Four straight wins to start the season – one in the Community Shield and three in the English Premier League – saw new United manager Jose Mourinho cast by many as a saviour of England’s biggest club, which has slumped since Alex Ferguson’s retirement in 2013.
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The Red Devils were downed 1-0 by the Eredivisie side to condemn United to their second defeat in five days following the 2-1 Manchester derby loss to Manchester City.
And Mourinho offered no excuses for his players, who face a return to the English Premier League against Watford on Sunday at midday.
“I am not saying (it was) bad, but we did not have the ambition to win the match”.
“I always said it was a very good start but I was never on the moon”.
“I know the situation is not a case of clicking your fingers and everything is ideal”, said the United manager.
“When you lose matches, there are no miracles in terms of the players’ soul”, said Mourinho. You lose matches and people are sad and they feel it. “I just want Paul to forget that and play his football”.
Mourinho added that he told his players to forget the second-rate status of the competition and instead focus on trying to convince him that they deserved a chance to start the away match against Watford tomorrow.
“Both games are gone now and we need to look forward”.
Man United boss Jose Mourinho rues the offsides goal from Feyenoord and talks about giving games to his fringe players.
“We know that when Man United go to the Europa League we are going to be the team that everyone wants to play against, that everyone wants to fight to their limits which they did”. Some of the players were playing their first minutes of the season, not many minutes for them. The second half was different, when we were trying to win and Feyenoord were trying not to lose.
The goal sparked United into action but they found Jones, who has revitalised his career in Netherlands after a tough few years at Liverpool, impossible to beat.
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Careless with their passing and lacking a cutting edge up front, United – also reluctantly in the Europa League group stages for the first time – were unconvincing for long periods.
