Mourinho Revealed Why He Ignored United Starman Against West Brom Clash

Manchester United boss Jose Mourinho has finally explained why he dropped star player Juan Mata when the team clashed against West Brom on Saturday.

The Portuguese tactician led his boys to pick up the full three points at The Hawthorns with a brace from Swedish legend Zlatan Ibrahimovic.

Regular Ivorian powerhouse Eric Bailly missed the game due to injury, but the duo of Daley Blind and Juan Mata had to settle for a place on the bench.

However, speaking about his decision to play Lingard, Mourinho said it was all about trying to break down a well organised West Brom side.

“[He is] a different player than Juan [Mata],” Mourinho said.

“Both very good players obviously but different players.

“Against Palace we thought it was more important to have Juan’s quality to hold the ball up to keep playing inside positions.

“Today we thought it was important to have one of the three attacking players to be more of a runner and we did that with Jesse and later with Marcus [Rashford].”

Nevertheless, many chose Mata as one of the team’s best performers before the introduction of Henrikh Mkhitaryan, and they felt he deserves a place in the team, hoping to see him back in action soon.

Manchester United hosts Sunderland on Boxing Day and will hope to make it four wins from four after full time.