Jose Mourinho saw his 100 per cent start to life in the Old Trafford hotseat come to an end on Saturday when Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City emerged 2-1 victors from a pulsating clash.
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The Portuguese tactician has hailed youngster Marcus Rashford, who came on at half-time in the United’s derby defeat against City.
Guardiola’s strategy for the game was to control the ball and find the space between United’s midfielders and defenders while Mourinho asked his players to play in high pressure and use physical dominance of the tall players like Pogba, Fellaini and Ibrahimovic.
The 18-year-old had to make do with a place on the bench and watched as his Manchester United teammates struggled to cope with the opposition during the opening 45 minutes of the Manchester derby.
Bravo, brought in to replace England keeper Joe Hart, endured a nervous debut and was lucky not to concede a penalty and be sent off for a reckless lunge on Wayne Rooney. We lost the ball very easily.
‘It was an important game, but let’s be realistic: the season has just started and there is still a long way to go.
For now, the roads in Manchester are painted blue, so to speak.
Jose Mourinho was left disappointed by a derby defeat the Manchester United manager believes was borne out of a poor first-half display and some refereeing mistakes. “Their performances. So, of course, I am going to play other players”.
Mourinho mixed things up for the second half, throwing on Marcus Rashford, Ander Herrera and later Anthony Martial and taking a more direct approach in search of an equalizer, but City looked more risky on the counter-attack.
“We started the game with some players really below their normal level in terms of their concentration and mental availability to play a game of this speed”.
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“I did not know Paul before and now I know him personally, he is a boy who works hard, he wants to progress and has a good attitude”. I don’t know what happened a year ago, it’s just a different season. Rightfully so, both managers played down that angle and saw the narrative as media driven hype. I am just trying to build on it.
