Manchester United are in need of a lift as they travel to Swansea, but must seek it without the presence of their manager Jose Mourinho on the touchline
Manchester United manager Jose Mourinho (right) gestures from the stands after he was sent off during their EPL match against Burnley at Old Trafford on October 29. Pic/AFP
Manchester: Manchester United are in need of a lift as they travel to Swansea, but must seek it without the presence of their manager Jose Mourinho on the touchline.
Mourinho must watch from the stand at the Liberty Stadium on Sunday, having been given a one-match ban for confronting referee Mark Clattenburg at half-time during last weekend’s goalless draw with Burnley.
These are not happy times for the United manager, who was fined £8,000 ($10,000, 9,000 euros) for that incident, and ordered to pay another £50,000 for comments made about another referee, Anthony Taylor, before the goalless draw at Liverpool on October 17.
Mourinho has become embroiled in controversies off the field as his team labour on it.
In the Premier League, United have dropped to eighth place after going four matches without a win and three without a goal. In the Europa League, they are in danger of being eliminated at the group stage, falling to third place in their section following Thursday’s 2-1 defeat by Fenerbahce in Istanbul.
The concern for United is that they are not scoring despite dominating the ball; they had 72 per cent possession against Burnley, and 70 per cent in Turkey. It does not help that Zlatan Ibrahimovic is going through one of the worst goalscoring spells of his career. He has gone six league matches without scoring for the first time since December 2007.
“Sometimes teams don’t score goals because of their philosophy, because the team isn’t aggressive enough and doesn’t risk enough,” he said.
“That’s not our case, that’s not our case at all. It is also easy to see that some players in our attacking areas lack confidence; they’re not sharp and getting the chances that they can,” the Portuguese boss added.
Subscribe today by clicking the link and stay updated with the latest news!" Click here!
