Mourinho won’t be happy.
Manchester United take on Everton at Old Trafford on Sunday afternoon. And it appears that Jose Mourinho’s team has been leaked ahead of kick-off.
According to the Manchester Evening News, this is how United will lineout against the Toffees:
David De Gea; Antonio Valencia, Chris Smalling, Victor Lindelof, Luke Shaw; Fred, Nemanja Matic, Paul Pogba; Juan Mata, Marcus Rashford, Anthony Martial.
If this is the team to play Everton, then United will make two changes from the defeat to Juventus last Tuesday in the Champions League.
Ashley Young will make way for Antonio Valencia, while Brazilian midfielder Fred will come in for Romelu Lukaku.
Jose in prog: “I have absolutely no criticism of how my boys have played in the last two games….We want to get back to winning matches. I believe that at the end of December we will be in a completely different position in the table.”
— Simon Stone (@sistoney67) October 28, 2018
The Belgian striker has been on a poor run of form and hasn’t scored in his last eight games.
On Friday afternoon, Mourinho admitted that Lukaku has been struggling for confidence, but he expects him to return to form soon enough.
“I think one of the best scorers in football had funny words about it. It was when Cristiano Ronaldo was speaking about the ketchup bottle and when you [shake it]. The goals are coming and coming and coming.
“I believe with Lukaku that this will happen, but the reality is that in this moment it’s not happening.
“There’s been lots of matches in which he’s not scored a goal, and not just scoring but also the performances, the happiness in the performances, I think is the problem. But he’s a good player, a good boy, and I think the best way to do it is to just keep working and the moment will arrive.”
Manchester Evening News were keen to stress that, of course, the final lineup could change before the match at 4 pm on Sunday.
However, the United team news was leaked ahead of last Saturday’s draw with Chelsea and it proved correct.
According to a report, Mourinho has launched an investigation into why these leaks keep occurring. The United manager is said to be “fuming.”
If this leak is accurate, Lukaku will miss the match against Everton, his former team.
Marco Silva’s side were two places and one point above United ahead of the game, sitting in eighth place with 15 points from nine Premier League matches.
