Marcos Rojo was not selected because he was not feeling well, confirms Mourinho

Jose Mourinho has confirmed that Marcos Rojo was left out of the Manchester United squad against Stoke City as he was not feeling well, while Anthony Martial was not selected in the eighteen despite being fully fit. The Red Devils started with Phil Jones and Chris Smalling at the back with Daley Blind keeping his position at left-back, despite Luke Shaw having returned to training this week.

The Red Devils salvaged a draw at the Britannia with a late equaliser by Wayne Rooney, to mark his 250th goal for the club, after an own goal by Juan Mata had put the visitors behind in the first half. Mourinho's men huffed and puffed and also hit the post before Rooney came to the rescue in injury time.

When asked why Rojo and Martial were absent, Mourinho said, as quoted by the Manchester Evening News: "He was not feeling well. Martial was not selected."

The manager was not impressed with a point and insisted that the Red Devils did everything in their power to take full points against Stoke, who did not have a shot on target in the first half. The draw keeps United in sixth and could go 14 points behind Chelsea should the Blues win against Hull.

"Of course I am disappointed. Again I say many times, a draw is a good result when the opponent is better than you and a draw is a good result when you are being dominated [by the opponent] and in the end you manage to leave with that point. But when you are the team that chases the result, the team that creates the chances, the team that misses the chances and on top of that you score only an own goal, then obviously I cannot be happy with a point," Mourinho told United's official website.

"We were very dominant. It would be a football crime if we lose the game. But I'm not happy because I keep not understanding how we miss so many chances every game."