José Mourinho has admitted he was not happy with Danny Rose’s tackle on Henrikh Mkhitaryan that means the Armenian will miss at least two games for Manchester United with an ankle injury.
The challenge from Tottenham Hotspur’s left-back came towards the end of United’s 1-0 win at Old Trafford on Sunday. Rose was booked by Robert Madley and although Mourinho stated he believed the referee had a good game the manager signalled his unhappiness at Rose and said it might have a been a red-card offence if committed earlier in the contest.
“I am not happy but it is football and sometimes you go over the limit in a big match,” said Mourinho. “The referee did very well and I am happy for him because normally these matches are given to the ref with more experience, more status. I think for him it was the biggest match he had refereed in the Premier League. He did very well and probably he wanted to finish the game without a red card. He gave a yellow card and for me that’s fine.”
Last month Rose was singled out by Arsène Wenger for a tackle on Arsenal’s Héctor Bellerín that ruled the right-back out, again with an ankle injury. When defending Rose Pochettino said that football was a “contact sport” and Mourinho echoed the stance.
“When everything ends well, like with Miki, not having a big injury, let’s move on,” he said. “It was a big game, hard and sometimes a bit nasty but it was a game for men.” Mkhitaryan is expected to be available again for Sunderland’s visit to Old Trafford on Boxing Day.
Mourinho suggested Memphis Depay and Morgan Schneiderlin can leave United in January should the club receive an offer or the players ask to go. Depay has started only one game – an EFL Cup win at Northampton – and made seven substitute appearances. Schneiderlin has made three starts – in the EFL Cup and Europa League – and five substitute appearances.
Asked about each player’s future, Mourinho said: “I am always open to listen to offers for every player. More than listen to offers I am always ready to listen to the players themselves. So any player who knocks on my door and is not happy and wants to move, when the offers are correct, I will never stop a player from leaving even if it is to a rival. When [Juan] Mata left Chelsea [when he was manager in January 2013] to come to Manchester United, no problem at all. In my mentality, no problem at all. I am always open.
“What I can say is that I am happy with the squad I have. I would like my squad to be my squad until the end of the season and I am not going to any player to say: ‘You are going to leave,’ because I am not happy because I don’t want to have him.
“I am happy with the players I have, even with players that are not having many opportunities to play. From my point of view I am happy to keep everyone and everyone will have a chance, sometimes an unexpected chance.”
Mourinho expects Bastian Schweinsteiger to still be in the squad following the January window. “I do. Unless again the player knocks on our door with a future that he wants to grab with both hands,” he said. “Then I never stop players doing what they want if, I repeat if, the conditions are right for the club.”
Mourinho said that Luke Shaw, who is injured, still needs to work on his game. “He needs to improve,” he said. “That is normal – he is a kid. I am not expecting a young player to be perfect. A young player makes mistakes, a young player has things to learn, has things to develop. He needs to do that. How many matches has he already played for me? A lot. He was injured playing, not on the bench. I need him back.”