In
back of a bitter defeat to his longtime rival, Jose Mourinho who was
disappointed that Pep Guardiola has beaten him yet again as he suffered
his first competitive defeat as Man. United manager, has blamed his
players and the referee over loss.
Portuguese coach, Jose Mourinho was naturally disappointed to have
suffered his first competitive defeat as Manchester United manager on
Saturday, after rivals Manchester City claimed a slender victory at Old
Trafford.
Below are the main points from the manager's post-match interviews with Sky Sports and MUTV.
First reflections
"What did I make of today? I think in the first half they were much
better than us. We started the game badly. We started the game with
some players really below the normal level, in terms of their
concentration, of their mental ability to play a game of this speed
because you need to be sharp in the way you think, the way you play. In a
match of this dimension, when you have three or four players not at
that level, you pay for that. The team paid for it."
Derby of two halves
"In the first half, for 35 minutes it was City in control, City
deserved to be in front. In the last period of the first half we scored a
goal and we could immediately score again but I think that was outside
the context of the game in the first half. The second half was
completely different, and when they brought on Fernando, they were
feeling what everybody was feeling, that we were in control. We were
much more dangerous, we had our chances to equalise and who knows what
could happen if we had equalised. For 45 minutes, we fought really hard.
We tried everything, took lots of risks and deserved a different
result."
Deciding factors in defeat
"I think we were punished by a lot of things. First thing: our
first half – the way we started, some individual performances made the
team look fragile. We were also punished by two decisions of Mark
[Clattenburg], because even the best referees can make mistakes and he
made two mistakes. The first one is Bravo [on Rooney] – it’s a penalty
and a red card. If any player does that outside the box, it’s a direct
free-kick and a red card, so inside the box it’s a penalty and a red
card. But the referee maybe thought of the consequences of that because
the consequences would be a completely different game and he didn’t want
to take that decision, which would be very important. And the second
one is another penalty – Otamendi, with his elbow. He tries to stop the
cross that’s going in front of him but the cross goes behind him, he’s
looking to the ball and brings the arm and elbow back, and it’s another
clear penalty. So we were also punished by that."
Right team selection?
"Look, honestly, I had two or three players in the first half who,
if the game was played now and I know what is going to happen, then I
wouldn't play them. But this is football and sometimes players, they
disappoint managers, and sometimes players, they give us great
surprises. I thought because of the characteristics of the game we could
hurt them playing with some individuals with some qualities, they
didn't give what I want. Is it their fault? Is it my fault? It's my
fault because I'm the manager and it's always my fault because it's
always my choice."
Positives to take from the second half
"The positives I take are the spirit of the group and the mentality
to play the second half in the way we played it, taking enormous risks
against a team that was defending and was waiting for a chance to
counter-attack."
Two substitutions at half-time
"I would have done more if I could, because I was far from happy
with the performance and I had to try to change the direction of the
game, which we clearly did, but we didn’t get the compensation of what
we did in the second half. I was feeling [we would score again] until
the last minute, like we did at Hull City. When you feel that the team
is there and ready to give everything until the last second, you are
always waiting for something. And in the last 15 minutes, against a very
good team obviously, we gambled in such a way that we left one against
one in defence and went forward with everybody else to try to take to
City a situation of big pressure, which we did. But again we did not get
the compensation we deserved. In the first half we were punished like
we deserved, but in the second half we didn’t get the compensation we
deserved."
Results like this can happen
"You know that in this league you are always going to lose matches
and you know that especially between the big teams, three results are
more than possible to happen. So I don’t open my mouth when Liverpool go
and beat Arsenal at Arsenal, when City beat Man United here, when Man
United beat Chelsea or Tottenham away – nobody opens their mouth with
surprise because it’s a normal result. But of course we’re sad and
disappointed with the defeat."
