Early team news: Yeovil Town v United
Jose Mourinho will field a strong Manchester United team in Friday night's Emirates FA Cup fourth-round tie against Yeovil Town at Huish Park, although the manager stopped short of confirming whether new signing Alexis Sanchez will make his debut from the start.
The Chile international completed his transfer from Arsenal on Monday and is available for selection because he missed the Gunners' third-round defeat at Nottingham Forest and is therefore not cup-tied.
Fans are excited to see the new no.7 in action and, during the pre-match press conference at the Aon Training Complex, the manager discussed his plans for the trip to Yeovil.
"We want to win," Mourinho told reporters. "We know what cups are. Manchester United played a couple of years ago at Yeovil [in January 2015] and they know the difficulties they felt.
"So we have to go with a very strong team. We are going to rest a couple of players; we also have a couple of problems that we want to try to resolve, with problems for the next matches in February in the Premier League and also Champions League. But it will be a very strong team."
Fans are excited to see the new no.7 in action and, during the pre-match press conference at the Aon Training Complex, the manager discussed his plans for the trip to Yeovil.
"We want to win," Mourinho told reporters. "We know what cups are. Manchester United played a couple of years ago at Yeovil [in January 2015] and they know the difficulties they felt.
"So we have to go with a very strong team. We are going to rest a couple of players; we also have a couple of problems that we want to try to resolve, with problems for the next matches in February in the Premier League and also Champions League. But it will be a very strong team."
Jose: A strong team will face Yeovil Video
Jose: A strong team will face Yeovil
The manager began the press conference by revealing his plans for the FA Cup tie at Yeovil...
Mourinho confirmed his squad at Yeovil will include Alexis and he hopes the former Barcelona player's arrival will inspire the rest of the squad, as he continues his mission to take United back to the top.
"This is life in big clubs," Jose said. "In big clubs, you have big players. In big clubs, you have competition. In big clubs, you have responsibilities - you have to perform always, you have to try to go to every competition in a serious way. You cannot do that with 11 players. It's absolutely impossible to do it with 11 players, so the players at big clubs know that the squad is made of 20-something players where everybody wants to play and where there is space for everybody.
"What we cannot do is play 12 at the same time, start with 12 for a certain match. But [there is] space for everybody and needed for everybody. I think it's absolutely fundamental and we want to improve all the time, we want to be better and better. We want to achieve big things. We are not going to stop until we do that and it's very important the evolution of players.
"I'm really happy and I have to say also with some pride, the evolution of Lingard, Martial, McTominay - these kind of young guys. But at the same time, you need also a combination with the kinds of Matic, Alexis, people with more experience, with more know-how who were before in positions where we want to be - fighting for titles. It's a very important addition for us."
"This is life in big clubs," Jose said. "In big clubs, you have big players. In big clubs, you have competition. In big clubs, you have responsibilities - you have to perform always, you have to try to go to every competition in a serious way. You cannot do that with 11 players. It's absolutely impossible to do it with 11 players, so the players at big clubs know that the squad is made of 20-something players where everybody wants to play and where there is space for everybody.
"What we cannot do is play 12 at the same time, start with 12 for a certain match. But [there is] space for everybody and needed for everybody. I think it's absolutely fundamental and we want to improve all the time, we want to be better and better. We want to achieve big things. We are not going to stop until we do that and it's very important the evolution of players.
"I'm really happy and I have to say also with some pride, the evolution of Lingard, Martial, McTominay - these kind of young guys. But at the same time, you need also a combination with the kinds of Matic, Alexis, people with more experience, with more know-how who were before in positions where we want to be - fighting for titles. It's a very important addition for us."
Mourinho: Alexis can play in four roles Video
Mourinho: Alexis can play in four roles
Unsurprisingly, Alexis Sanchez was the hottest topic among the press...
Vlog: Counting down to Alexis' debut Video
Vlog: Counting down to Alexis' debut
Mark Froggatt presents the latest talking point, all about our new no.7 and when he'll debut for Jose's Reds.
Back to Top