My players need time to get back to full fitness - Jose Mourinho

Manchester United boss Jose Mourinho has come out to say that his squad needs some time to reach its full potential as he prepares to welcome Tottenham to Old Trafford on Monday Night Football.

United fell to a surprise 3-2 defeat away to Brighton last Sunday in just their second game of the Premier League campaign, with the result raising issues including the club's defensive capabilities and the Portuguese coach's relationship with CEO Ed Woodward.

In a recent interview with Sky Sports, Mourinho said: "When you have a good week when you train really well, things are positive, you expect good individual performances. You don't expect mistakes and you expect a good result, not a defeat. Normally when you lose you want to play immediately and two days after that was not the case. But I am happy that was not the case because in this moment we need some time. We need players to be back, we need players to train more to have a kind of pre-season after the pre-season that they didn't have after the World Cup."