Mourinho warning for Martial

Manchester United manager Jose Mourinho says Anthony Martial needs to take his chances or risk losing his first-team place.

Posted Saturday, November 26, 2016 by eirsport.ie

The France forward, who signed for United from Monaco in a ￡36m deal in September 2015, impressed in his first season in England under Louis van Gaal with 17 goals in 45 appearances, but has laboured under Mourino with just two goals in 13 appearances.

The 20-year-old started last weekend's 1-1 draw with Arsenal but was dropped for the Europa League home game against Feyenoord on Thursday, and Mourinho says competition for places means no player is guaranteed a starting place.

Mourinho, who has substituted Martial seven times in his nine starts this season, said: "The way the team played last season - and I'm not saying better or worse, just different - was probably more adapted to Anthony.

"Probably he was feeling more comfortable playing that way, at that intensity, at that rhythm of the ball possession and ball circulation. So probably he needs also some time.

"But in our squad, for these positions, we have Henrikh Mkhitaryan, Jesse Lingard, Memphis Depay, Juan Mata, Marcus Rashford, Martial. These are probably the positions where we have more options.

"And, you have one opportunity, you have two, you have three - if you don't bite, then somebody comes and takes the meat.

"They are friends, they are colleagues, they work together every day, but in the end they compete between themselves to have more chances to play."

United go into Sunday's Premier League game with West Ham at Old Trafford nine points behind leaders Chelsea, but Mourinho says the title race is still wide open.

"When I won the title with Chelsea 18 months ago, I had a 10 point advantage and then, one month later, I had the same number of points as Manchester City," he said.

"We lost 10 points in one month. It was between the end of December and mid-January. We recovered and won the title. You can recover points and others can lose them."