Manchester United manager Jose Mourinho has said that being a winning team does not always mean being an attacking team.
Mourinho's predecessor Louis van Gaal was criticised for his perceived negative style of play last term, with United scoring just 49 Premier League goals all season.
Mourinho acknowledged that his side would ideally have an attacking philosophy, but insists that picking up good results is the priority.
"I grew up in football as a manager since 2001 more or less, especially when I came to England in 2004, and I saw Manchester United as a winning team, not as always an attacking team. I played sometimes against Manchester United and they were a defensive team. I played Real Madrid-Manchester United in Madrid and they crossed the midfield line twice... Wayne Rooney played outside-left to defend my right-back," he told reporters.
"I saw them always as a winning team with an attacking philosophy, but a winning team. The winning team needs to score more goals than they concede but, if you want, to concede less goals than the goals you score.
"That's the challenge for Manchester United, to try to be a winning team in a new era of the Premier League that is much more difficult than before. So our job is really difficult but we want to win matches, we want to win competitions, and to win isolated matches you can play bad but to win competitions you need to play well."
Mourinho will take charge of his first league match as United manager when they face Bournemouth at the Vitality Stadium on Sunday.
Barney Corkhill
