Mourinho Wary Of Rostov Counter-attacks

Jose Mourinho says his Manchester United players will be fully prepared for the "quality and speed in attack" that FC Rostov possess.

The Reds boss and his coaching staff have spent time analysing Thursday's Europa League opposition and Mourinho has pinpointed the Russians' counter-attacking ability, while admitting the poor state of the pitch at Olimp-2 may force him to adapt his approach.

"This is a very difficult game. But this is the first leg and we have the second leg to play at home. I am not sure what the game can be, I am not sure we can play the football we are used to playing; maybe we have to try to adapt to a different game-plan," he told MUTV.

"They defend with eight players, with a line of five, and three midfield players. They counter-attack with two, plus the projection of some players, but they are very solid from a defensive point of view. They have quality and speed in attack.

"I think Rostov has four attacking players, especially three of them are very dangerous," added Mourinho during his press conference.

"So I don’t know who is going to play; maybe he plays [Dimitriy] Poloz, maybe he plays the big strong boy who played against me [as Inter boss] when he was at Rubin Kazan [Aleksandr Bukharov].

"I know they are dangerous, I know they defend with everybody in front of their goal, and then they are very dangerous on the counter-attack, and all their attacking players are good players."

Asked by MUTV whether he has already started to contemplate reaching the final and winning the competition, Mourinho stated: "Not in this round but I always say that when you get to the quarter-finals, when you know that after two more opponents you are in the final, that is the moment when every team starts to think that it can be done."