Jose Mourinho urges struggling Manchester United to do better against Newcastle

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Manchester United manager Jose Mourinho believes there are 'many reasons' why the team have underperformed this season, telling reporters on Friday that Newcastle United will be a tough opponent as he looks to end a run of four games without a win.

Pressure has mounted on the Portuguese coach in recent weeks after United`s first 10 games yielded a return of four wins, three draws and three defeats, with one of the draws preceding a League Cup penalty shootout exit to second-tier Derby County.

"We can do much better. To do that we need points," Mourinho said of a side languishing in 10th place in the Premier League standings, nine points behind champions Manchester City after seven fixtures.

"Yes, I accept (results have not been good enough)," he added in a tense news conference that lasted a little more than three-and-a-half minutes.

Asked by journalists why United were struggling, Mourinho replied "for many different reasons" but refused to elaborate.

United have not won at home since beating Leicester 2-1 in the first match of the season and off-field issues, including reports of a rift between the manager and midfielder Paul Pogba, have been an unwelcome distraction.

Newcastle are also struggling, without a win and sitting third-bottom in the standings.

"We know our opponent also needs points," Mourinho added. "They have a very, very, very good coach (Rafael Benitez), a team that is always well organised against teams of the first part of the table.

"The results they had against the top teams didn`t get them points yet this season but they gave them very, very close results and difficult matches for the opposition, so we expect a difficult match."