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Jose Mourinho says Manchester United are 'ready to compete' with or without January signings

Mourinho does not expect United to make signings this month despite their injury problems

Tuesday 02 January 2018 12:44 GMT

Jose Mourinho's squad has been hit by injuries recently (Getty)

Jose Mourinho believes his Manchester United side is ready to compete during the second half of the season, whether reinforcements arrive during the January transfer window or not.

The United manager has recently said he does expect United to be in the market for new players this month, even though his selection options are currently hampered by injuries to several members of his squad.

Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Antonio Valencia recently joined long-term absentees Eric Bailly, Marouane Fellaini and Michael Carrick on the treatment table, while Romelu Lukaku was left out of the win over Everton on New Year’s Day as a precaution following his head injury.

Everton vs Manchester United player ratings

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1/22Everton vs Manchester United player ratings

Everton vs Manchester United player ratings

Joel Robles - 7 out of 10

Emerged with some credit, matching the majority of what a rampant but forward line could throw at him.

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Everton vs Manchester United player ratings

Muhamed Besic - 4 out of 10

Visibly confused by the mere prospect of handling Martial. This was not the day to be making you first go of playing right-back.

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Everton vs Manchester United player ratings

Phil Jagielka - 5 out of 10

Not ‘medically fit’ for this game according to Roberto Martinez. However you want to put it, he was off-the-pace.

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Everton vs Manchester United player ratings

John Stones - 5 out of 10

Hesitated and then moved far too late to meet Fellaini for the opening goal and, in truth, it was one of several moments where the highly-rated centre-half did not look too sure of himself.

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Everton vs Manchester United player ratings

Leighton Baines - 6 out of 10

A restrained, unadventurous performance, but that was largely down to he and his team-mates being penned behind the halfway line. The best of a bad bunch at the back.

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Everton vs Manchester United player ratings

Darron Gibson - 6 out of 10

On the wrong end of a cartoonish moment in the first half, when Rashford was allowed to pick his moment to turn and sprint past him. A creditable performance, nonetheless, given his lack of playing time recently.

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Everton vs Manchester United player ratings

Tom Cleverley – 5 out of 10

Should have made the most of Everton’s second-half resurgence by burying a chance at the far-post. Questions remain over whether he brings any real quality to the Toffees’ midfield.

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Everton vs Manchester United player ratings

James McCarthy - 5 out of 10

Struggled to get a handle on his midfield opponents and, as usual, showed little more than the odd moment of adventure.

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Everton vs Manchester United player ratings

Ross Barkley - 5 out of 10

Everton’s chief outlet on the counter in the frantic late stages but his final ball was found lacking on too many occasion.

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Everton vs Manchester United player ratings

Aaron Lennon - 7 out of 10

One of Everton’s brighter players in their dismal first half, as most of their brief forays forward originated with the winger. He could, however, have offered Besic more support.

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Everton vs Manchester United player ratings

Romelu Lukaku – 4 out of 10

Where was his touch? If the Belgian’s control had been better, he could have had Everton two-up inside the first 15 minutes, and could have notched four by the end of the 90. Those misses seemed to shake him, which explains the lacklustre penalty.

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Everton vs Manchester United player ratings

David De Gea – 7 out of 10

As quiet an evening as Simon Mignolet enjoyed on Wednesday - until the penalty, that is, which was simply not good enough to beat a ‘keeper of his quality.

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Everton vs Manchester United player ratings

Timothy Fosu-Mensah – 6 out of 10

Looked inhibited by the occasion early on, particularly when raised a white flag for his first aerial contest with Lukaku. Seemed to recover but made a clumsy challenge for the penalty.

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Everton vs Manchester United player ratings

Marcos Rojo - 4 out of 10

Gave Deulofeu far too much room for the goal. Still yet to prove he is good enough to play at this level.

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Everton vs Manchester United player ratings

Daley Blind - 5 out of 10

Struggled to contain Lukaku at times, who often found it easy to roll the Dutchman off him.

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Everton vs Manchester United player ratings

Chris Smalling - 5 out of 10

Even he probably does not know why, when trying to block Gerard Deulofeu’s shot, he had both feet off the floor and lead with his right when a left would’ve hooked clear. Ultimately, his own goal didn’t matter.

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Everton vs Manchester United player ratings

Michael Carrick - 6 out of 10

Settled into his usual role of ticking possession over in the middle of the park and rarely looked to do anything more ambitious, save a delightful chip over the top late on for Rashford.

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Everton vs Manchester United player ratings

Marouane Fellaini - 8 out of 10

His delicate clipped finish for the opener complemented an uncharacteristically neat display. His movement for the goal was just as impressive.

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Everton vs Manchester United player ratings

Wayne Rooney - 8 out of 10

Masterful, surprisingly, in the first half as he flitted between holding midfield and ‘the hole’. Everton, like the press pack, spent a lot of their time trying to put a finger on where he was playing. They only did late on, once he had ran out of gas.

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Everton vs Manchester United player ratings

Anthony Martial - 9 out of 10

If United were ever to look back on this season fondly, you suspected it would have something to do with the Frenchman. He’s put them into a cup final, he may have to win it for them too.

Everton vs Manchester United player ratings

Jesse Lingard - 7 out of 10

Lively, neat play to set up his team-mates, particularly the cute backheel to send Rashford through, but lacked composure when presented with opportunities of his own.

Everton vs Manchester United player ratings

Marcus Rashford - 7 out of 10

Terrorised Everton as part of United’s quick, if not so sharp, attacking triumvirate. Like Lingard, guilty of spurning opportunities.

On Monday, when asked whether he felt reinforcements are needed in order to challenge on all fronts for the remainder of the season, Mourinho claimed that while any new signing would be welcomed, his teams “will always compete” no matter how many players he has to call on.

“I always say that I like my guys very, very much. We have a fantastic relationship, we give our best, we try always to do well and when we don't do well, we stick together and we fight,” the United manager said. “If somebody comes, welcome. If nobody comes, we are going to fight with the players we have.

Mourinho added: “Today I had not one more player to select. Even Chris Smalling was on the bench but he could only play in an emergency situation, last five minutes, but Chris was not in condition to play. All the players here today were the players that we had. As a group, we did it.

“If we are not winning, we don't have the three points but we have the same kind of dedication in the performance, I would not be as happy as I am now but I would be with the same good feeling towards the players that I have now.”

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