Jose Mourinho appeared to criticize Jesse Lingard and Henrikh
Mkhitaryan after claiming a couple of his players were “below the normal
level” and Manchester United “paid for it.”
Mourinho suffered his first defeat, 2-1, as United manager after
going 2-0 down in the first-half at Old Trafford against Pep Guardiola’s
Manchester City.
Kevin de
Bruyne put the visitors ahead after quarter of an hour, and Kelechi
Iheanacho doubled City’s lead 21 minutes later, before Lingard and
Mkhitaryan were replaced by Mourinho at half-time.
“In the first-half they were much better than us,” Mourinho said. “We
start the game bad, with some players really below the normal level in
terms of their concentration, in terms of their mental aggressivity,
mental availability.
“[In] a game of this speed you need to be sharp the way you think,
the way you play. We had a few players below the level and the team paid
for it.
“Players disappoint managers and sometimes they give us great
surprises. I thought, because of the characteristics of the game, we
could have hurt them with individuals, with some qualities. They didn’t
give me what I want. It’s their fault [and] it’s my fault.”
Zlatan Ibrahimovic pulled a goal back for United just before the
break, but Mourinho claimed his side should have had two penalties
awarded to them by referee Mark Clattenburg.
Claudio Bravo, making his debut in goal for City, appeared to catch
Wayne Rooney late in the penalty area and Mourinho also believed Nicolas
Otamendi handled the ball in the area.
“We are very disappointed with the result,” Mourinho said, “but I’m
also disappointed with two decisions of Mark. It is a penalty and a red
card for Bravo. If you tell me it’s not a penalty and a red card, I tell
you, for sure, outside the box it is a free-kick and a red card.”
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