Jose Mourinho has refused to rule out making January signings, saying his Manchester United squad is "in trouble" because of injuries and suspensions.

United ended a run of four games without a win with a 2-0 victory over Everton at Goodison Park on Monday.

But they had to do it without Romelu Lukaku, Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Marouane Fellaini, Eric Bailly and Michael Carrick, while Ashley Young served the first game of a three-match ban.

"I don't know," Mourinho told Sky Sports when asked whether he would add to his squad this month.

"I know that in this moment we are in trouble. Maybe in two or three weeks time we recover some players. Can we improve our team now or do we wait for the summer to try to do it? It is something I cannot say.

"The only thing I can say is that the boys give everything they have. And it is not only because we won today that I am happy with them.

"I think the boys deserve it. I keep saying that our draws were not bad performances. The boys were fantastic, their attitude, their commitment, their pride, their effort. Everything was top class. And on top of it, I think we played very well."

Mourinho said after Monday's game he believed Lukaku could potentially return on Friday in the FA Cup, after saying on Saturday that Ibrahimovic would be sidelined for a month.

Goals from Anthony Martial and Jesse Lingard sealed United's first Premier League win since Dec. 17.

It was Lingard's fifth goal in his last five away games and his seventh in his last nine appearances. The 25-year-old now has 10 for the season, the first time he has reached double figures in a single campaign.

Mourinho added: "One thing is to be a young talent, and another thing is to be a very good player. Some players are not capable of doing that jump. They go from great potential to normal players.

"I think Jesse is giving that jump. He is being more consistent, he's going in a good direction."

Lingard, meanwhile, credited Mourinho for encouraging him to attempt more shots like the one that doubled United's lead at Goodison Park.

"I've been pushing myself to get as many goals as I can this season," he said. "Playing on the left, the boss has given me licence to cut inside.

"We're only halfway through the season and we have to have a winning mentality."

Captain for the day Paul Pogba was instrumental for United, setting up Martial to score the opener after 57 minutes, and he said it was n a "relief" to break their run of draws.

"We deserved to win against Leicester and Southampton but we didn't win and this is football," he told Sky.

"Today, I think we did what we had to do.

"It's the first game of the year, a good win. We had chances, we were aggressive but in a positive way, defensively we were very good.

"It was a very good team performance."

Source:
courtesy of ESPNFC

by Rob Dawson

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