United players need some time, says Mourinho

Cape Town - Manchester United manager Jose Mourinho feels his players need more time in training to catch up after missing out on a proper pre-season due to the Soccer World Cup.

The Red Devils boss has come under scrutiny following his side's poor performance at Brighton in their last Premier League outing, where they lost 3-2.

United will take on Tottenham at Old Trafford on Monday night, eight days after the Brighton clash, and Mourinho is pleased his players had a good break between the games.

"When you have a good week, when you train really well, things are positive, you expect good individual performances," he told Sky Sports News website.

"You don't expect mistakes and you expect a good result, not a defeat.

"Normally when you lose you want to play immediately and two days after that was not the case.

"But I am happy that was not the case because in this moment we need some time.

"We need players to be back, we need players to train more, to have a kind of pre-season after the pre-season that they didn't have after the World Cup."

Kick-off is at 21:00 (SA time).