Mourinho: United need to stay grounded

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Manchester United manager Jose Mourinho

Manchester United will not get carried away, following their stunning start to the Premier League season, manager Jose Mourinho has insisted.

United registered their second 4-0 win in as many matches at Swansea City on Saturday, fuelling hopes that 2017-18 could be the season the club ends its wait for a 21st league title.

But Mourinho – quick to point out that United won their opening two fixtures last season and finished sixth – is determined to keep his players’ feet on the ground.

‘They’re not carried away. That’s not a problem for us,’ he told Sky Sports.

‘We have to improve. We have to use these weeks that we’ve had and we still have one more of one match per week.

‘I’ve always thought that when you only have one match per week you have to be much, much better than when you have two or three matches and no time to train properly.

‘We are using that to improve and next week we have one more difficult match [against Leicester City].’

Eric Bailly fired United in front late in the first half at the Liberty Stadium, before three goals in four minutes from Romelu Lukaku, Paul Pogba and substitute Anthony Martial put the game to bed.

Asked for the possible reasons behind his side’s strong start, Mourinho said: ‘The stability of the team, the confidence, the bench – our bench is really good, really strong.

‘You see the players that I brought to the game and they are players who have a lot to give.

‘In the last 20 minutes we knew a clean sheet would give us the three points, but we said let’s go for more. Let’s try to exploit the fragile moment of the opponent and I think this is confidence.

‘As a manager, you sit on the bench and you feel that from the players and you look to the pitch and you feel that.

‘Obviously, the manager feels even more confident to make certain changes and I’m really pleased.’

– This story originally appeared on FourFourTwo.co.za