Mourinho: Martial has to start taking chances

Cape Town - Jose Mourinho has told Anthony Martial that he must start making the most of his Manchester United chances and adapt to his regime.

Martial enjoyed a superb maiden campaign at Old Trafford last season, but he has been underwhelming this year with just one Premier League goal to his name.

The French international was dropped to the bench for the midweek thrashing of Feyenoord, with Henrikh Mkhitaryan dazzling in his place.

And boss Mourinho has warned Martial that he needs to come to grips with United’s new way of playing after the summer departure of Louis van Gaal.

“You have one opportunity, you have two, you have three - if you don’t bite then somebody comes and takes the bait,” Mourinho said.

“The players have to win their positions. They are friends, they are colleagues who work together every day but in the end they compete between themselves to have more chance to play.

"Anthony played against Arsenal. Thursday was a moment to give Mkhitaryan a chance to start.

“The way the team played last season - I’m not saying better or worse, just different - was probably more adaptive to Anthony.

“He was probably more comfortable playing that way, at that intensity, that rate of ball possession and ball circulation.

“Probably he also needs some time but in our squad, especially in these positions, we have Mkhitaryan, (Jesse) Lingard, (Memphis) Depay, (Juan) Mata, (Marcus) Rashford. These are probably the positions where we have more options.”