Sign up to Miguel Delaney’s Reading the Game newsletter sent straight to your inbox for free Sign up to Miguel’s Delaney’s free weekly newsletter
Jose Mourinho has backed Louis van Gaal to push for titles at Manchester United but says the Dutchman needs time to adapt.
The Chelsea manager was speaking to Sky Sports during an eventful appearance on Goals on Sunday. The Portuguese accused Sky of impartiality and labelled Ashley Barnes' challenge on Nemanja Matic during yesterday's 1-1 draw with Burnley as "criminal" .
Mourinho also managed to questioned why Arsenal are not challenging for the title this season, but when it came to Manchester United he had more sympathy. The Special One says Louis van Gaal, with whom he worked with at Barcelona, needs time to adapt to the Premier League.
"He is a fantastic coach and it's easy for me to say as I know him so well and he is a fantastic person. But he has been in so many years of his career before he came to England. In the same way a player needs time to adapt to understand things to perform at the highest level it is the same for Louis."
Jose Mourinho (left) and Louis van Gaal go back a long way, having worked together at Barcelona (GETTY IMAGES) Mourinho continued: "He will have time to make Manchester United win titles again. This season they still have a chance to do that with the FA Cup and they also have the opportunity to finish in the top four and go back to the Champions League, which is the minimum for a team like them."
Show all 22 1 /22Swansea City 2 Manchester United 1 player ratings Swansea City 2 Manchester United 1 player ratings David De Gea, Manchester United Can’t be blamed for either goal considering the woeful defending that was going on in front of him for the first and a hefty deflection on the second. 6
Getty
Swansea City 2 Manchester United 1 player ratings Paddy McNair, Manchester United Relished the opportunity to get forward in the right back role and contributed to plenty of United attacks. 6
Getty
Swansea City 2 Manchester United 1 player ratings Phil Jones, Manchester United Looked out of sorts and couldn’t co-ordinate with Rojo. 4
Getty
Swansea City 2 Manchester United 1 player ratings Marcos Rojo, Manchester United Part of a centre-back pairing that looks determined to unravel United. 4
Getty
Swansea City 2 Manchester United 1 player ratings Luke Shaw, Manchester United Spent much of the game in Swansea’s half but didn’t challenge them with particularly dangerous crossing. Replaced by Ashley Young early in the second. 5
Getty
Swansea City 2 Manchester United 1 player ratings Daley Blind, Manchester United Better defensive midfielder than a defender, he looks like he might be an ample replacement for Michael Carrick one day. Good distribution. 6
Getty
Swansea City 2 Manchester United 1 player ratings Ander Herrera, Manchester United Made a very important goal-line stop early on. Fantastic with the ball at his feet all game and finished emphatically in the first half to give United the lead. Faded away in the second. 7
Getty
Swansea City 2 Manchester United 1 player ratings Angel di Maria, Manchester United Quite a common complaint for the Argentine: his pace made him look dangerous at points but his delivery let him down. Did, however, provide a nice assist for United’s first. 6
Getty
Swansea City 2 Manchester United 1 player ratings Marouane Fellaini, Manchester United Was his usual disruptive self in the centre of the park, eventually picking up a booking for his repeated clumsy challenging. Had a solid game. 6
Getty
Swansea City 2 Manchester United 1 player ratings Wayne Rooney, Manchester United Looked a lot brighter up front and contributed to the build-up play that led to the goal. Drops into the number 10 role well. 6
Getty
Swansea City 2 Manchester United 1 player ratings Robin van Persie, Manchester United Had a few chances to influence the game when he was given space by the Swansea defence, but he didn’t look sharp in front of goal. Plenty of errant shots. 5
Getty
Swansea City 2 Manchester United 1 player ratings Lukasz Fabianski, Swansea City Not a lot he could have done about the first goal. He had a good command of his box on set pieces and against the cross. 7
Getty
Swansea City 2 Manchester United 1 player ratings Kyle Naughton, Swansea City He gave Ashley Young much too much space in the second half allowing the winger to get in a series of crosses. 6
Getty
Swansea City 2 Manchester United 1 player ratings Federico Fernandez, Swansea City Strong performance in central defence with some desperate defending really boosted the Swansea cause. 7
Getty
Swansea City 2 Manchester United 1 player ratings Ashley Williams, Swansea City Helped limit United to the one goal with some determined defending. 7
Getty
Swansea City 2 Manchester United 1 player ratings Neil Taylor, Swansea City Fought his end well throughout. Not a lot of Manchester United advances happened down his side. 7
Getty
Swansea City 2 Manchester United 1 player ratings Ki, Swansea City Ghosted through the United defence for the finish and contributed well to the Swansea attack on the rare occasion that they did break away. 7
Getty
Swansea City 2 Manchester United 1 player ratings Jack Cork, Swansea City Settling presence in the middle of the park and put an end to a number of United attacks. 6
Getty
Swansea City 2 Manchester United 1 player ratings Gylfi Sigurdsson, Swansea City His deliveries were good all game. Looked lively when Swansea attacked. 6
Getty
Swansea City 2 Manchester United 1 player ratings Jonjo Shelvey, Swansea City Great cross for the first goal and his powerful effort was deflected in by Gomis for the second. 8
Getty
Swansea City 2 Manchester United 1 player ratings Wayne Routledge, Swansea City Had a frustrating afternoon on the right flank. Luke Shaw and Daley Blind held him in check for most of the game. 6
Getty
Swansea City 2 Manchester United 1 player ratings Bafetimbi Gomis, Swansea City Arial threat caused United plenty of problems with his strength in the box, but the target man role saw him fade from the game as United dominated possession. Claimed the second goal with an accidental deflection. 7
Getty
Manchester United lost ground in the battle for the top four yesterday when they were beaten 2-1 by Swansea. Arsenal moved above them into third and with just 12 games of the campaign remaining there are no guarantees of a return to the Champions League for the Red Devils. But going forward, Mourinho expects to see the good times return to Old Trafford.
"When you see the titles he has won and his experience, I don't see any reason why they can't be pushing for titles."
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies