Mourinho says absence of City’s Sergio Aguero for today’s Manchester derby makes United’s job harder since he can’t get a fix on their combo
Manchester City’s Sergio Aguero has been banned after being retrospectively sanctioned for an elbow on West Ham defender Winston Reid during their Premier League encounter last month. Pic/Getty images
London: Absence of Manchester City’s in-form marksman Sergio Aguero will definitely bring smiles on the faces of Manchester United fans, but manager Jose Mourinho is more concerned of the Argentine striker not playing as he gets set to renew his battle with Pep Guardiola in the Manchester derby today.
ADVERTISEMENT
Aguero has been banned after being retrospectively sanctioned for an elbow on West Ham defender Winston Reid last month.
“Yeah, it changes (my approach) because it is more difficult,” Mourinho said. “When Aguero is available, we know that Aguero plays. We know their formation, we know their dynamics and nobody has doubts — when a player like him is ready, he plays.
Jose Mourinho
“In this moment, he doesn’t play. They have an amazing reach (in terms of) squad options, and in our job you can have many decisions and different decisions.
“One thing is if he decides to play with (Kelechi) Iheanacho, and another thing is if he decides to play with (Raheem) Sterling. Another one is if he decides to play, for example, with (David) Silva as a fake number nine in between the lines.
“They have so many options that for us in the preparation of the game, we have to go step-by-step, we have to go situation after situation because we try to reduce the unpredictability of the game, you know?
“We know they have so many options that we try to do that job for the players. It’s more difficult. It looks a little bit of a contradiction, but without Aguero it is more difficult.”
Subscribe today by clicking the link and stay updated with the latest news!" Click here!
