Manchester United lost to bottom placed West Brom at Old Trafford on Sunday and certain players who performed poorly have been penned down to be dropped in Saturday’s FA Cup against Tottenham, says Jose Mourinho.
The Red devils disappointingly lost in front of their fans at home to relegation bound West Brom, and the loss transcended to Manchester City winning the Premier League title.
“The way you play is the only way I can select players,” said Mourinho.
The Manchester United manager stated “some of the guys” that played against West Brom “don’t have a place” in the team for the semi-final at Wembley.
Manchester United’s loss over the weekend have narrowed the gap between themselves and third placed Liverpool to just a point.
The Red devils play Bournemouth in the league on Wednesday before travelling to Wembley to face Tottenham in the FA Cup.
The United gaffer further said that the midweek’s Premier League game against Bournemouth at the Vitality Stadium was “an opportunity for some people to play and try to get a place in the team for Spurs”.
When asked to clarify if he meant those who performed badly against the Baggies will not be fielded against Spurs, Mourinho said:” Yeah.
“What are the criteria for a manager to choose a team?
“I only know one criterion: is the way you play.
“Or do you want me to go for the price they cost, or their salary, or their beautiful face? The only way is to go with performance.”
About Pogba’s performance, Mourinho said:”It was not just him and he had a yellow card, so he was in a more difficult position than others.”
“And playing with only two midfielders, you cannot play with one player in risk of not being able to make a foul.
“You can do it if your team is losing the ball, but our team was losing the ball so easy with the complication, everything was complicated, so we were losing lots of balls.
“Paul was out because of the yellow card; because of in terms the way he played he was not worse than some others that were on the pitch for 90 minutes.”
Manchester United will hope to consolidate their position on the Premier League standing with a win at Vitality Stadium against Bournemouth.