“What did I make of today?”
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“I think in the first half they were much better than us”, said Mourinho.
‘Rooney has to play. there is flexibility with Rooney and like any manager that’s ever managed him, they start off saying he will play up front before they realise he is equally as effective in other positions’.
Specifically on the display against United, Guardiola said: “The first half was good – our build-up was correct, patient, and we attacked in the right moments”.
“I think that’s where he played for Juventus, either in a diamond, tucked in on the left, or in a 3-5-2 – like when he had Andrea Pirlo and Claudio Marchisio giving him that freedom, because defensively he is poor”. “The team paid for it”. But, except for one or two from Kevin (De Bruyne, who hit the post in the second half), we didn’t finish.
Woodward was basking in the afterglow of United’s record-breaking financial results, which showed they had become the first UK club to earn more than half a billion pounds in a single year. “It was the ideal result for us”.
“His personality means a lot – how you react after making a mistake is so important”.
“We had a few players below that level and we were made to pay”.
Joe Hart’s replacement looked flustered and was fortunate not to give away a penalty or collect a card soon after the restart, turning into danger and lunging at Rooney in the box. “And mistakes from the referee are football too”.
“The second one is a handball by Otamendi – some pundits will say “no” because it’s the back of the arm but he knows”.
“The second half was more hard – they played powerfully and with long balls. So we were also punished by that”.
“Look, honestly, I had two or three players in the first half who, if the game was played now and I know what is going to happen, then I wouldn’t play them”.
Mourinho and Guardiola shook hands as the final whistle signalled three points for the visitors on an afternoon when the players’ battle rather than ructions between the managers dominated the conversation. “The individuals are there, like I am, to serve the team, to give their best to the team”. Is it their fault? “We had chances to equalise”. When they played Fernando after a couple of minutes it was because they felt what everyone else was feeling – that we were in control. This was a very unbelievable clash which saw big names such as Pogba, Ibra and others take part in this magnificent fixture for the first time. But again we did not get the compensation we deserved.
And Santi Cazorla secured Arsenal’s second win of the season when the Spanish midfielder stroked home a controversial penalty awarded for Jose Fonte’s tackle on Olivier Giroud in the 94th minute.
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The Red Devils simply could not deal with the Belgian international’s powerful running and intelligent link-up play, as the 25-year-old came back to haunt his former boss Jose Mourinho.
