Mourinho admits Rashford cramp forced change in tactic during Liverpool draw

Jose Mourinho has revealed that the cramp that Marcus Rashford suffered from, forced him to change tactic mid-game during Manchester United's 0-0 draw against Liverpool. The Portuguese manager admitted that his midfield failed to provide the desired penetration required, despite Paul Pogba given a chance to play in a more advanced role with Marouane Fellaini and Ander Herrera playing in the deep lying role.

The clash between the two arch rivals was a game of few chances – United had one shot on target while Liverpool had three – and Mourinho feels that the Red Devils would have taken all three points had they got the first goal. The former Chelsea boss was referring to a chance that fell to Zlatan Ibrahimovic in the second-half when the Swedish forward misdirected a free header from less than six yards out.

Pogba was granted his wish of playing in his preferred attacking midfield role, which allowed him to join Ibrahimovic in attack, but was unable to control the game with Mourinho admitting that he failed to provide the desired penetration. Rashford, who started on the right wing, was in line to be moved into the secondary striker's role, but he suffered a cramp and had to be replaced by Wayne Rooney for the final 15 minutes of the game.

"We had a big chance where I thought Zlatan was going to score; if you score that goal, its 1-0, goodbye, finished. But I think we missed a little bit of sharpness through the middle," Mourinho said, as quoted on United's official site.

"I was expecting more penetration and I was thinking about playing Rashford in the position behind Zlatan but he had cramp and I made a change. At that moment I thought it would be difficult to win now, so let's not lose it," the Portuguese coach added.