Mourinho would deem a fourth placed finish acceptable
Manchester United manager Jose Mourinho has stated that he would accept finishing in fourth place this season, due to the guarantee of Champions League football, according to Goal.
The Red Devils have been in second place behind Manchester City for the majority of this season and look likely to be playing Champions League football again next season.
United have suffered two defeats in their past four games, allowing Liverpool to creep within two points of them, however their win over Chelsea on Sunday allowed them to increase the gap between them and the Premier League’s reigning champions Chelsea, who are currently in fifth position.
Despite being happy if United finish fourth this season, Mourinho has stated that his squad will aim to achieve a second places finish. Mourinho claimed that there is not much difference between second or fourth in terms of money or achievements, and he stated that he would be happy with finishing in any of those places, as long as Champions League football is guaranteed next season.
Speaking in his pre-match press conference ahead of the Red Devils’ trip to South London to play against Crystal Palace on Monday night, Mourinho said;
Six points between second and fifth is really, really short and open for everybody, but all four are in the Champions League still, so we have other focus, other targets.
I have to say, all of us very good teams, in spite of sometimes the way I read it looks like all the others are better than us, but I’m not sure that’s the reality. So, I would say there are four very good teams and one will be out of the Champions League.
If you ask me second or fourth, I say by the financial point of view it doesn’t make a difference, by the prestige point of view it doesn’t make a difference. You go to Champions League and the fourth [placed team] doesn’t even now have to play the last qualification.
But, by the personal point of view second is better than third, so we are going to try the best possible.
Of course, the top four is very difficult and that’s the main target for us, but if you can finish second we won’t finish third.