Jose Tells Squad To Impress

Jose Mourinho has instructed his squad players to impress against Feyenoord after the Manchester United manager suggested he will make changes for the Europa League tie.

Ten of the 20-man squad could register their first starts of the season in Rotterdam and the manager has challenged the fringe men to stake their claims. "With all the years I have as a manager I know only one way to select players – which is performance," Jose told reporters at his pre-match press conference on Wednesday. "Perform and you play, it is as simple as that. Now some of the boys can really compete for the positions because when they are on the pitch they can show how good they are."

Here, we highlight the 10 players who all hope to start a competitive game for the first time under Mourinho...

GOALKEEPERS
The manager has Sergio Romero and Sam Johnstone to choose from if he decides to rest first-choice goalkeeper David De Gea in Holland, given that the Spaniard has played in every minute so far this season. It is presumed that Romero would deputise in that scenario, based on experience, and the Argentina international will hope to prove his credentials as the manager’s number two.

DEFENDERS
With Antonio Valencia back in Manchester, Matteo Darmian or Tim Fosu-Mensah will feature at right-back. Neither player has played competitively under Mourinho, but both featured in the pre-season tour and it will be fascinating to learn who gets the nod on Thursday night.

Similarly, Marcos Rojo is almost certain to start at left-back with the first-choice option Luke Shaw watching from home in Manchester. The South American's only previous outing this term came as a second-half substitute in the FA Community Shield victory over Leicester City on 7 August.

Elsewhere in defence, Chris Smalling hopes to usurp Eric Bailly or Daley Blind at centre-back after watching both from the bench all season. The England regular was United's Players of the Year in 2015/16 but was suspended for the Premier League opener at Bournemouth. His two substitute appearances were against Southampton and Hull City.

MIDFIELDERS
Ashley Young is the only midfielder on the trip who is yet to play at all this season and the versatile Englishman will be desperate to show his quality to the manager, most likely on the left wing.

Morgan Schneiderlin spoke in July about his determination to impress Mourinho and claimed he is hungry enough “to eat football”. His only appearances so far have come as a replacement versus Leicester and Bournemouth, though, so this could be a timely opportunity to display his ability in central midfield.

Memphis is another player who is yet to start in 2016/17 but Mourinho has hinted he will do so in the Europa League, particularly after explaining how difficult it has been to exclude him. Jesse Lingard and Henrikh Mkhitaryan have remained at the Aon Training Complex, which should see the club's number seven featuring in some capacity. The Dutch public will undoubtedly in interested by his involvement.

STRIKERS
Many pundits believe Mourinho will rest Zlatan Ibrahimovic due to the 34-year-old playing every minute of all five competitive games. That could pave the way for Marcus Rashford to start following a series of excellent cameo roles, after scoring the winner at Hull City and impressing against Manchester City.