Jose Mourinho on the pitch at London Stadium

The focus has turned to Valencia on Tuesday night

Sunday 30 September 2018 08:00

Jose Mourinho admitted that he would use the train journey back from London to plot Manchester United's recovery from the disappointment of defeat at West Ham United.

Strikes from Felipe Anderson and Marko Arnautovic, plus an unfortunate own goal by Victor Lindelof, ensured all three points went to the Hammers, despite a second-half effort from Marcus Rashford that temporarily offered the Reds hope.
Afterwards, Mourinho and Ashley Young both spoke positively about the chance to move forward quickly. With the Valencia match coming just three days after the loss at London Stadium, Jose acknowledged the rebuilding work would start instantly.
 
"For myself, speaking of my own feelings, I am really happy that we have a game on Tuesday," said the manager. "I am really happy that I now go to the train and I start immediately thinking about training tomorrow and about the match on Tuesday. I prefer that to only playing next Saturday, with one week of these bad feelings.
"I look forward to that match on Tuesday and I hope the majority of the players have this same kind of mentality, and that they are looking forward to Tuesday."
 
Valencia's visit is United's first home game in the Champions League group stage this season and, despite some inconsistent Premier League form and last week's Carabao Cup exit, Mourinho's men are well placed in Europe, thanks to an impressive 3-0 win against Young Boys of Bern on matchday one.
 
“I have no complaints with the players' attitude," stated the boss.
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Ashley Young echoed Mourinho's forward focus, and hoped that the game against Valencia would help the squad bounce back.
 
"When you have these types of results, you want a game as quickly as possible," confessed United's no.18. "We've got that in a couple of days' time, so we've got to dust ourselves off quickly and get rid of the disappointment."
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The only positive on Saturday for United was a first goal of the season for substitute Marcus Rashford, after his return to league duties following a three-match suspension.
 
As Mourinho and Young both stressed, Tuesday offers the opportunity to take a big step towards securing qualification for the knockout stages of Europe's premier football competition, which would quickly restore momentum following three difficult results against Wolves, Derby County and West Ham.