Jose Mourinho has made it clear that he will not consider dropping Romelu Lukaku at Manchester United, insisting he had no other options.
The Belgian has not scored in eight games and picked up widespread criticism for his performance during the 0-1 defeat to Juventus on Tuesday night.
Lukaku, while impressing for his national team, has not scored at Old Trafford since a 2-0 win over Swansea City in March.
Speaking ahead of the clash with Everton, Lukaku’s old club, Mourinho stressed that he would continue to place faith in his main striker.
Mourinho: “Lukaku? One day he will score, one day his confidence levels will be back to normal, which clearly it’s not there. Every game is the game. If we decided to give a rest to Lukaku and play Rashford, then who plays as a winger.” #mufc
— United Xtra (@utdxtra) October 26, 2018
Mourinho: “We are not in the best situation to try to think about resting players or try to find solutions, the solutions is to play the players we have. Against Juventus, to give him (Lukaku) a break, I don't think Carrick can play as a striker.” #mufc
— United Xtra (@utdxtra) October 26, 2018
Mourinho makes it seem as if there are no options other than playing Lukaku up top, but that is simply not true.
In Anthony Martial, Juan Mata, Alexis Sanchez and the soon-returning Jesse Lingard, Mourinho has four players to fill two spaces in a 4-3-3 set-up who can provide a mixture of width and control from out wide as Rashford leads the line with a greater emphasis on pace and making the pitch big.
To Mourinho, though, that idea is not trustworthy. His teams have been usually moulded around a physical striker playing regularly and to opt for anything else, at a time when he needs results, would be far too risky for his liking.
