Man Utd Boss Jose Mourinho Reveals Why He Doesn't Often Play Both Rashford & Martial

Jose Mourinho has offered an explanation as to why Anthony Martial and Marcus Rashford aren't often selected to play in the Manchester United starting XI at the same time.

The duo were both selected by the Portuguese for Saturday's 4-1 demolition of Newcastle, with Martial scoring and Rashford assisting for Paul Pogba.

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The news that they were both starting had the United faithful pretty excited before a ball was kicked, and their showing in the game will surely see them clamour for them to both keep their places in the side.

Mourinho has often refrained from working them both into his starting XI during his tenure in the past - they have only started 12 games together since May 2016 - and the 54-year-old has now explained why.

He said as quoted by the Mirror: "They both like to play in the same position and that is difficult. They both prefer to play on the left than the right, both playing with another striker through the middle, we lose a point of contact with the midfield that we are used to, with the player playing behind the striker.

"But we found then a certain balance and when they start finding, sometimes both, one opening the left and one on the mid-left between the striker and the left winger, it was the moment where we start creating more.

"But to be honest Newcastle was probably the team, not in the second-half, but in the first-half which come here and we felt a bit of instability in our defensive areas, and that was clearly not because of the defensive players but because of our balance.

"So to play them [Martial and Rashford] together gives us things but also takes some things from us."

United return to Champions League action next week and it remains to be seen if Mourinho uses the game to assess the pair's effectiveness further.