JOSE: NO WAY
Special One: I’m innocent party
Southampton ........ 0 Manchester Utd.... 1 Freddie Duffy
season. Asked why he had been sent off, Mourinho said: “I don’t know. Craig told me to leave and I left. Did I ask for an explanation? No. He told me to leave, and I left.
“I collided with the fourth official Mike Jones.
“My players were really tired at the end. Nine of them didn’t play in midweek (in the 4-1 defeat of Burton) so nine of them, it’s not even an accumulation of fatigue.
“The weather was beautiful. Even if you train at 11am, 12pm, 3pm in Manchester, we don’t get this weather. Seriously. The last time we had this was in Los Angeles and then in Macedonia, and they felt it.
“I saw some players not sharp. Great spirit and always trying but not the same sharpness. So if your opponent is coming with everything against you, let’s do it for 10 or 15 minutes and stay solid.
“We are better this season than last. But this is nothing. It’s just a start. I really think that six teams are going to fight for the title.”
Mourinho was also asked about United supporters again singing a controversial Lukaku chant that has been branded “offensive and discriminatory”.
The 54-year- old claimed: “I don’t understand what the fans sing. The only music I understand clearly is one from my opponents when they tell Mourinho to go to a place. But the only thing I will say is the fans were amazing – the support amazing.
“It’s important to have that not when you’re winning 3- 0 or 4- 0 but when you are defending and are exhausted. The songs? I don’t understand them.”
Mau r ic io Pe l le g r ino’s Southampton failed to score for the fifth time in seven games since his appointment and he said: “I don’t like to talk about good luck or bad luck because we have to score goals and we couldn’t.
“But at the same time we played a good game. We controlled the game against a team who are really difficult to control.
“To play in this way with this spirit, with this football, we’ll win more games than we lose.”