Jose Mourinho claims the abrupt end to Manchester United’s flawless start to 2016-17 is not worrying him.
Advertisement
The 2-1 home defeat to Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City was compounded as Feyenoord eked out a late 1-0 win in Thursday’s Europa League opener.
Not that Mourinho had been getting carried away.
“When we won the Community Shield and the first three Premier League matches, I wasn’t on the moon”, he added.
“I know he is a very good guy with a lot of ambition, so the form will come naturally and will come with the team improving. I think he’s trying to do too much on the ball”. I know the situation is not click your fingers and everybody is ideal. Mourinho, despite the back-to-back losses, does not want his players to be in a negative frame of mind.
Tonny Vilhena’s 79th minute goal was the difference in the end in what van Bronckhorst describes as a hard encounter for his players against a Red Devils unit who controlled large portions of the 90 minutes.
Since winning the Europa League’s forerunner, the UEFA Cup, with Porto in 2003, Mourinho had not overseen a match in the competition, concentrating – and winning – the Champions League instead, with the Portuguese side in 2004 and Italy’s Inter Milan in 2010. Being able to rest players, introduce players to the new style of football, and give more experience to the likes of Marcus Rashford are just some of the benefits that came with todays loss.
“We were trying to push and they were collapsing a little bit because physically they were in trouble and, exactly in that moment, we lose the game”. We didn’t have many chances against us and their goal was a clear offside – we were unfortunate with that. “They were two matches where we didn’t play well for 90 minutes but they were two matches where we deserved a better result”.
A thrilling first half continued as Pogba collected Marouane Fellaini’s pass and curled a dipping effort from 30 yards against the bar.
“But from a collective point of view, I only have good things to say about them”.
The goal sparked United into action but they found ex-Liverpool gloveman Jones impossible to beat.
“Some players are playing their first minutes of the season, there have not been many minutes for them”.
“On Sunday, character. needs to shine through”, United defender Chris Smalling said, “because it’s unacceptable to lose three games in a row”. “Obviously some played better than others”, Mourinho said.
Advertisement
Mourinho said his side failed to learn the lessons of last Saturday’s Manchester derby, after conceding an “incredibly similar” goal to Watford on Sunday.
