Jose Mourinho believes Manchester United are beginning to sort their defensive woes after impressive performances against Burnley, Watford and Young Boys.
Chris Smalling and Victor Lindelof impressed in central defence in Bern as United got their Champions League campaign off to a winning start on Wednesday. The duo have played in the three successive wins at Burnley, Watford and in Switzerland but Mourinho claims they have not yet established themselves as his first-choice pairing.
With Phil Jones fit again after a hamstring injury and Eric Bailly available, Marcos Rojo is the only one of United’s five centre-backs out of action.
Jose Mourinho believes Chris Smalling and Victor Lindelof have helped solidify his team
Smalling has impressed in central defence recently and should retain his place against Wolves
Swedish youngster Lindelof has formed a stable partnership with Smalling in recent weeks
Manchester United goalkeeper David de Gea was pictured among those arriving for training
Paul Pogba was driven to training on Friday after scoring twice in the win over Young Boys
Mourinho said on Friday: ‘I think the team as a team is resolving the defensive problems better than before. I don’t want to say it was Bailly or Jones, and it’s now Smalling or Lindelof.
‘I think the team is more compact, more solid, the spirit, the co-operation, the empathy, the communication, all of that improve in the team.
‘Good results bring confidence and I think we are improving as a team. I don’t want to say our improvement has the name of Chris or Victor. The team is playing better and they are part of the team that plays these matches.’
United are without the suspended Nemanja Matic and Marcus Rashford this weekend while Ander Herrera is close to a return.
Mourinho’s side will face a Wolves team containing up to eight Portuguese players, many of whom have been brought to Molineux by his agent Jorge Mendes.
‘I don’t speak with him for quite a long time to be honest, but when we speak we don’t speak about my job or his job,’ added the United boss. ‘He’s my agent and that’s it, but I think the work in Wolves is good because it’s not just about the Portuguese influence – Portuguese manager, staff and players – it’s also about getting the right ones.
‘I think they have got good young players and also good experienced, stable players.
Left back Luke Shaw gave photographers a thumbs up as he arrived at the training ground
Phil Jones is fit again after a hamstring injury and could play at Old Trafford on Saturday
Jesse Lingard rolled into the Carrington training complex in his Bentley on Friday morning
With Diogo Dalot set to be on the bench, Antonio Valencia should come into the starting team
Young striker Marcus Rashford will miss the game at Old Trafford through suspension
Romelu Lukaku arrived in his new white Mercedes 4×4 ahead of the game against Wolves
The imposing Belgian striker has scored four goals in six games so far this season
‘So they got this season, the Portugal national team goalkeeper, (Joao) Moutinho is one of the players of the 100-cap club and big stability in the team. The young ones are young boys with good potential and you can see the work of the coaching staff and the team is a really good team.
‘Wolves are really good. We all know that it’s not easy to be dominant in the Championship. Even if you have the best team and they were dominant since the beginning until the end and then a strong market, great work, great adaptation to the Premier League, getting the points and the performances that makes them feel and everybody feel, I include myself, that they are going to have a very stable season, very far from the problems normally a team that comes from the Championship has.’
Wolves boss Nuno Espirito Santo played under Mourinho at Porto, and the 55-year-old coach added: ‘You always have players you have a little bit of a feeling they can become managers. But even then I didn’t think about it.
‘That team at Porto, 75 per cent are now mangers. Nuno reached the Premier League level and reached it be his own merit and credit. He didn’t come direct to the Premier League, he came to the Championship, so he earned the right to be a Premier League manager. Fantastic work and the result speaks for itself.’