City maintained their 100 per cent start to the season with a 2-1 win over local rivals Manchester United that took them two points clear at the top of the table.
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“It was not just about them [Mkhitaryan and Lingard, who were subbed at half time]”. How many big matches has he played?
“The performances are the deciding factor”, Mourinho told reporters.
Crystal Palace got their first win of the season as they beat Middlesbrough 2-1, while Bournemouth beat West Bromwich Albion 1-0 and Burnley and Hull City drew 1-1.
“They had the ball, I wanted to control that and I was not able to”. Paul Pogba was as ineffective as anyone, but United did make better use of their record signing’s physique, and that of Marouane Fellaini, later on. “So it was not (just) Mickey (Mkhitaryan) and Jesse, it was much more than Mickey and Jesse”.
Pep Guardiola praises the defensive display of Manchester City, especially Nicolas Otamendi.
He might have scored the equaliser but his shot deflected off Zlatan Ibrahimovic, who was in an offside position, before it beat Claudio Bravo.
But although United improved following the half-time introductions of 18-year-old Marcus Rashford and Ander Herrera, they could not find an equaliser.
“What I told them at halftime was that for some of you, it looked like you are trying to do what I told you not to do”, Mourinho said.
“The thing that impressed me the most was the fact he was only young when he came into the side and he wanted to be the best player in the side”. Never do that. He did it 20 times during the game. “I was convinced by him before the game and it was the same after”. “Some of the boys, they felt the dimension of the game”.
“It has nothing to do with inexperience or age because you have the kid (Rashford) then in the second half and the kid looks like he was playing in the Under-18s against Salford City”.
He added: “You have to have an approach like that – all the best players in the world do”.
“What was most important was that we started a very hard run of seven games in 20 matches with a win”, said Spurs manager Mauricio Pochettino. Mourinho blamed referee Mark Clattenburg for not awarding a penalty after a rash challenge on Rooney by Bravo.
Stones was criticised for being over-elaborate on occasions before joining City from Everton for £47.5m this summer, but the England defender is comfortable following Guardiola’s game-plan.
“But the doctor said with what happened in the past, we have to be careful”.
Much of the pre-match focus had been on the stormy history of the relationship between Guardiola and Mourinho.
That the architects of the loss were Pep Guardiola and Kevin De Bruyne might have been even tougher for the Manchester United manager to digest.
“I made a couple of decisions where I thought the individual qualities of certain players would give me what I know I want, and I didn’t get it”, Mourinho said.
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He said: “I came here”.
