The Portuguese insists that he is unsure how the campaign is going to start, given the absence of a number of players
Jose Mourinho admits he "fears" the start of the Premier League after a tumultuous pre-season at Manchester United.
United have embarked on a tour of the United States, playing Club America, San Jose Earthquakes, AC Milan and Liverpool, but they have so far won just once in their four games, on penalties against the Serie A giants, and were thumped 4-1 by Jurgen Klopp's men. A clash with Real Madrid now looms.
Mourinho has been without several key players during the trip, including the likes of Romelu Lukaku, Paul Pogba, Jesse Lingard and Marouane Fellaini, due to their World Cup exploits.
Of course, Belgium and England each reached the semi-finals and contested the third-placed play-off, while France were the eventual winners of the tournament in Russia.
Mourinho has subsequently had to dip into his youth team and back-up brigade, utilising such players as Timothy Fosu-Mensah, Axel Tuanzebe, Lee Grant and Tahith Chong.
Having already criticised the make-up of his squad, Mourinho has now admitted that he is worried about the start of the campaign, with such little time to work with his first-team stars.
"This is a very strange pre-season. It's not our fault," he told beIN SPORTS.
"They did as always a fantastic job to organise it, and we must give the players at the World Cup a little bit of a holiday. The pre-season in terms of organisation is fantastic but we don't have our players and that's a big frustration especially because we go back to Europe and when we arrive, we start the Premier League, with all the risks it takes to us.
"We are going to start without the players that were involved in the World Cup, without proper training for them and it's going to be hard. Honestly, I fear it a bit."
United open their campaign against Leicester City on August 10, and the transfer window is set to close 24 hours prior.
United have so far signed Brazilian midfielder Fred, defender Diogo Dalot and back-up goalkeeper Grant.
Mourinho, though, is keen to bolster his squad further and has stated that he hopes to sign two more players, though he may be forced to settle for one more acquisition. Reports claim that he is in the market for a central defender, links persist with Leicester's Harry Maguire and Tottenham's Toby Alderweireld, and a right winger.
Lemcdeiu
87
Mou complains too much. Work around what you have. Am sure the players in camp get demoralized as he doesn't have faith in them
Kemy
85
Jose,you are complaining too much,you are now doing the same thing Antonio Conte did last summer and throughout last season at Chelsea,it looks like you can't do your job,the most annoying thing is that after buying the players you request in a short time then you tend to have problems with them,you criticize your players in the media anyhow,how do you expect them to give you their best,learn some lessons from your colleague coaches,I will be very disappointed in the man united board if they allow you to sell Anthony Marshall and keep Chris Smalling and Phill Jones,like you did at Chelsea,If you really need a central defender then sell Jones and Smalling and use the proceeds from their sale to buy one,nobody will buy a new player for you who you will end up having problems with, learn to manage your players better, you are the reason Paul Pogba is under performing, just stop talking and do the work.
babajaypakistan
67
Mou is not talking like a leader at all, with all this ranting he is suppose to know that it kills the morale and fighting spirit of this players, he should encourage them and try to believe in them even if it means pretending just to give them that sense of responsibility to perform. So for me I think mou fits PSG where he can buy and buy and buy without making any player coz he likes finished goods...yawa coach
happylife
57
Manchester United are going down the drain under Mourinho. One good result in five will never win any silverware
Huebdmu
55
It is not only Man U without first team players so Mourinho's tantrums are uncalled for,he has spent more than £430millions since he was handed the managers job to strengthen his team. If 5-6 first team players have not yet reported where is the beef,almost all the other top teams he has lost to in the ICC league have some of their players on holiday too. Cry baby mentality,Man U has enough players in depth the problem is he has mistreated all of them at some point and no player can give his best for such a dirty mouth. On the other hand he is in his third season and has started to implode,looking at teams around him he knows he has no chance of competing with them given his silly and well tried tactics of parking the red bus! Wither Jose.