Former Chelsea boss Jose Mourinho questioned Frank Lampard’s team selection after the new manager’s first game in charge ended in a 4-0 defeat for the Blues at Manchester United.
Speaking as a pundit on Sky Sports, Mourinho suggested his former player should have started with N’Golo Kante, who came on as a substitute, and Willian.
Mourinho said: “If Willian is injured, I understand Willian is not playing. If Willian is not injured and he’s just late on his preparation, I don’t understand why he’s not here.
“To play 20 minutes or 30 minutes you don’t need to be fit. You can come from three weeks injured and arrive and if you have the right mentality you are ready.
“If Kante can play 30 or 35 minutes he can start the game and then if he lasts only one hour he lasts only one hour.”
Mourinho emphasised that he might not be fully aware of the situation Lampard faced and acknowledged that when a manager himself he was often annoyed by pundits criticising without seeing the full picture.
But he added: “My feeling is that today they had the possibility to play with a team with more know-how.
“Alonso was on the bench. Kante was on the bench. Giroud was on the bench. A bit of experience would have fitted well.
“You look at the performance of Mason Mount. You look at the performance of Tammy Abraham. You look at the performance even of Christensen.
“No. I think for matches of this dimension you need a little bit more.”
Click here to subscribe to West London Sport’s YouTube channel
This post was last modified on 12/08/2019
View Comments
man utd still needs a good midfielder who partner pogba matic better than Scott by far