Remain humble, Jose tells players

MOSCOW. – Manchester United manager Jose Mourinho has encouraged his players to remain “humble” as they look to take control of Champions League soccer Group A by beating CSKA Moscow tonight.

United are level on points with leaders Manchester City in the English Premier League after winning five and drawing one of their first six games and some of their football has been dazzling.

They beat Basel 3-0 in their Champions League opener, but Mourinho criticised his players for playing “PlayStation football” in the game’s latter stages and he warned the wheels could quickly come off if they lose focus.

“We cannot guarantee this line of success, but the way to try to keep it is to do what we are doing,” said Mourinho, whose side won 1-0 at Southampton in their most recent game on Saturday.

“We try to play well and in some moments of the match, if the opponent has moments of superiority, we have to be humble – like we were against Southampton – and cope with the difficult moments of the game.

“In the second half we had to be humble. We had to accept that the opponent was in a high and we had to fight hard.

“So it’s a mixture of our quality – being dominant like we always want to be – but accepting the reality of high-level football. When the opponent has a strong moment, you have to cope with it.”

In-form attacking midfielder Henrikh Mkhitaryan said Mourinho’s words after the Basel game had made United’s players doubly determined not to let their levels drop even once games are in the bag.

“Of course everyone knows that Jose Mourinho is very demanding and what he said, he’s right,” the Armenian told United’s pre-match press conference at CSKA’s VEB Arena yesterday. – AFP.