Jose Mourinho, Manchester United manager, has conceded that his team, which is trailing Chelsea by 11 points after 13 games in the Premier League, "maybe" out of title race this season.
United have won only two of their last 10 league matches and are adrift by league leaders Chelsea by a huge margin, thus leaving Mourinho to admit "the gap might be already too large."
"In the league we have not been getting the goals our performances deserve," he was quoted as saying by the Guardian.
"There is no doubt we are improving, though. We know where we want to go and our destination is to be champions. Maybe we cannot do it this year. You can never tell in football but the gap might be already too large. I don't know when we will do it, maybe when I am not here, but that is what we are working towards and I think it will happen," he added.
Mourinho, who succeeded Louis van Gaal in July, had said his objective was to try to win the league in his first season. But now, he has admits that may not happen and even admits the next time United are champions may be after he has left the club.
On his previous stints as the club manager, the Portuguese had managed to get off to a quick start and stamp his personality on the team early. But now, he is struggling to do that at United. For this, he believes it is his philosophy which is entirely different from Van Gaal and the players need time to adapt.
"Sometimes when a manager takes over a new club the differences in approach are not significant," he said. "In that case all it needs is a little touch, just a fingerprint from the new man and you can get a lot from what was already there. Here we are trying to do something completely different."
"We could probably get better results if we weren't trying to go in an opposite direction. I am not talking about tactical systems here. I am talking about the way this team wants to play and that is the most difficult thing in football to change," he added.
The 53-year-old United boss believes his predecessor promoted too defensive a style, with too much sideways and backwards passing and not enough looking forward to attack between the lines.
The Mourinho's side will next take on Everton at Goodison Park on Sunday.
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