I do not go crazy when we win, says United boss
JOSE MOURINHO claimed his muted reaction to his team’s goals at West Bromwich Albion was due to mental stability gained through experience. The Manchester United manager barely moved when Romelu Lukaku opened the scoring in their 2-1 win at the Hawthorns and there was little emotion shown when Jesse Lingard added the second, with a shot that deflected off Albion’s Ahmed Hegazi. Lukaku also failed to celebrate his goal, to underline the subdued reaction to United cutting the gap to City in the table to 11 points. Mourinho insisted that Lukaku’s sombre approach came in part from the Belgian’s history with West Brom, where he spent a season on loan five years ago, before saying: ‘Probably the second thing is he looks at me and I don’t celebrate, too. And he says, “If he doesn’t celebrate, why should I celebrate?” ‘I didn’t because you get more experienced, you get more balanced. You don’t go crazy when you win. You don’t get depressed when you lose. You are much more stable with experience. Some other managers, they are different, and they don’t change. I change.’ Mourinho insisted there was still plenty to play for in the title race. ‘Last match in the Premier League, Watford at Old Trafford, mid-May, and until then every match we go,’ he said. ‘Every match we try to win. We want to play until the last match. If you do that question to us and then you do it to the third and the fourth and to the fifth and to the sixth, probably they disappear. Probably they want to go on holidays. We don’t want to go on holidays. We want to play until the last match.’ Having produced a lacklustre first half, West Brom gave United a fright with a stirring finish after Gareth Barry had reduced the deficit with the first West Brom goal in four games under Alan Pardew. Pardew accepted the blame for the display in the opening period but argued his side should have been awarded a second-half penalty when Ashley Young barged over James McClean. He said: ‘Young is anticipating the goalie reaching the ball and then he thinks, “I’m not sure he’s going to get there”, and he takes him out. ‘It’s a penalty, whichever way you look at it. But I can’t criticise the referee, he didn’t see it.’ West Brom have not won for 17 games in all competitions and remain in 19th place, two points from safety. ‘We were disappointing first half and I picked the wrong team,’ Pardew said. ‘The boys gave me so much at Liverpool. Obviously I’m getting to know them, but I didn’t think we had that energy in the first half that we need against Man United. It was too comfortable for them.’