The negative result was United’s second on the bounce in the wake of Saturday’s 2-1 derby defeat to Manchester City and Smalling is now urging a return to form in Sunday’s Premier League meeting with Watford at Vicarage Road.
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United went down 1-0 – with coach Jose Mourinho fielding a reserve-packed side – on a late goal from Tonny Vilhena, despite a clear offside at the start of the counter-attack.
So has the “Special One” lost his touch? “In the second half they answered to my words at half-time.” .
Rashford has had to be patient under Mourinho, with Zlatan Ibrahimovic the undisputed first-choice striker and others preferred on the flanks.
“When you lose matches, there are no miracles in terms of the players’ soul”, he said.
‘You win matches and people are happy and full of confidence. The England captain has gone three club matches without scoring, and with questions still being asked about his best position and even his future at Old Trafford, may feel he has a thing or two to prove.
“When we won the Community Shield and the first three Premier League matches, I wasn’t on the moon”, said Mourinho. “They were two matches where we didn’t play well for 90 minutes but they were two matches where we deserved a better result”.
And manager Mourinho accepts United were off the pace in the opening period.
“Let’s not make an excuse for Sunday because we had to play this game [on Thursday]”.
It is a new event, it is another match, it starts at minute zero and so I think it has nothing to do with the two previous matches.
“I know the situation is not a case of clicking your fingers and everything is flawless”.
“Okay I changed eight players, but I played with a good team”.
“It is obvious that we left players like [Antonio] Valencia and [Luke] Shaw at home to play and to rest”, he said.
Incredibly, despite standing yards away, the referee failed to spot that the pass’s recipient was clearly offside, leaving him to cross the ball to Tonny Vilhena to slide home the victor.
I fully agree with Jose Mourinho’s statement.
Giovanni van Bronckhorst’s team had swept to the top of the Dutch league with five successive victories and they made their lethargic opponents pay when they got the only goal with 11 minutes left.
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“We go back to a normal team without so many changes [against Watford]”.
