Jose Mourinho has revealed he will drop several of the Manchester United players who featured against West Brom for the FA Cup semi-final on Saturday. The United boss took aim at his players after the 1-0 defeat to West Brom and now revealed many of his stars who started that game have no place in his team. Tottenham await United in the semi-final of the FA Cup and Mourinho seems ready to drop a host of star names for the game. Paul Pogba seems certain to be one such player who is axed and Mourinho explained he would be making changes. ‘Rotating is not the right word,’ he said. ‘If I play a player against Bournemouth [on Wednesday] and the player is phenomenal, he plays the semi-final. ‘So is not rotating, because rotating looks like a player plays against Bournemouth to give a rest to somebody that is going to play against Spurs in the semi-final.
‘So the word is not rotation, it is an opportunity for people, for some people to play and to try to get a place in the team for Spurs. ‘Some of the guys that played today don’t have a place in that team, they don’t have a place in that team.’ United play Bournemouth on Wednesday night, before heading to Wembley on Saturday. Mourinho seems to have lost patience with his marquee players, with the Portuguese seemingly aiming a thinly-veiled dig at Pogba and others. Pogba cost the club £89million, while Alexis Sanchez and Romelu Lukaku are two of the highest earners in the Premier League. And Mourinho has warned his United players their place in the squad will be based entirely on their form, not their price tags.
‘What is the criteria for a manager to choose a team?’ Mourinho said. ‘I only know one criteria. It is the way they play, is the only way I can select players. ‘Or do you want me to go for the price they cost, or their salary, or their beautiful face? The only way is to go with performance.’
