Jose Mourinho insists the Manchester United team he will select to face Liverpool on Sunday will have the desire, ambition and fight to win at Anfield.
The Reds will make the relatively short trip along the M62 to face our arch-rivals for the fifth time under Mourinho, with the opportunity of extending the club's unbeaten run against the Merseysiders to nine meetings.
Speaking in his pre-match press conference at the Aon Training Complex on Friday morning, the boss was asked if he has the strategy and tools to triumph at one of the toughest grounds to visit.
“I’m going to try,”
said Jose. “I always try and I want to play a team that is capable to be with me on that desire, ambition and confidence. We know we’re going to play against the [league] leaders and a team on a high but we have our qualities and our potential.
“Even with the problems we have and doubts in terms of team choice, tactics, approach and philosophy – we have doubts about everything because we don't know which players are available. We’re going to arrive on Sunday with the players that we’re going to have available. We’re going to have a team capable of going there and fighting for the victory.”
The men from Old Trafford have lost just one of the club's last seven Premier League trips to Anfield, and have earned clean sheets in both visits under Mourinho. In fact, since he became United boss, the Portuguese has yet to lose to Liverpool at home or away, unlike some of his fellow managers in the Premier League's top six.
However, he feels past results have no bearing on Sunday’s game, which is his only focus at present.
“I think we got two positive results against Liverpool last season,”
he recalled. “We beat them at home and we haven’t lost any match against them in four I think, but that was the past.
“Sunday has nothing to do with what happened in the past, so I have to focus not on what happened, not on the credit that we were given or not. I have to focus on the next match. The next match is the one that is important and that’s it.”
Mourinho has previously been quoted as saying that Liverpool are obliged to challenge for the Premier League title given their level of spending in the summer transfer market. When asked about this in his press conference, the boss stated there are “many things”
- not just signing players - that have to be done if a club is to compete for the biggest prizes.
“It’s not just about spending money and reinforcing the squad,”
he told reporters.
“A football team is more than that. A football team is not just about spending the money. A football team is a little bit like a house.
“A house is not just about buying your furniture. You have to do work in the house and when the house is ready then you buy your furniture. You spend money on the best possible furniture and then you are ready to live in an amazing house.”
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