Fred was a high-profile arrival at Old Trafford in the close season, but the Red Devils boss does not believe his side are any better than last season
Jose Mourinho does not believe Manchester United's three signings in the close season have improved their squad.
United, who finished second in the Premier League last term, brought in goalkeeper Lee Grant, defender Diogo Dalot and midfielder Fred, but Mourinho is thought to have wanted a new centre-back and has openly criticised the club's failure to back him.
Ahead of the Red Devils' league opener against Leicester City, Mourinho claimed he is working with essentially the same group as in 2017-18.
"It is the same, the same squad as last season," Mourinho told Sky Sports.
"We changed the goalkeepers with Lee because Joel [Pereira, loaned to Vitoria de Setubal] is such a good young goalkeeper that he needs to play.
"We changed Daley Blind [returned to Ajax] for a 19-year-old kid [Dalot] that we believe has the potential to play right-back or left-back. We changed Michael Carrick [retired] for Fred, so our squad is the same.
"[Fred] is a midfield player, he's not a striker, not a central defender. He's a midfield player that technically is very good.
"In that sense, typically, the Brazilian player has a very rich luggage in technical terms and also in some static beauty movements of football. He's a player to really enjoy, if he adapts as soon as possible."
Mourinho believes he can now help his squad to get better, however.
He added: "There are ways to improve your team: one way is to spend a lot of money and to bring in lots of important players, another way is to work and that's the way we have to do it.
"I relish every challenge, it doesn't matter what, I love to work. That's the only thing I can promise, work hard. I am always confident, that's management."
prakashcr7
107
Mourino might be happy by seeing this.
as_win10
71
We still have a good team. Hope these guys will perform well. GGMU
RBarr
61
Typically Mourinho. He's already making the excuse in case Man U performs badly this season, that's it's not his fault. I understand his tactics by trying to motivate his team by speaking bad about them with the intention that this will spark a fire under them and they will perform at an extremely high level. However he's has tried this before n since recently when he was at Chelsea and it failed(Heavily criticising Hazard with the intention of him reaching another level, totally backfired and it was sack in short order). Even at Madrid and it failed. I think Mourinho needs to change his tactics or he's going to lose the entire dressing room soon.
Yinbptu
56
MUN is still a great squad with talented players that can compete for silverware. The problem with the squad at the moment is Mourinho. He has perforated the confidence of the squad with his unthoughtful comments.
Piplorz
54
mourinho is the right manager for mun ,people just want to confuse him by saying Manchester United will finish 3 or 4 they cannot tell future I bet people who are saying things like that as the season goes they will be saying Manchester United is back were they belong ,I really want teams to fear Manchester United because their red devils and we don't expect Manchester United to win everything but for how long some Manchester United players want to win the premier league and make history and also feel how the premier league title is.
Kalix
51
I am going to go against most people opinions and give Ed a big pat on the back. He has shelled out nearly £600 million on helping Moyes, LVG and Jose build a team to win the title and none of these manager’s even came close. I am glad he gave Jose the middle finger and told him to start coaching instead of quick fixes all the time. He should be building a team to rule for seasons not one season. Wanting another CB when you shelled out £70 million on 2 already is taking the p*ss. You cant keep wanting to replace players you brought to the club like you did with Miki then zero improvement to the team when new boy sanchez came in and expect Ed to keep signing cheques. Ed has finally realised that he cant keep signing cheques on players one manager fancies but another doesn’t we will just be in the same mess again again with mediocre players scattered around the squad. Ed is only interested in spending big on players who have marketing value so he can milk them and make the club back money spent to sign the player thats why he will never release Pogba hes a marketing gem. For me Ed gave Jose the one player we really needed in Fred as we were so weak and short in midfield whereas defensively we had 2nd best defence in the league of course due to Jose tactics so no need for more defensive players but i agree Godin and Auderwerald are top draw. For me Jose should see this as a challenge one similar to Porto winning CL and use the media criticism to inspire the team you know a kind of us against the world which he loves to do anyway problem is he’s been feeding the press most of their headlines so not sure how much the players will still respect him.
Đaiveed ♥
45
It's obvious I don't see United getting any better it's just d same squad the only difference is the two additions they made to the team which I think will really help them 8n d coming season apart from that nothing else.... Jose management of players is really bad they needed just a good center back after trailing six defenders they couldn't even get one how bad is that 😔
Arghadas
27
it is pathetic to see for blaming to coach but no one is bother about the players who are not playing well from last season except Lukaku and Sanchez..after pep , mou is the best coach and he can do any miracle which was proved already in Chelsea,real and Milan...so plz don't blaming him