Jose Mourinho blamed his Manchester United players as the reason why his side suffered a 2-1 defeat against Manchester City in the Manchester derby on Saturday.
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Now they share a city and the desire for Premier League success, with Guardiola striking the first blow as Kevin De Bruyne and Kelechi Iheanacho’s first-half goals proved enough for Manchester City to leave Old Trafford with a 2-1 win.
“For me, the next big game is against Feyenoord and the next game he (Rashford) is going to play”, he said. I am happy for him. “This game [the derby], I know clearly what happened in the first-half, I know clearly what happened in the second-half”.
“Normally, people look to the football talent but the personality at this level is very, very important and he was showing that last season, he was showing that immediately”.
“I think the first half they were much better”, he told Sky Sports.
Mourinho picked Jesse Lingard and Henrikh Mkhitaryan in the starting lineup but replaced them at the half-time with Ander Herreria and Marcus Rashford. It is just that the only way I can decide my team is on performances. But while Mourinho acknowledged their underperformance – and said he only waited until half-time because he did not want to “destroy” them – he stressed his criticisms weren’t limited to just those two. Their performances. So of course I’m going to play other players.
“It is more hard because it is a big decision and sometimes the referees they are like us, they are human and they think twice before big decisions”.
United had won all three of their opening Premier League outings to start the season, and although they’ll be disappointed to have lost their 100 percent record against their city rivals, they’ll need to produce a positive reaction this week.
“Sometimes players disappoint managers”.
The United manager felt that the loss was a “normal result”, saying on MUTV: “You know in this league, you are always going to lose matches, especially against the big teams”. The kid Jesse – how many big matches?
“The second half was completely different”.
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The Portuguese’s next date is a game in Rotterdam against Feyenoord on Thursday in the UEFA Europa League.
