Jose reflects on Matic's debut, Martial's role
- Red Devils Advocate
- Aug 3, 2017
- 2 min read
Jose Mourinho spoke to MUTV after the win over Sampdoria in `Dublin and insisted Nemanja Matic still needs time although the new signing was more than impressive in his 45 minutes outing.
The Serbian midfielder will be keen to make his competitive debut next Tuesday when we take on Real Madrid in Macedonia and if his performance is anything to go by, we have definitely made an important signing.
The boss was delighted and heaped praise on Matic right after the match.
"A lonely pre-season is always a lonely pre-season – a player can be professional and work hard but football is collective and when you train alone, you train just a part of what you are as a player.
"The way he plays, he uses his brain but of course he needs physicality to be on top of his game. So he needs time but his experience, intelligence and genius in the way he thinks about football will help him to be ready sooner rather than later.
"That’s why he coped well with 45 minutes today. He makes everything so simple and is fantastic in his position."
Matic was happy to make a positive appearance and now his attentions turn to the Super Cup on Tuesday despite him being less than 100% fit.
"I will try to be 100 per cent ready," he said. "I will try hard , I hope that I will be an option for those games, but we will see. We still have six days but I'm sure that everybody is ready and I will try to be 100 per cent ready, and I hope that we can do something for this club."
Asked of the recent speculation linking Anthony Martial with a loan move away from the club, the boss was quick to claim he needed everyone in the squad.
"Everybody is in the plan – the plan is not to have a good team, but a good squad, with options. We have important players injured for a long time and they will be back by the end of the year, so our squad is not so big.
Jose Mourinho wants one more player before the transfer window shuts
"We need options. Lukaku, Martial, Rashford – all of them are different players. We need everyone. It’s going to be good, it’s going to be fun to choose the team for every match according to the plan, the opponent, our game-plan.
"The squad is good and as I said a few months ago, I was hoping for four players to improve the squad. The club did a fantastic job by getting three of them, which is very difficult in the crazy market we’re in now. I thank the club. I’ll be happier if they give me four of four but they did a great effort."
From what we have seen in pre-season, Martial is that winger we are looking for and with his recent form, he can only get better.
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