José Mourinho appeared to take aim at Ed Woodward, Manchester United’s executive vice-chairman, for not sanctioning all of his transfer targets, with the manager saying maybe his title should be downgraded to “head coach”.

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The Portuguese’s side beat Leicester City 2-1 in Friday night’s Premier League opener at Old Trafford thanks to a Paul Pogba penalty and a late Luke Shaw strike.

Yet after Mourinho was denied the signing of an elite centre-back in the summer window he voiced his frustrations by hinting United’s board, led by Woodward, are acting as de facto football experts by having the final say over him regarding recruitment.

“It will be a difficult season for everybody, not just for us,” the 55-year-old said. “I had my plans for many months and I find myself with the market closed in a situation I did not think I would be in. It’s the last time I speak about it. It’s over, the market is closed. That’s football management. I think football is changing and managers should be called head coaches.”

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He added: “We play against a team that invest more than us. They spent more money than us, so in the Premier League we must get used to teams with players of the same quality that we have. Forget the name, the history, the shirt, every match is difficult.”

Nonetheless Mourinho was pleased with his team’s display, singling out Pogba and Shaw for particular praise, and the overall spirit.

“Pogba was a monster, we thought maximum 60 minutes but he managed the 80. [Shaw’s] game was very complete, even if I forget the goal, of course an important goal for us, but the performance was very complete. I think one defensive mistake and probably the linesman could help him and give a free-kick against Leicester. But very complete performance, he just has to keep going, the mentality was very good, the tactical discipline was very good too and he had the power to move forward and score an important goal for us.”

Facebook Twitter Pinterest José Mourinho said he was surprised how long Paul Pogba lasted against Leicester City. Photograph: John Peters/Man Utd via Getty Images

The manager pointed to those players who, alongside Pogba, had little training due to post-World Cup breaks. “[Romelu] Lukaku and [Maroaune] Fellaini were available to help the team. Marcus Rashford was in trouble but he played,” said Mourinho.

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Of Pogba’s penalty, which came after just 75 seconds, he said: “A very good penalty taker. Impossible for [Kasper] Schmeichel – he needed wings.”

United are at Brighton & Hove Albion next Sunday. “We will have the same players, the injured players are not going to be back,” said Mourinho. “We have Paul with nine days training, Rashford with 11 days training, Fellaini with nine days training and of course we will be in a better condition, I don’t remember in my career to be so much in trouble to make changes, because I want to make five or six [substitutions] and I have only three.”

Claude Puel, the visiting manager, said: “It was a shame to concede this goal at the beginning of the game. We allowed them to remain deep and close the space.”