TERRIERS BITE JOSE
Drenched Jose lays into stars as Terriers smash United unbeaten record
JOSE MOURINHO slammed his stars as Huddersfield enjoyed a “fairytale” victory.
United suffered their first defeat of the season, and Mourinho blasted: “We deserved the punishment of the defeat.”
It was the Terriers’ first league win over United for 65 years, and boss David Wagner said: “It’s another chapter in the fairytale.
“Today was our moment. We’re all very happy and proud.”
JOSE MOURINHO turned on his Manchester United flops and claimed THEY should be the ones forced to explain their disastrous defeat at Huddersfield.
The United manager flipped after he overheard Ander Herrera give a post-match interview, in which the Spanish midfielder admitted he and the rest of United’s stars didn’t have the heart for battle.
The seething Old Trafford boss seemed to be in control as he assessed United’s defeat by a David Wagner team, who had not won in their previous six games.
But with Herrera’s words playing in his head, Mourinho suddenly lost his rag and turned his fire on his own dressing room. “I heard Ander saying in the flash interviews that the attitude and desire was poor. Oh my God!
“When a player says that, I think they should all come to the Press conference because I cannot explain that.
“Huddersfield played with everything they have, like I like – and like it has to be. They played with everything, aggression, desire, motivation, sacrifice and we didn’t. The team that played the game of their lives deserved to win – and won. Simple.”
Herrera was part of a United midfield that couldn’t match the sheer desire of Huddersfield heroes like £8million opening goalscorer Aaron Mooy – ironically signed from rivals Manchester City in the summer.
Herrera said: “In the first 30 or 35 minutes, we didn’t play good. They were more passionate than us, more aggressive. We cannot accept that.
“Congratulations to them, they deserved it, but we have to analyse where we lost today. We lost almost every ball. That cannot happen in the Premier League.
“Everyone has to analyse for himself what happened in the first half.
“When you play against a team that you are normally better than, you have to match their aggression and passion. We didn’t do that. It cannot happen again.” Herrera’s admission made Mourinho’s blood boil.
The United boss added: “When I lose matches, I like to lose because the opponent was better or had more quality. When you lose because of attitude, that is really bad.
“We are experienced enough to know that when we come to place like Huddersfield, for them it is a big, big, big match. If we played a friendly with the same attitude as today, I would have been unhappy.
“I don’t think I have seen that before from them. I don’t even remember a friendly match where our attitude was so poor.
“I don’t know why they wanted it more. I was surprised by our performance, I was not expecting that.
“I honestly think we deserved the punishment of the defeat.”
Despite mistakes for both goals by £31million Swedish defender Victor Lindelof, Mourinho refused to scapegoat him.
He said: “In the first half I was waiting for the mistake. It was Juan Mata and Victor, but the mistakes we made can’t be taken out of context and it would be unfair to point fingers at players for individual mistakes.”
For Terriers boss Wagner, there was only joy at the huge effort of his stars.
He said: “I live in Huddersfield, so I know how huge this result is for this town, for the supporters, for the chairman and for the board.
“If this is our moment, we have to grab it, which is what the players did.
“Small Huddersfield have beaten Man Utd and it one of the proudest moments in my managerial career.
“I am totally aware that this is a very special moment. I am aware of it, happy about it and proud about it.”