Jose Mourinho, in an interview after a lost match in the Manchester derby, did not hide his disappointment. The Lithuanian website manutd.lt presented some thoughts of the Portuguese after a not very successful match.
First impressions
"What do I think about today's match? I think they were much better than us in the first half. We started the match very poorly. We began the game with some players who were lower than the usual level in terms of concentration, psychological readiness. It is necessary in games of such high tempo, as footballers need to be sharp in their thinking and playing. When there are three or four such players on the field, you pay for it. The team paid for it."
Derby of two different halves
"In the first 35 minutes, 'City' controlled the situation and they deserved to be ahead. In the last minutes of the first half, we scored a goal and could have scored again immediately, but I think this period falls out of the context of the first half. The second half was completely different. And when Fernando entered the field, both 'City' and all the spectators felt that we were controlling the situation. We were much more dangerous, had our chances to equalize, and who knows what would have happened if the results had been level. In the last 45 minutes, we fought very hard. We tried everything, took many risks and deserved a different result."
Key factors of the defeat
"I think we were punished for a lot of things. First - it was the first half and how we started it. Several individual actions showed the team's vulnerability. Also, we were punished twice for the decisions of Mark Clattenburg. Even the best referees can make mistakes, but he made two. The first - not awarded penalty and a red card for Claudio Bravo. If any other player does that outside the penalty area, then a penalty and a red card are given, so in this case it should have been a penalty and a red card. But maybe he thought about the consequences of such a decision, as it would have completely changed the course of the game and he did not want to make such a crucial decision. The second mistake again not awarded a penalty after Nicolas Otamendi's contact with the ball when he touched it with his elbow. He tried to interrupt the pass into the penalty area, but the ball flew not towards him, but behind him. Otamendi looked at the ball and hit his elbow, so this is another penalty kick. We were also punished for that."
Was the right lineup chosen for the match?
"Honestly, if I had known how the match would unfold, what its dynamics would be, I would not have let two or three players play. But this is football and sometimes players disappoint coaches, sometimes they provide pleasant surprises. I thought that the characteristic of today's match would be such that we could break 'City' with individual, quality raids, but those players did not give me what I wanted. Is it their fault? Is it my fault? It is my fault, because I am the coach and these decisions are always mine, because I make them."
Signs of positivity from the second half of the match
"The positivity I see is the team spirit and the psychological strength to play the way they played in the second half - taking many risks against a team that defended and waited for their chance to score after a counterattack."
manutd.lt
