Mourinho: We Must Show Our Identity

Jose Mourinho has told his Manchester United players to focus only on themselves ahead of the derby meeting with Manchester City, insisting it is about his team showing "our identity".
 
Old Trafford will be the setting for the first meeting of the season between the Reds and Blues as Mourinho gets ready for his first derby experience in the city.

He spoke to the press on Friday about his players being "ready" for the match and, in an exclusive sit-down interview with MUTV, he explained the importance of the Reds concentrating on their own displays.

"My message to the players is our identity. It is about what we are," declared the boss. "We have to try to be in every game what we are. We are more important than our opponents. The way we play is more important than the way our opponents play. We have to think about ourselves, focus on ourselves.

"A game like I want them to play always is to play in the limits like we did against Hull. That was a great example of that. It was a very difficult match and the team played in the limits and tried until the last seconds. That’s the Man United I want to have."

While a tight match is expected on Saturday lunchtime, Mourinho feels there is one battle United should definitely win.

"Well, I hope on the pitch it’s 11 against 11, but in the stands it can be something like 70,000 against three or four thousand. So we should win by a distance in terms of support," he added.

"Against Southampton it wasn’t a derby, it was a match between a club from Manchester against a club from the south of the UK and the support was amazing. The enthusiasm and the relationship between the team and the fans was amazing.

"At Hull City, where we had a couple of thousand fans, they were absolutely unbelievable, so that’s something that does not need questioning. I know for sure that our fans will be fantastic for the team."