Mourinho opted to pick Henrikh Mkhitaryan and Jesse Lingard as wide players, while leaving out Anthony Martial and Juan Mata.
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Zlatan Ibrahimovic reduced the deficit just before the break during a breathless first half after City’s new goalkeeper Claudio Bravo dropped a high cross at the Swede’s feet, one of several errors during an unconvincing debut.
“What I told them at half-time was that for some of you, it looks like you are trying to do what I told you not to do”, said Mourinho.
“With these long balls anything can happen, but Nico (Otamendi) in particular was fantastic. Their performances. So, of course, I am going to play other players”.
It was certainly the weakest performance from Pogba since returning to Old Trafford for a record transfer fee, although most of the players around him were quite bad as well, especially in the first half.
“His personality showed me a lot today. We were a team that had the courage and honesty and dignity to chase with pride the result which I think we deserved – we deserved a goal in the second half”.
“You need to be sharp the way you think and the way you play”.
“It was a fight until the end and we’re very happy to get the win”. 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 after only a couple of months it is too early to know them really well”.
“But overall, it is a big compliment for the performance, because I know how hard it is to come here and play as we did, especially in the first half”.
“It is a great day for me and for the team, for everyone”. “It’s their fault, it’s my fault”.
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“They are such good quality players it makes it easier to play, especially with the philosophy of this manager”. A hat-trick from Moussa Dembele and goals from Scott Sinclair and Stuart Armstrong gave the hosts a 5-1 win at Celtic Park.
