based philosophy and zonal defending.
“I only care about the way we play … keep the faith in the way we are playing and try to have better results, and let’s see where that ends,” Mourinho said.
“I am here to build the future, and build the future with a certain DNA, with a certain style. It is one of the items [of the job], but there are others, and some other items are also related to football results, objectives and targets.
“So I would not be just happy with that. I demand a lot from myself, I demand a lot from the people that work with me, I demand a lot from the players, and I like the clubs to demand a lot from myself, too. So I cannot say that I would be just happy with that item. I want more.”
He continued: “We play now in between the opponents’ lines. We look forward, our defensive line is very high. Our central defenders don’t follow the man, they defend zonal.
“There are different styles of playing football. We try to follow our style. I have never had a team with so much ball possession. I have never had a team with so much control of a game by having the ball. I have never had a team that creates so many chances.
“If we manage to have all of those with some more pragmatism in front of the goal and in a defensive process, then we will be very, very good.”
