Mourinho praises Sanchez's mentality

The January signing has made headlines recently with the whole world hypothesising over his supposed £600,000-a-week contract at United. Mourinho, however, feels the focus needs to shift to the winger's talent. 

"I've always thought that crucial moment in football is when your team loses the ball and you become exposed and open for the opponent to hurt you. When you have players in the team of that mentality where they say, I made that mistake or I lost the ball and I am going to recover it, that is very important," the Portuguese said. 

He added: "All this combination with Alexis, his experience, his talent and his mentality makes him the player that I like." 

The United manager is also hoping the new boy can draw upon his experience at Barcelona to take the Red Devils a step futher: "Alexis has a level that my attacking players don’t have. Alexis played Champions League for a few years with different clubs, at least one club (Barcelona) that is feeling the responsibility to win it when he was at Barcelona."

Recently revealed as one of the most fouled players in the league, Sanchez has to be tough in a league famous for it's physicality. 

"You can see the way Alexis has been 'welcomed' by the opponent! He is a tough boy, a pure guy who can cope with that," said Mourinho, praising his player's get-up-and-get-on-with-it attitude. 

However, the 29-year-old couldn't help his team overcome a determined Newcastle on Sunday as United fell 1-0 at St. James Park to fall further behind leaders Manchester City.