KEY QUOTES: MOURINHO ON WIN OVER FULHAM
Jose Mourinho was pleased with the way his Manchester United team pressed as the Reds comfortably dispatched Fulham on a wet afternoon at Old Trafford.
United were comfortable in the first half, with goals courtesy of Ashley Young, Juan Mata and Romelu Lukaku, before Fulham pulled one back after the break from the penalty spot. Mourinho's men restored the three-goal cushion, though, when Marcus Rashford completed a dominant display towards the end.
Speaking to MUTV and BBC Sport after the match, the manager singled out the performances of Diogo Dalot and Mata and briefly outlined his plans ahead of our trip to Spain to face Valencia in the Champions League this week.
WHAT PLEASED YOU MOST?
“The result, the performance, the spirit, the fans, my players, everything and, if the second half was not as amazing as the first one, I blame [Claudio] Ranieri, because he improved his team. [He is] a clever man, very experienced, an old fox. He read the game, knows why we dominated them so easily in the first half, made changes and improved his team dramatically.
”Then I think fatigue from Arsenal and also fatigue from the way we played in the first half, so [there was a] reduction of this level of pressing and levels of fast transitions, so I understand clearly there were reasons for the second half not being as good as the first, but still a good result, an important result.“
JUAN MATA
“Juan is Juan. The quality, the brain, they are always there. An honest man, a club man. When he plays, he plays for the team. When he doesn't play, he still fights for the team. He's one of these guys that we all respect and we all know that Juan is Juan. That is the best way to describe him.”
DIOGO DALOT
““I’m not a scout, I have no chance to do that. I can do it with Dalot because he is Portuguese. I can control that market pretty well. He’s a player with fantastic potential.”
GIVE EVERYTHING FOR THE CLUB
“The players understood after Arsenal when, with a bad result, you can be happy. They wanted to bring that same mentality to the game today. When the players give everything, the feeling is still positive. When you give everything for the club, you are a better team.”
RESTING PLAYERS FOR VALENCIA?
“Yeah, we need too. We go to Valencia, there are people that need to rest, there are people that need to play. It's a question of trust, a question of justice too, so if I say Romelu Lukaku plays, obviously he deserves to play. If I say a kid that is working every day like a tiger and is not playing much like Andreas Pereira is going to have a start, I'm going to make changes in the team, because we managed to qualify.”
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