The international break is always a tough time for any manager. Players who are slected to represent their country can often return to their club tired or even injured. United manager Jose Mourinho is no different. He has stressed his concerns about missing players ahead of United’s September 10th clash with arch rivals Manchester City, saying that he is worried his squad will be under-cooked when the players return.

“We keep eight outfield players and Sam Johnstone as the goalkeeper,” Mourinho told MUTV.

“We are going to lose the others and we don’t know the way they train, the way they recover, the life they are going to have with their national teams. Some are coming back on the Monday before the Manchester City match but some are coming back on Friday.”

“The day before Man City, we will still have Sergio Romero, Marcos Rojo and Antonio Valencia arriving. It will be a complicated process but we know it is like this when we have these players. And I would love all of the players to go because it would mean that everybody is being selected for their national teams.”

[Quotes via Express]

Meanwhile Antonio Valencia, who is on international duty with Ecuador, has given his views on the new manager. The winger has spent the last seven years with Manchester United and has played under Sir Alex Ferguson, David Moyes, Louis van Gaal and now Jose Mourinho.

The Portuguese has impressed in his first 4 games as manager, winning them all, and Valencia believes Jose could bring United back to their former glory as he has filled everyone with confidence.

“Everyone is feeling confident, everyone wants the ball.”

“I think he’s given a really positive boost of confidence to the side and that can be seen out there on the field,” the Ecuador international told MUTV.

“Everyone is feeling confident, everyone wants the ball and that’s a very good sign. Everyone is running hard, showing good movement and reading our moves and build-up play, and that’s important too.”

“On his advice, well, it’s the same for all the team: always go out to win and always have the winning mentality of champions. Let’s hope we can carry on in the same style.”

“You can see from the games played that we’ve scored a few goals already so you can appreciate things are going well on that score. We’re getting forward and creating lots of opportunities on goal.”

“We’ve also brought in more quality players, which has improved us too.”