JOSE'S REACTION TO REACHING FA CUP FINAL
Jose Mourinho felt his Manchester United team deserved to reach the Emirates FA Cup final at Tottenham Hotspur’s expense on Saturday evening.
The Reds came from behind to beat Spurs 2-1 at Wembley Stadium, thanks to goals from Alexis Sanchez and Ander Herrera, and reach a record-equalling 20th final of the famous competition, where we will play Chelsea or Southampton on 19 May.
Here are the key points from the boss in his interviews with MUTV and BBC Sport, and in his post-match press conference...
WE DESERVED TO WIN
“I am very happy. We deserved it. If we split the match into periods, we were the best team for many of these periods. Even when they had the ball, when we were winning we were totally in control. We lost control after the 1-0. At half-time we spoke - we came back late for the second half because we spoke a lot - and organised ourselves. When you play away from home the supporters were phenomenal.”
THERE IS TOO MUCH CRITICISM OF US
“We should ask ourselves why there is too many critics on all of us? We can finish second with six more points. To do that with all the fantastic teams we play against will be an achievement for a club that couldn't do it for a few years now. And it will be a fourth final in three years. So, maybe too much criticism. The best way to answer to it is to work and to live with it and to cope with it and to fight, which is what we all did this week. Bad result and bad performance on the Sunday [against West Brom], not happy at all. But we stuck together, we stayed away for five days from everything and just focused on preparing both matches. Now we can go back to Manchester with the second place in the Premier League, even with one match less than Liverpool, and with a place in the final.”
IT WAS A VERY GOOD GAME
“I thought the game was very good. [For] the game to be good you need two, three good teams and I think we had three very good teams. I think the interesting thing was that both teams tried to start very strong, very aggressive. They [Tottenham] were better than us, they scored and they had a period where we lost a little bit control in midfield, but then [we had a] good reaction, good football, good goal. In the second half [we had a] good brain, good organisation, very confident, very calm and very much in control, even when Spurs had the ball. So I think the second half was quite calm because we had a feeling that it was going to be very difficult to lose the game and most probably we would win it.”
PLEASED WITH THE PLAYERS' ATTITUDE
"It just not about the squad. I think I can imagine myself now after losing that match [against Tottenham], I won’t be as upset as I was against West Bromwich [Albion], even [with this] being an FA Cup semi-final.
Because the attitude was good, the players were good, they were focused, they were ready, they help each other, they were confident to play. I was really, really happy and pleased, so the answer was good."
METICULOUS PREPARATION WAS GOOD
"I think the fact we stayed together for five days was good. We stayed away from Manchester, away from home in London. We spent our time together and we spoke. I have the chance to feel them and I have the chance to speak with some individually. Everything was really good. I think the weather helped too. Fulham was fantastic to provide for us fantastic conditions for our training session."
HAS THE CHARACTER OF THE TEAM STRENGTHENED RECENTLY?
“I think so. I think that you don’t get strong with happiness in negative moments, with ‘let it go because we just lost a football match’. I think you grew up with criticism, with pressure and intense work – not just tactically but also mentally. I think the boys are growing up and it was two very good performances this week, using almost every player of the squad in these two matches and I think everybody as a group is very happy to go back to Manchester with a place in the final.”
MENTAL TOUGHNESS WILL HELP THE PLAYERS
“Of course [it will]. That is the only way to play for big clubs. To play in big clubs, you must be an incredible talent or good talent with an incredible mentality. If you don’t have quality, you cannot play for a big club. If you don’t have mentality, you cannot do it so I think we are trying to find this balance of a group with quality but with that mental toughness.”
WOULD THE SEASON BE SUCCESSFUL WITH A CUP WIN?
"The season is successful if we finish second, if we do a better Premier League [season] than Spurs, Liverpool, Chelsea and Arsenal. If we do that, I think it is successful because 81 points would break the 80 points target. To finish second against an untouchable winner is good, to make lots more points than last season, to win more matches, to score more goals, to concede less goals, to have much better results against the top teams I think is a successful season. Now the final is the final and obviously you have to try to win, but I do not think it is because of one game that a team is good or bad, a player is good or bad, a manager is good or bad and the season is good or bad."
More: Watch the manager's post-match interview with MUTV in full in the video player above.