Mourinho turns on media 'lies' over use of Rashford

Manchester United manager Jose Mourinho turned on the media once more on Friday as he launched a detailed defence of his use of England international striker Marcus Rashford.

The 20-year-old forward impressed for the Three Lions over the international break as he started, and scored, against both Spain and Switzerland.

That led to questions over whether Mourinho was making the most of Rashford's abilities as he has struggled to hold down a regular place in the United side where he faces stiff competition from Romelu Lukaku, Alexis Sanchez and Anthony Martial.

Rashford will definitely be missing when Mourinho's men travel to Watford on Saturday, though, as he begins a three-match ban after being sent-off against Burnley before the international break.

"I think I can expect that Sunday I'm going to be highly criticised for not playing him tomorrow because some of the boys are really obsessed with me and, some of them, they have I think a problem with some compulsive lies," said Mourinho.

The Portuguese coach then reeled off a stream of statistics detailing Rashford's 105 appearances in Mourinho's first two seasons in charge before pointedly suggesting other managers should be quizzed for their use of young English players.

"Marcus Rashford is not (Liverpool forward) Dominic Solanke, he's not (Chelsea midfielder) Ruben Loftus-Cheek, he's not (Everton striker) Dominic Calvert-Lewin.

"He's Marcus Rashford, Manchester United player, with an incredible number of appearances and an incredible number of minutes played at the highest level in the best possible competitions."
"But for the Manchester United supporters, I think it is important they have the right idea of how things are in reality."