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Jose Mourinho: 'Zlatan Ibrahimovic sub down to tactics'

Manchester United manager Jose Mourinho says that he hauled off Zlatan Ibrahimovic at half time against Burnley as he needed to rejig his lineup.

Jose Mourinho has revealed that he withdrew Zlatan Ibrahimovic midway through Manchester United's meeting with Burnley due to tactical reasons.

The Swedish striker lasted just 45 minutes on his first Premier League start of the campaign, having failed to make any real impact in the first half.

United were two down at the time but, with Jesse Lingard and Henrikh Mkhitaryan taking over from Marcos Rojo and Ibrahimovic, they went on to earn a 2-2 draw at Old Trafford.

Mourinho has explained that the double change was purely down to his side requiring a rejig for the second half, as he adopted a more attacking lineup.

"It was tactical, play only with one central defender. We know that they don't normally have the ball, they just play direct," he told reporters.

"So really in the lineup, play one against one, [Phil] Jones was a risk Jones accepted, [Nemanja] Matic was there just to bring the ball from totally free positions, so he was bringing lots of balls into midfield.

"And then instead of more positional players like Zlatan and [Romelu] Lukaku, we decided to go with Mkhitaryan, Lingard and [Juan] Mata all three trying to play in these areas behind Lukaku and we can say we had some success.

"I still think with so many balls in important areas, lots of crosses, good crosses, low crosses, we didn't attack all these balls well, and also not lucky with the rebounds, so I'm happy with the effort, the personality, the feeling of we didn't lose but of course we lost two points."

United have scored nine goals via substitutes in the Premier League this season - more than any other side in the competition.

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Premier League Table
TeamPWDLFAGDPTS
1Manchester CityMan City21192061124959
2Manchester UnitedMan Utd22145345162947
3Chelsea21143439142545
4Liverpool22128250252544
5Arsenal21115538261238
6Tottenham HotspurSpurs20114539201937
7Burnley229761919034
8Leicester CityLeicester228683432230
9Everton227692534-927
10Watford2174103037-725
11Huddersfield TownHuddersfield2266101835-1724
12Brighton & Hove AlbionBrighton225891727-1023
13Newcastle UnitedNewcastle2264122030-1022
14Bournemouth2256112234-1221
15Southampton214892030-1020
16Stoke CityStoke2255122347-2420
17Crystal Palace2147101832-1419
18West Ham UnitedWest Ham2046102238-1618
19West Bromwich AlbionWest Brom2121091528-1316
20Swansea CitySwansea2144131332-1916
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Subscribe to our Newsletter


Transfer Talk Daily
Match previews - twice weekly
Morning Briefing (7am UTC)
Get the latest transfer news, match previews and news direct to your inbox!
Premier League Table
TeamPWDLFAGDPTS
1Manchester CityMan City21192061124959
2Manchester UnitedMan Utd22145345162947
3Chelsea21143439142545
4Liverpool22128250252544
5Arsenal21115538261238
6Tottenham HotspurSpurs20114539201937
7Burnley229761919034
8Leicester CityLeicester228683432230
9Everton227692534-927
10Watford2174103037-725
11Huddersfield TownHuddersfield2266101835-1724
12Brighton & Hove AlbionBrighton225891727-1023
13Newcastle UnitedNewcastle2264122030-1022
14Bournemouth2256112234-1221
15Southampton214892030-1020
16Stoke CityStoke2255122347-2420
17Crystal Palace2147101832-1419
18West Ham UnitedWest Ham2046102238-1618
19West Bromwich AlbionWest Brom2121091528-1316
20Swansea CitySwansea2144131332-1916
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