Yesterday EFL games Manchester United vs Manchester City with MU proceed to the next round after Mata sent City down was a relief for Mourinho (and both him and MU needed it badly).

Despite Pep seemed to pay a little less care about this Cup, but it's still his nature to want to win.

Put that on the table, anyone know why Mkhitaryan, the promising signing we had WASN"T FEATURED?????

- On tactical excuses, if there is one game Mou wants to try if Mkhitaryan fits or might do well with his tactic, then it should be this game
- On personal level, if Mou dislikes him, then he is smart enough to know the fans want to see Mkhi plays, why not use him in this game?
- Or is he still injured????

Im sure Im not the only one questioning this, since Mkhitaryan is a great player, we should either free him, or let him play.

PS: Aside from that, Im so glad with the win yesterday, despite it's EFL cup. The team showed great dedication, and willingness. I hope Mou can fix our problems soon

Me and friends were discussing that during the game yesterday. Where the heck is he? He has done alright in the games he featured in, hasn't he?

That's what me and my friends were struggling to understand too.

I had to find, so here it is:

I couldn’t be happier, and the guy is really fit and ready to play.
Mourinho

Week later he is still not even on the bench, but as you stated, these games are really good for players coming back from injury. So what's the Mata?

I'm sure Mkhitaryan is a very good player. But I haven't seen it, aside from a few sub spells, such as Hull where he performed well, he's been beyond awful. The City game, which he hasn't really had a chance since, was such a terrible performance I'm not even mad he's been benched.

He'll come back in the 11 at somepoint, probably whenever who's playing RM starts screwing up, but Mata's been playing quite well - although Lingard will probably find the bench somepoint soon.

@SunFlash: that doesn't make sense from a lot of points of view.

• For the sake of the argument, let's assume he's no one, As a team you should give a player enough chances to prove himself
• In a cup that's considered a lot less important, such player should have been at least in the bench.
• If you or anyone want to see if he is a good player, a few subs is far far from enough.

Now, let's come back to the fact that he's a high profile star which we spent quite a lot of money on. He also proved himself in BVB and CL, it's even more bizarre that we dont utilize him especially when we are in such a performance criss (tactical, football and results wise).

Im not talking about being benched, I am talking about being used/given chance that so less to none.

You can tell how bad he is from those subs as much as you can, but it's impossible for him to prove otherwise if the coach just let him play OCCASIONALLY.

Very few of our game so far is labeled as good, or great except vs Leicester City. We all scream for changes, supports, and we dont give good player chances? That's strange.

@tuan

That's all well and good, but we don't see the practices that Mourinho does. If Lingard/Mata is outperforming Henrik in practice, there's no reason to assume he'll be a better option. If Mourinho is shutting him out, then that sucks, but Mourinho is trying to win games, and it's idiotic to think that he wouldn't pick the team that could best accomplish that.

Our sample size of Mhkitaryian is minuscule and profoundly negative, Mourinho's is larger and unknown. I'll take his judgement on this one.

Although, it's hardly and unlikely so, I hope you are right :( not a personal reason here. Mou's actions sometimes are hard to explain, we all know that.

Must wait for the right explanation but I hope the all the players are given equal chances to help our team

I have been saying this on earlier threads also, imo the perfect opportunity to bring him back was in the derby yesterday. He is a class player, everybody knows that. One of the best passers in the game. Mourinho has gone out of his way to say repeatedly in press conferences to say that he will play in the coming weeks. He wouldn't have done that if he had a personal grudge against him.

I think at the end of the day we don't have access to what happens on the training ground and maybe Mourinho is currently not seeing enough from him atm to play him. Fingers crossed that we play him at home to Burnley at Saturday.

If he fielded him and flopped Mou would have been in trouble, he played safety card considering the circumstances. I would have done the same if I was in his place. Lost 4-0 to Chelsea is symbolic, already lost at home to Pep so Mou knew he was obliged to play that game like it was a final, to change the dynamic at first place, to deny City a second derby win away wich could have been horrible for th e club And fans, And avoiding the player to be killed by English media if he wasn't 100%.
At the opposite, I clearly dislike the fact Pep didnt play his main XI, when you didnt win for a while, the best way to prepare for The Weeknd game is to win specially a derby.
I hear people saying it's a plastic cup, it's not as important as PL but it's worth winning, and a derby remains a derby even at friendlies, the whole City wait for the game, so its maybe more important than the next game for United and Mou.

Agree with this^

Mou today confirmed that Mkhitaryan was fit and training 100%. He wanst featured or even registered because Mou thinks that he wasnt adjusted enough to the new league, he needs more time.

Now thats clear.

I hope its true, but I still fimd it exremely weird. He could have been tried and subbed out easily. This is a game for that.

You dont spend that much of money for a well known wall class player and dont even use him (far too less and especially im EFL cup). Otherwise, when then?

I hope its like @SunFlash said, we dont know what happens on the training ground and this is purely for professional reasons

@Sunflash To be fair, he was coming back from an injury against City, I blame Mourinho for playing.

"He is not injured. Sometimes I confuse the word 'fit' in the English language. Sometimes you can say that it is 'not injured', but you could also say that you are in great condition and ready to compete," Mourinho told reporters.

"That is different for me as we use different words in Portuguese for
the different situations. Mkhitaryan is not injured, he is training
with the team 100%. Some players find it very easy whereas others need
more time. They need time to feel the intensity, the aggression, the
game without the ball and the competitiveness.

"The realities are often different, particularly in terms of the
competitiveness. It doesn't matter who you are against, you have to
play at the highest level otherwise you will not be able to do it.
Micki needs time to become the top player he knows he can be."

What I've read online is that he needs to bulk up for the EPL and time to adjust as Tuan has already said. Bulking up has been an issue with a lot of technical players that United has bought recently...Depay had issues last year, both Herrera and Martial struggled a little initially, although the latter two adjusted quite well. I believe Mou is going safety first approach before he gives Miki a proper chance...I would expect to see him in more action starting the holiday season.

@Tuan: Mou has spent too much money and didn't give them enough chances... Cuadrado...Can also say about Fabie Coentrao...and to some extent Pedro too...so, I would not be surprised....

Depay needed to bulk up? The guy looks like the Hulk

Mourinho knows exactly what is he's talking and what does word "fit" mean, and don't tell me otherwise.

@KTBFFHSWE: He IS now...when he came he was a little lean....same issue as Janujaz had too...

I am skeptical that Mkhitaryan was mourinhos choice. Didn't United wanted him last season ? Seems to me most players that came this season were already in shopping cart last season . I think Mkhitaryan is better suited player for arsenal style of football than Mourinhos United .

Do Mahrez, Mata or even Pogba need to bulk up ? Skinny players can perform look at Ozil And co. Adaptation looks complicated at United atm doesnt have any relation on skills or physicality, each player has his special issues and reason. But it looks odd not to make it in such a midlefield : I mean none of Fellaini, Carick, Herrera, Mata, Rooney look as an established starter except Pogba. If he went to Liverpool he would have done better than Firmino, he was a better player in Germany and more physical.
Thinking that the intensity or the physicality of a team like Burnley is better than in Germany is so wrong and Mou knows it. But it's easier for a coach in crisis to find excuses, Celtic then is one of the most intense teams in CL probably will end with one point out of 18pts only taken from another supposed intense team. For me these are " has been " arguments, to find a solution Mou should ask himself the right questions I don't recognize this Mou since his sacking from Madrid, he hasn't been the same since and so are his teams...

Ibra clearly inconfident, i never seen him miss that amount of tap ins, a player without confidence is going nowhere.

@ash Oh, really? I remember my roommate who is a United supporter bragged about what a monster this guy was before he joined United. But yeah, it seems many players that don't bulk up for EPL has a harder time adapting. Pedro etc. Obviously there are exceptions though.