MANCHESTER United manager Jose Mourinho insists Chris Smalling and Phil Jones will have a part to play at the club next season despite him being unhappy with their “cautious” approach to injuries.
After Sunday’s win at Burnley, the Portuguese urged his defensive duo to “be brave” and take a risk with both having missed the last seven matches, especially with Marcos Rojo out long-term with knee ligament damage.
However, neither will be available for the derby against Manchester City at the Etihad tonight – with midfielder Paul Pogba also now absent with injury – much to Mourinho’s frustration.
Despite that, the United boss is not ready to cut his losses on the pair just yet. Asked whether they would have a chance under him next season Mourinho said: “Of course they have. I hope this season.
“It’s not just about them. It’s about the philosophy and mentality around them. Cautious. Cautious. Cautious. Just a cautious approach. It’s a profile, it’s the philosophy of work. Just that.”
When quizzed as to whether he thought players were less inclined to put their bodies on the line nowadays, he added: “Professional football at a high level? Yeah.”
Pogba’s absence with a muscular injury only adds to an injury list which includes Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Rojo (both knee), Smalling (knee), Jones (foot) and Juan Mata (groin).
Mourinho believes the situation has helped galvanise the spirit among the players he does have at his disposal.
“Yeah, I think so. I think the boys that are available have a great feeling,” he added.
“They know that they are important, that they can be important, (thinking) ‘Let’s follow the example of Wayne (Rooney) and (Anthony) Martial, they come to a game that we need really to win and they gave more than expected (both scoring against Burnley) and Wayne I didn’t think was possible to go for 90 minutes and he did.
“I think the fact that we are fighting for important things still is a good motivation to keep people together, to make people make an extra effort.
“Wednesday’s training session started at 3pm: I was here at 10:30am and when I arrived some players were already here, taking care of little details and taking care of their recovery. That is motivation.
“I think maybe opponents they look at us with different eyes because we don’t have Zlatan and Paul and Marcos and Mata and Jones and Smalling.
“Maybe they look at us with different eyes but I think they are not stupid, they are not naive, and they know that we are going to give them a fight.”
With United still chasing Champions League qualification through the league – a win over City would take them above their fourth-placed opponents – and also the Europa League, the cracks are beginning to show in the squad.
Mourinho added: “Paul [Pogba]was injured because he played two hours against Anderlecht and then was playing 90 minutes against Burnley two days later.
“So the injuries, especially the muscular ones, are a consequence of accumulation of fatigue.
“If you compare for example, Chelsea and Liverpool, I think we have played 18 more matches than them.
“That is half a Premier League (season) so (think) what that means in terms of recovering and injury and travelling and psychological pressure and what that means in terms of (the) number of training sessions.
“It’s not out of the context that the last two champions, I include Chelsea now and Leicester last season, didn’t play in Europe and it’s not out of context that Liverpool was almost champion without playing European competition so the accumulation of matches is really hard.”
“But tomorrow after the match no one will hear me speaking about no Pogba or Zlatan or no this or that, we go with what we have.”
By Andy Hampson
Manchester City playmaker David Silva (inset) is a major doubt for this evening’s derby against Manchester United at the Etihad Stadium, manager Pep Guardiola has said.
The Spain international was forced off after just 23 minutes of Sunday’s FA Cup semi-final loss to Arsenal with a hamstring injury, having been hit hard by tackle from Gabriel moments earlier.
Striker Sergio Aguero has a better chance of featuring despite suffering a knock in the same game, while only match-fitness is now holding fellow forward Gabriel Jesus back.
Jesus, who scored three goals in four starts after joining the club in January, has been out since breaking a bone in his foot in February.
Guardiola said: “David Silva is a real, real doubt, I don’t know if he will be ready to play after what happened in the first minutes in the semi-final of the FA Cup.
“Gabriel has no pain at all, so is ready but has had three months out, so his physical condition is not optimal. Sergio is much better. Today he makes a short part of the training session, tomorrow we will wait (and see).”
The stakes are high in the third Manchester derby meeting of the season, with Champions League qualification points on the line. City, fourth in the Premier League, are just a point ahead of their arch-rivals, who have not lost in the competition since October, in a tight battle.
Guardiola said: “They are good, good rivals, good quality, in good form. They’ve had big series without defeat in the Premier League. They have a lot of quality, history. We’re looking forward to the game.”
Guardiola and opposite number Jose Mourinho have a long-standing and bitter rivalry having clashed repeatedly during their times in charge of Barcelona and Real Madrid respectively. Asked if there had been any other occasions when he had seen Mourinho, Guardiola said it was at least courteous: “No. We are neighbours, but no. I didn’t find him... [but] when we see each other – ‘hi-hi’.”
