José Mourinho has admitted Zlatan Ibrahimovic is “missing a lot of goals” but Manchester United’s manager has no problem with the striker’s attitude.
The Swede has scored once in his past 11 appearances and last registered in the Premier League in the 2-1 defeat by Manchester City on 10 September. In all Ibrahimovic has five goals in 15 appearances and drew his latest blank in Thursday’s 2-1 defeat at Fenerbahce, after entering the fourth Europa League group game as a 29th-minute replacement for the injured Paul Pogba.
Mourinho takes United to Swansea City on Sunday hoping for a first league win in two months, a dismal run of form that has dropped United to eighth place.
The side have scored only 13 times in 10 league games and Mourinho pointed to this when asked if it was time to drop Ibrahimovic. Although he did not give a direct answer to the question, the 53-year-old said: “He is playing well for the team. He’s creating a lot of chances and missing a lot of goals. If I remember Stoke, Liverpool, Chelsea, Burnley, he missed a lot of goals but he was fantastic in his dynamic, his working, his building up for the team, he was fantastic.
“[Against Fenerbahce] I cannot say the same. But in every match in the Premier League, even not scoring goals he’s being fantastic. His attitude is always brilliant. He’s not a guy afraid of his responsibility, so no problem at all.
“Sometimes a team doesn’t score goals because of its philosophy, because the team isn’t aggressive enough and doesn’t risk enough. That’s not our case at all. But it’s easy to see that some players lack confidence in attacking areas and they are not getting the chances they can.
“Probably one of the only good things [about Fenerbahce] was the fact that Rooney finally scored a goal. Maybe it’s also a key point in terms of his self-confidence.” That was only the captain’s second of the season.
Pogba’s availability is in doubt because of a leg injury. “The first two fouls in the game – [Morgan] Schneiderlin and [Ander] Herrera – got two yellow cards,” Mourinho said. “The foul on Pogba that brought him out of the game was not a yellow card.”
The loss to Dick Advocaat’s side was marked by a lack of direction that allowed Moussa Sow to score after 69 seconds. This followed Pedro’s goal in 30 seconds in the 4-0 defeat at Chelsea last month.
Mourinho believes leadership is missing. “It can happen everywhere. There are so many examples in football where people score goals in the first minutes. Nobody is free of that. But with a stronger attitude, leadership on the pitch, defenders in control of the emotion and the organisation, it’s easier to be strong and be solid,” he said.
Put to the manager that it is unusual for one of his sides to allow such early strikes in two games, Mourinho referred to the injuries to Chris Smalling and Eric Bailly which forced him to select Daley Blind and Marcos Rojo at centre-back.
“You never saw a José Mourinho team play with two left-backs as central defenders,” he said. “I cannot be critical of the boys because they do what they can. They try their best. For Daley it is even more difficult to play central defender on the right side. It is completely uncomfortable for him. He cannot be a good builder of the game when this is one of his good qualities. Marcos is trying hard and is fine, but it’s a very important starting point for the stability of the team. Even in matches where we didn’t concede goals with them against Man City and Burnley were home matches and we managed to play with a high percentage of the ball and managed to play with the defensive line almost in the midfield.”
Despite Bastian Schweinsteiger now training again he is not in contention for Swansea. “No, because I decide and I decide no,” Mourinho said. “It’s too early for him. He’s training with the team for three or four days. He’s not ready to play football at that level.”
Antonio Valencia is also injured and with Ander Herrera suspended and Mourinho serving his touchline ban at the Liberty Stadium the manager was asked how difficult it would be to execute his duties from the stands. “Forget it,” he said.