JESSE SAVES JOSE
... but under-fire Mourinho slams sloppy United
JOSE MOURINHO accused his players of ‘shooting themselves’ after Manchester United failed to win for the fourth Premier League game in a row last night.
Errors from goalkeeper David de Gea and Marcos Rojo saw United twice fall behind to Arsenal at Old Trafford before hitting back through Anthony Martial and Jesse Lingard to draw 2-2. It left them still eight points off the top four, and a frustrated Mourinho said: ‘ Even in matches where we play well we shoot ourselves. We need to have a performance like this but without the mistakes we made. We are always
punished. We drew 2-2, but we scored four goals. As always we made mistakes and we paid for the mistakes.’ Mourinho, who dropped Paul Pogba and Romelu Lukaku to the bench, had demanded more commitment from his players and they responded with a more energetic performance. But United have now drawn with Arsenal, Crystal Palace and Southampton since losing the Manchester derby as they languish in eighth place. ‘Maybe we feel frustrated with the result and frustrated with some mistakes, with some moments where a little bit more quality would be needed,’ added Mourinho. ‘But we have to be happy with the spirit, the effort, dynamic, intensity. ‘This is a performance of big soul and heart, Rashford, just to give a name, gave everything for the shirt. But even from our bench you could feel the little panic when the ball comes to our defensive third. I’m happy with the soul, bravery and commitment.’ Mourinho (right) was forced to field an unfamiliar defence in which Chris Smalling and Eric Bailly played despite injury, Diogo Dalot made his first Premier League start and Rojo played for the first time since June. ‘Our defensive players were completely dead,’ said the United boss. ‘Arsenal were wanting the draw, diving, getting the game stopped, waiting for the game to go to the end and all the defensive players were dead, physically, because of the circumstances. ‘Behind was a kid (Dalot) with a first start, and Eric, half injured and without playing for a long time, Smalling injured, was Marcos Rojo in the first minute of his season, Darmian with a third start, so difficult circumstances.’ The result left Arsenal unbeaten in 20 games since the opening week of the season, but they lost Rob Holding and Aaron Ramsey to injury. Manager Unai Emery said: ‘The worst news is the Rob Holding injury. It’s his knee. The doctors think maybe it is a big injury but we are going to wait (to find out), it is his knee. ‘I am proud of my players and the second half gives us confidence. We controlled the game and if one team deserved to win, we did more.’