Sunday 31 July 2016 23:26, UK
Manchester United manager Jose Mourinho has stressed that every member of his squad will have an important part to play this season.
The Portuguese watched over an impressive 5-2 victory against Galatasaray in a pre-season friendly in Gothenburg on Saturday, after which goalscorer Zlatan Ibrahimovic said "something big" is happening at the club.
Mourinho used 11 substitutes in the match, with every player taking to the field except youngster Sam Johnstone, and the boss insisted they are all part of his plans for the forthcoming campaign.
"If they were not in my plans, I would not give them one single minute; I would not keep them in my squad," he said.
"The squad is very competitive and very important for the season. We have 38 matches in the Premier League, and the possibility of 15 matches in the Europa League, plus domestic cups, so we are going to play 60 matches.
"With 60 matches, we cannot do it with 11 players. So to be in the squad, you have to understand that the squad is more important than the individual. The club is more important than all of us, and to be in the squad you have to be ready for this - to play, not to play, play a lot, play less, play 90 minutes, play one minute, and not be selected."
Mourinho was especially impressed with players who recently returned from their post-Euro 2016 breaks, such as Marouane Fellaini and Anthony Martial, but he admits he is sweating over the lack of time before the start of the Premier League season.
"Of course, Marcus Rashford and Ibra showed glimpses of the things they can bring. But guys like Fellaini, Martial and Morgan Schneiderlin; they trained for two days and then they come here," Mourinho said.
"I just told them; 'don't try to go with the intensity of the game, try to go with an intensity that makes you comfortable'. I prefer this way.
"We lost a week in China. There's not a lot of time to work, to change, to make a couple of new ideas and new principles of play. Everything is step-by-step and the reality is we don't have this time.
"We have a game against Leicester next week and we have the Premier League in a couple of weeks. We need time and we don't have time, the only solution is to train hard and train hard against opposition like today."
