Mourinho: How I Want United To Play

Jose Mourinho believes Manchester United are playing better than most of the teams he has previously managed in his glittering career.

It’s an intriguing statement from a man who had won 22 major honours in hugely successful spells at Porto, Chelsea, Inter Milan and Real Madrid before his arrival at Old Trafford last summer.

But Mourinho revealed he is now trying to strike a balance between the efficient, clinical style for which he became renowned and the attacking, entertaining ethos that has traditionally been associated with United, which many fans expect and that he feels his current crop of players are suited to.

The boss insists the Reds had been starting to click several weeks before the recent run that has yielded seven straight wins in all competitions, and he was asked by one journalist on Friday whether this was now a true Jose Mourinho side.

"In some aspects, yes," he replied. "But I have to say that I didn’t have many teams – and I had lots of winning teams – playing so well as my United team does. 

"My teams are normally pragmatic and they usually win matches when the match is really hard to be dominated, so let’s try to put everything together. 

"The reality, which for me is very important, is the relation between the way we want to play and the way the fans want the team to play. 

"I was always feeling that, against Stoke, Burnley and West Ham, people were staying until the end of the match, people were not going away so disappointed, people had good feelings. The next match, the team plays again and the people are there again to support – I always felt that this is the way to go. 

"I think the way we play is very adapted to the qualities of our players; there are no contradictions between the style of football and quality of our players."