Jose Mourinho gives fascinating tactical breakdown of Manchester United strikers Zirkzee and Hojlund
Joshua Zirkzee and Rasmus Hojlund are familiar to Jose Mourinho from his stint as Roma coach when he came up against them for Bologna and Atalanta. Which one started for Manchester United was the main tactical quandary Fenerbahce had to contend with.
Mourinho was prepared for full back Noussair Mazraoui's deployment as a No.10 after his international teammate Sofyan Amrabat alerted Mourinho to the Moroccan's versatility. But Zirkzee and Hojlund operate in opposite ways.
Hojlund had scored two in three starts for United, had a gentle time away with Denmark for their Nations League fixtures, dinked in the winner against Brentford on Saturday and had a five-day gap between games. Yet Zirkzee was recalled for a first club start in nearly four weeks.
The Dutchman now has one goal in 12 games for United and that came on his debut more than two months ago. At his post-match press conference, Mourinho highlighted how differently Zirkzee and Hojlund operate.
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United manager Erik ten Hag felt "a hectic ambience to start with four attackers is too much". Was that a compliment?
"Look, honestly, I know that in your mind they have three points," Mourinho said. "They had two, they have three. But I think in this eight-match format, if they win two matches, they have nine points and there are five matches to play. They will not win two matches out of the five. They will win more. So they will qualify.
"So I think the point for them is a positive point. The same way in Porto a point is a positive point. Because we are a good team, it's difficult to play here. Porto is the same.
"And I think he (Ten Hag)