It would take an uncharitable observer to suggest that Mourinho, who said back in August that change would not happen overnight at United, is blind to the job he faces; you wonder, though, whether the demands for success at United are so high that they breed caution in the form of an unwillingness to experiment, to gamble, to make the clean break.
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Mourinho provided a detailed breakdown of Watford’s second – effectively decisive – goal, describing it as “a mistake that goes against our plan and our training”, later explaining specifically that his left-back, Luke Shaw, should have pressed higher up on Nordin Amrabat in the buildup. At 1-1 everyone thinks we are going to win the game. We get the draw [equaliser] and after that we were the team. We were showing complete control, intensity, creation.
“It’s tactical, but also a mental attitude”, he said.
“We waited for them to attack and stayed very compact as a team because we knew that if you attack them from the beginning then you run into a knife”. But was I thinking that my team was ready, perfect, unbeatable?
For all their possession, United were unsettled by Watford’s harrying game and went behind on 32 minutes after Anthony Martial, still groggy from an earlier clash of heads, was robbed by Miguel Britos.
But referee Michael Oliver was also blasted by Mourinho for not giving a free-kick for the challenge on Martial in the build-up to Capoue’s goal.
The breakthrough came at the other end in the 34th minute when Martial – who had previously received a nasty knock to the head – was dispossessed by Miguel Britos in a risky area, with referee Michael Oliver ignoring United claims for a foul. The reason you asked the question is my answer.
“The second factor is the referee and I can’t control their mistakes, The story of the game is the result and not the ridiculous situation of the first goal”.
“That is not under my control”.
Manchester United lose 3-1 to Watford, third defeat in eight days was posted in Sports of TheNews International – https://www.thenews.com.pk on September 19, 2016 and was last updated on September 19, 2016. “So we were punished by these mistakes and I can’t do anything about it”.
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‘I think in the first half for about 25, 30 minutes we didn’t play well and that’s something we can control, we can improve, we can work on it.
