Boss Refuses To Criticise Forwards

Jose Mourinho has refused to blame his Manchester United players for missing a number of opportunities during the frustrating 1-1 draw with Stoke City on Saturday.

Zlatan Ibrahimovic spurned a glorious chance in the very first minute and Paul Pogba missed the target from a promising position, before heading against the bar late on. Potters goalkeeper Lee Grant was in inspired form as the Reds registered a disappointing draw heading into the latest international break.

"I never criticise my players for missing chances," Mourinho explained following the final whistle at Old Trafford. "Their goalkeeper is the Man of the Match and deservedly so. We had some open chances where we could do better but I am never critical of my players for this. I can be critical of the attitude, with the quality of performance and for naive mistakes sometimes, but not in front of goal."

Mourinho was pleased that Anthony Martial found the scoresheet with a neat finish on 69 minutes as the substitute opened his account for the 2016/17 season in style. The Frenchman famously scored 17 goals in his debut campaign and the manager believes his goal on Saturday will be beneficial.

"He needs that," added the boss. "It was an amazing goal. Very good initiative and very confident. So it was good from an individual point of view for him."