That explains it.
Jose Mourinho didn’t mince his words when explaining the recent decision to drop Henrikh Mkhitaryan from his matchday squads.
Supporters were delighted to see Marcus Rashford and Anthony Martial starting together for Manchester United’s comprehensive victory over Newcastle last week, with Mkhitaryan’s absence allowing for both to make the starting XI.
On Friday, Mourinho was asked to explain why the Armenia international had fallen out of favour and he didn’t dance around the subject, as he accused Mkhitaryan of “disappearing.”
“I was not happy with his last performances. I’m not speaking about one or two, I’m speaking about three, four or five,” Mourinho said. “He started the season very well and after that, step by step, he was disappearing.
“His performance levels in terms of goal scoring and assists, high pressing, recovering the ball high up the pitch, bringing the team with him as a No.10, were decreasing step by step. That was enough because the others worked to have a chance. Everybody works to have a chance. It’s as simple as that.”
With the recent returns from injury of Paul Pogba and Zlatan Ibrahimovic, the United boss is suddenly spoiled for choice in terms of attacking options.
And while various media reports suggest that Mkhitaryan is fighting for his Old Trafford career, Mourinho has stressed that he sees no reason why the 28-year-old shouldn’t return to the squad for United’s Premier League meeting with Brighton on Saturday afternoon.
“The positions are all open for them,” Mourinho said. “So last couple of matches Mkhitaryan was out and other players had the opportunity to play where Mkhitaryan normally is. I think it’s quite fair that tomorrow Mkhitaryan is back.
“I don’t know [if Mkhitaryan will start this weekend]. I still have one training session but, for sure, he will be back in the group. For him to be back to the group, it means that somebody is going to leave the group. Maybe the next press conference tomorrow after the match you are asking me why A was not on the pitch or why B was not even selected.
“That’s life. Rules are like this. Only 11 plus seven. When you have a chance and the performance is not what you expect, that’s normal. That’s life. You have to perform.
“When you compete a lot, training is difficult to judge [the players] because in the end you train in small groups. You have always the group that played the last match, you have always the group that didn’t play, you have one group of, let’s say, 10 recovering from the last match and you have another group of eight, nine or 10 that are trying to training.
“I cannot say that when you play so much, training is the best habitat to analyse the players. I would say on the pitch – pitch, match, and sometimes in a couple of minutes you see things. You don’t need sometimes to play 40, 50, 60 minutes for the coach to have feelings and have data to analyse.
“So I would say it’s on the pitch, especially on the pitch. Tell me on the pitch what you want to do the next match.”
