Blame game
> Jose points finger at United’s Juventus exertions
MANCHESTER UNITED manager Jose Mourinho responded to his side’s 3-1 derby defeat to Premier League leaders Manchester City yesterday by saying his team had paid the price for their midweek Champions League exertions in beating Juventus.
United fought back for a 2-1 victory against the Italian champions in Turin on Wednesday while City cruised through a home game against Ukrainians Shakhtar Donetsk 6-0 and the Portuguese manager was quick to point out that context.
“Everybody has to agree – it is one thing to go to Juventus and play against one of the best teams in the world for 90 minutes and another thing to beat Shakhtar Donetsk at home 6-0 and be very relaxed. We arrived in different circumstances,” said Mourinho.
“It is not the physical effort but the mental pressure. I think some of the boys felt it a little bit,” he added.
But in contrast with some defeats this season, Mourinho was unwilling to criticise his team’s attitude and effort.
“The way people who don’t understand football analyse it is with stats. I don’t go for stats. I go for what I felt in the game and it was there until minute 80 something.
“We made mistakes. We were punished but the fight, the togetherness, it is something we are building and are not going to lose that because of a defeat,” he said.
“For me zero words against my players, everything is positive. I am with them and they are with me,” added the former Real Madrid boss.
The Portuguese boss, in a separate interview with Sky Sports, added: “All three goals are our mistakes. Against a team like City, if you make mistakes you will get punished.”
A fourth League loss of the season leaves United already 12 points adrift of their local rivals just 12 games into the Manchester United’s Chris Smalling (left) tackles Manchester City’s Raheem Sterling (centre) during their English Premier League match at the Etihad Stadium yesterday. – new campaign. Of even more concern for Mourinho’s job prospects, the Red Devils are now also seven points adrift of the top four, putting Champions League qualification for next season at risk. “We knew that there is a difference in potential (with City),” said Mourinho. “Since the beginning of the season, we knew that our second position last season was a fantastic achievement for us, and this season we are going to fight for the top four.” When asked if that meant his team now had no title hopes, Mourinho replied: “I think we are not going to be relegated.” Victory left City two points clear of Liverpool and manager Pep Guardiola told the BBC: “We deserved the victory. The first half we played a little bit with fear but football is a game and we didn’t want to lose the ball.”
Asked why his team had been fearful, Guardiola replied: “We wanted to play good in front of our fans and we know how important it is to play in this game. But we did well and that goal from Sergio Aguero helped us a lot after halftime.”
“There is a gap, Manchester City start playing from the beginning of the season at a certain level that allows them to get a lot of points.”
Guardiola’s delight at his team’s derby win did not stop him from delivering a strong message to winger Raheem Sterling over his showboating at the end of the game.
With City 3-1 up in the final minutes, Sterling had the ball deep in the United half on the left wing but, rather than take the ball to the corner flag or keep possession, the England forward produced some fancyfootwork stepovers which angered United’s Spanish midfielder Juan Mata,.
“He made some movements with the legs, we can avoid it but he is young, he can improve,” said
Guardiola. – Reuters / AFP