Mourinho worried Old Trafford struggles will cost Man Utd

Michael Graham
Jose Mourinho: Faces former club Chelsea on Monday night

Jose Mourinho: Faces former club Chelsea on Monday night

Jose Mourinho admits he is worried that Man Utd’s struggles at Old Trafford will cost them a spot in the Champions League next season.

Stoke, Burnley, Arsenal, West Ham, Liverpool, Hull and Bournemouth have all left the north-west with a point this season.

No team has drawn as many home games this term and the inability to turn dominance into victories leaves United three points off a Champions League berth.

The Europa League offers another route back to the continent’s top table, but Mourinho knows they can ill afford any more Old Trafford setbacks like Saturday’s 1-1 draw with 10-man Bournemouth.

Asked if he is worried home form will cost United a top-four place, he retorted: “Of course, of course.

“If you look at the points we lost at home – I don’t speak about the Man City match – all the other matches we drew.

“If you accumulate these points, you are talking about 10 or 12 and with these points we are not just speaking about the top four, we would be speaking about the top two or top one.

“We lost too many points at home and obviously cost us our position.

“Are we dead in relation to the top four? No, we are not dead. We are not dead.

“There are matches to play, points to win, points to lose, points to fight for. We are not dead.

“But the reality is that we are losing too many points at home.”

Premier League games at Old Trafford have taken an all too familiar theme this term, with a lack of cutting edge seeing United fail to translate dominance into victories.

Saturday was the fourth time in the league this season that United have managed 20 or more shots at goal without winning and Mourinho knows that is costing his side.

“The old story of create lots of chances but not score goals is an old story but applies perfectly to our football in these matches at home against Hull, Burnley, Bournemouth, Stoke,” he said.

“It is more of the same. We play well, we start well. We have one chance in the first minute, we have another in the third or fifth minute. We accumulate and the goalkeeper gets confidence.

“The goalkeeper is the man of the match and so on, and so on, and so on. It is more of the same.

“We need to score goals. Other teams with less chances, they score goals.

“Against Southampton in the (EFL Cup) final, I think with five chances we score three goals and (against Bournemouth) with more than 10, we score one goal.”

The draw will be compounded if Zlatan Ibrahimovic is hit with retrospective Football Association action for an elbow on Tyrone Mings, who could also face sanctions for a stamp he claims was unintentional.