Manchester United manager Jose Mourinho defends decision to banish Bastian Schweinsteiger to reserves

Jose Mourinho has defended his treatment of midfielder Bastian Schweinsteiger

Jose Mourinho has defended his decision to ditch veteran midfielder Bastian Schweinsteiger, insisting he only wants to work with 23 outfield players at Manchester United.

Mourinho has come under fire from Schweinsteiger’s old club Bayern Munich for making Germany’s World Cup-winning captain train with United’s Under-23 squad.

The new Old Trafford boss took responsibility for the decision, claiming he had to whittle down his playing staff to make way for four new signings and create the size of squad he wants.

The Germany midfielder was banished to train with the reserve team last week

‘I have to make my decisions, it’s simple,’ said Mourinho when asked about the Schweinsteiger situation. 

‘What is happening is what happens in every club in the world, and that is the manager decides his squad.

’The truth is you want a certain number of players to face the season and that’s it. I normally like to work with 20 players plus three goalkeepers, which is what I do for 15 years.

Mourinho has stressed that he only wants to work with 23 outfield players in his squad

The decision to demote the veteran German star has gone down badly in his homeland

‘But we have so many competitions, and especially the Europa League which is a competition that changes a lot for the season because you can play 15 matches, you play on Thursdays and have a big risk of travelling a lot. 

'Normally you are going to play in the Premier League on Sunday.

‘So I made the decision to be with 23 players plus three goalkeepers which is still a lot. I have to make my decisions. It’s simple.’ 

Mourinho admits he is concerned about United’s lack of preparation following a difficult tour of China which included the cancellation of the Manchester derby in Beijing.

But he promised to change the club’s much-maligned style of play under his predecessor Louis van Gaal over the course of time.

Mourinho has promised his United teams will play differently to those of Louis van Gaal

Louis van Gaal's United teams were criticised for playing too conservatively

‘My teams are very different to Mr Van Gaal,’ added. ‘I want to make it clear that I’m not saying my teams are better or have better ideas, not at all. My teams are very different to Mr Van Gaal.

‘It’s a difficult situation to change the dynamics. It would be easier for me to have 20 new players and start from zero. For two years they had some principles of play that are not my principles clearly.

‘Without losing their identity, the players always try to adapt to what the manager wants. After two years there are things in their brains that are automatic and that’s difficult to change.

‘We’re trying to change it and we are far from perfection but the players are giving everything to try to adapt, and step by step they are going to be my team.

‘Our pre-season was strange. It was a good pre-season for some players but for others it was not enough. The number of matches were not enough. The match we didn’t play against Manchester City was really bad for us. 

Mourinho delivers a team talk to his players during Friday morning's training session

The Special One looks over his notes as United train ahead of Sunday's Community Shield

'The week of work, I could change and say week of no work, in China was really bad for us. We need to train and work and get minutes for the players.

‘But that is over. Now we have no chance to train against other teams. Now we have Leicester and it is not a training session, it’s a game.’

Even so, Mourinho wants his players to pick up his first trophy at Old Trafford by beating the Premier League champions at Wembley on Sunday.

He said: ‘Especially for our players involved in the last season, for them it must have a meaning because to play the Community Shield you must be champions or win the FA Cup, and they won the FA Cup. We have to face it as a game. 

'We have six changes (substitutes) not three and that gives me the chance to give minutes to some players who cannot play 90 minutes because they haven’t got the condition to play 90 mins. We will try to win.’ 

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