Ander Herrera Defends Jose Mourinho over 'Difficult' Pre-Season Tour

Manchester United midfielder Ander Herrera has defended manager Jose Mourinho's attitude during the Red Devils' pre-season tour of the United States and said he shares his boss' frustrations. 

Mourinho has cut a miserable figure for much of the last two weeks while United have been stateside, but Herrera explained he has a right to be angry given the lack of players available to him due to holiday and injury, per David McDonnell in the Mirror:

"It's true, and I agree with him. It must be difficult for him to work with a group of players, maybe 50 per cent of whom he's not going to have in the future. You can't really work tactically, because the guys you're working with could be leaving, going on loan or going to the second team, so it's difficult for him. 

"It's also difficult for us, but we knew in advance before coming that it was going to be like this. This is my fifth pre-season here, and it's the most strange pre season so far."

Robbie Jay Barratt - AMA/Getty Images

Spaniard Herrera added that, while Mourinho may have projected a dour front to the press, that has not been true of his interaction with the squad: "I can just say that with us he's very positive, he wants us to fight for the titles, he wants us to perform to our best, he wants us to work as hard as possible."

The Red Devils finished their tour on a high on Tuesday as Herrera and Alexis Sanchez scored in a 2-1 win over Real Madrid.

Mourinho revealed after the clash that key players Romelu Lukaku, Marcus Rashford and Phil Jones will be returning early from their post-World Cup holidays to rejoin the squad, per Paul Hirst of The Times:

Ashley Young, Jesse Lingard and Paul Pogba are also still on holiday after they reached the latter stages of Russia 2018.

Mourinho will have little time with his full squad before their opening Premier League fixture against Leicester City at Old Trafford on August 10.

United went undefeated in their opening eight games of last season, winning six times and drawing twice.

If Mourinho's side are to make a genuine tilt at the title in 2018-19 they will need a similarly fine start, as Liverpool, Chelsea, Tottenham Hotspur and defending champions Manchester City are all likely to impress.

The likes of Pogba, Lukaku and Rashford cannot be expected to be match fit immediately upon their return from holiday, so it will be up to Mourinho to manage his squad well to ensure United still make a fast start to the campaign.