MOURINHO REACTS TO WIN OVER CHERRIES
Jose Mourinho was pleased with the response from his Manchester United team in the 2-0 victory over Bournemouth on Wednesday night.
The Reds returned to winning ways in the Premier League to go four points clear in second place, as goals from Chris Smalling and substitute Romelu Lukaku saw off the Cherries at the Vitality Stadium.
Here are the key points from the boss in an interview with BT Sport and his post-match press conference…
‘A PROFESSIONAL AND CONTROLLED PERFORMANCE’
“Yes [I got the response I wanted]. The players were very good. I think a good team performance – professional, controlled, a good effort, good responsibility, desire to play, to have the ball, to score. Also desire to cope with the defensive responsibilities against a fast team and a team who is not easy to play against and part of that good collective performance was good individual performances. All of them were professional and responsible and with the first ambition which is to finish in the top four. I think one more point is probably enough, maximum two, so when we have that result, we can think about third and about second.”
MUCH-IMPROVED DISPLAY AFTER WEST BROM DEFEAT
“Everything was different – everything was faster, everything was simple. The players were running without the ball to be in the right places defensively and attacking, not just to always have one more touch, one more flick, one more trick. Everything was good and I am happy that the result was also good because now the players can have that positive feeling.”
EVERY PLAYER IS IN CONTENTION FOR WEMBLEY
“I would say that every player on the pitch was positive and made themselves available for [the FA Cup semi-final on] Saturday. I wouldn’t say phenomenal. I think all of them played well and they told me they want to play [against Tottenham]. Obviously I am going to change the team, I am not going to repeat this team. I gave a rest to [Nemanja] Matic, I gave a rest to Antonio Valencia, with the objective of at least having a couple of players fresh. But all of the players told me they are here and they want [to play].”
POGBA PRAISE
“I am not very good on the Man of the Match, especially because I am a team manager. I am not a big fan of it but I think he played very well. I would say against Manchester City, he was phenomenal, not just because of the goals. But today he was very, very good so I would say a good choice [for Man of the Match].”
ATTITUDE NEEDS TO BE MORE CONSISTENT
“I think we are inconsistent and we are inconsistent many times in our attitude. Against our top-five opponents, we didn’t lose any points for them. Against [Manchester] City, we won, we lost. Against Spurs, we won, we lost. Against Chelsea, we won, we lost. Against Liverpool, we won, we drew. Against Arsenal, we won and we still have one match to play, so we are not also going to lose. We didn’t lose points in the two duels against the direct opponents, but then we lost points against teams that were promoted – we lost against Huddersfield and lost against Newcastle. We lost points against teams that probably are going to be relegated or are in the group of teams involved in the relegation fight. We lost three points against West Bromwich Albion and lost two points against other teams involved in that fight – Stoke and Southampton. We were not consistent and you pay the price."
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