“There are so many players in good form, it’s hard for all of them [when they do not start],” Mourinho told reporters. “On Wednesday, the attacking players; Martial, Rashford, Mata, Lingard, which one of them deserves to be on the bench tomorrow? No-one.”
Mourinho went on to describe how difficult it is to leave players out, especially when you take into consideration that Romelu Lukaku and Henrikh Mkhitaryan, who have both also started the season in fantastic form, would also expect to regain their places for the Premier League match.
“No-one deserves to be on the bench,” he added. “But there is four of them, four of them plus Lukaku is five, plus Mkhitaryan is six, and I cannot play with six [attackers].”
The question isn't, obviously, that Martial and Rashford can't play together as such, but if they can play together also with Lukaku on the pitch, leaving a playmaker out (Mata) when we need to create game through possession without Pogba out, besides not having yet another striker (Ibrahimović) on the bench.
Let's imagine we start Southampton away that 4-2-3-1 with Fellaini in the team and things don't go our way, Southampton gains an advantage and sits back, what do we do? Do we throw the imposing figures of Herrera, Mata or Lingard at them? Of course not. When Ibrahimović's available, all these considerations will change and in specific games, counterattacking away, for instance, we could see those three starting together.
On the spot. That's what I expect also, specially after Mata's last game, in which he was took out at the break. Also, Mourinho always started 4-2-3-1 against Southampton and Mata was always on those teams.
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