Honest players gave their all, says Mourinho

JOSE Mourinho shielded the United players in the wake of their emphatic defeat by Liverpool at Anfield.

The Reds boss made 10 changes to the side from the midweek Champions League loss to Valencia, as only Romelu Lukaku retained his place.

Four defenders were recalled after injury but Chris Smalling pulled out of the starting XI in the warm-up and was replaced by Eric Bailly.

When asked what more he could do to develop the United squad, Mourinho skirted the issue of possible spending in the January transfer window and commended his defenders for playing through the pain barrier.

“I don’t think a football team is just a squad,” Mourinho said. “It is much more than the squad.

“I repeat, I am really, really happy with the players I had on the pitch with their attitude, with their effort, I am more than happy.

“Because I am more than happy I assume the responsibilities of the defeat and I want them to be hidden behind me.

“They gave absolutely everything. Honest people they gave absolutely everything. Eric Bailly knows he is playing one minute before the game. [Victor] Lindelof trained one day to play, [Diogo] Dalot trained one day to play, [Matteo] Darmian trained one day to play, Ashley Young played with a sore ankle, I could go on and on and on.

“I am happy with the players’’ commitment and the players’ attitude. I feel really sorry for them, they don’t deserve to lose in the way we did it.

“If they scored two in the first 20 minutes you say, ‘Okay, the best team just killed us in the first 20 minutes.’ To lose the way we did, in the moment we did, I feel sorry for the boys.” And he sprung to the defence of Lukaku after another blunt performance.

United had two attempts on target in the whole game and the striker has scored only once against the Premier League top six during his United career.

“I think he didn’t have a bad game at all,” Mourinho said. “He fought hard, he had good movement, set up the goal, gave more problems today than he gave last season when we came for the 0-0 draw. He was lively, he had good movement, good interaction.

“Sometimes his first touch is not the best and he loses balls in the first touch. I think he fought hard, I think he is improving, he played positively the last game against Fulham and today a very difficult match to play, I think he was positive.

“Liverpool deserve the victory but is hard for my players to work hard like they did and to lose exactly in the moment where we didn’t believe we would lose.”