Mou refuses to slam Smalling over costly dive
Laporte completes City’s quadruple bid overhaul
NEWCASTLE, United Kingdom, Feb 12, (AFP): Jose Mourinho has refused to criticise Chris Smalling for a dive which led to the decisive goal in Manchester United’s shock 1-0 defeat at Newcastle.
Mourinho was scathing about United’s defending as Matt Ritchie scored from the 65th minute free-kick awarded after Smalling threw himself to the ground before he was tackled by Jonjo Shelvey.
The Manchester United defender’s yellow card was followed by further punishment as Shelvey’s free-kick was headed down by Florian Lejeune before Dwight Gayle touched it into the path of Ritchie.
But he didn’t turn his guns on England international Smalling.
“I’ve no complaints. I don’t like to complain about referees in this kind of situation, but I was disappointed with our defending,” Mourinho said.
“I don’t know if it was a free-kick, but I know we missed a challenge in the air.
“I remember a Newcastle player jumping while two of my men were looking at him and staying on the floor, then we missed the second ball.
“We try to work on organisation. They have their jobs and know their responsibility.”
It was the closest Mourinho came to criticising his players in a surprisingly composed assessment of one of their worst performances of the season.
His comments to his players in the privacy of the dressing room are likely to possess a far sharper edge after they fell 16 points behind leaders Manchester City.
Paul Pogba, in particular, can expect to be a target for harsh words from the manager.
The United midfielder drifted through the match and was substituted shortly after he failed to compete with Lejeune when the defender set up the decisive goal.
Asked about Pogba’s failure to influence the game, Mourinho said: “It’s very difficult to put me in a position where I have to criticise my players.”
However, Mourinho was far more eager to give his verdict on Newcastle’s players and left nobody in any doubt he was impressed by their response to dropping into the bottom three in the wake of good results for their relegation rivals.
Meanwhile, the club record £57 million ($80 million) capture of French centre-back Aymeric Laporte took Manchester City’s spending on defence in the past year beyond the budgets of many nations.
But the Frenchman could be the final piece of a more than £200 million defensive overhaul to provide the foundations in City’s quest for a historic quadruple.
Pep Guardiola’s men kick off a run of four matches in four different competitions on Tuesday with a return to Champions League action at Basel in the first leg of their last 16 tie.
An FA Cup 5th round tie at Wigan follows before Arsenal await in the League Cup final and then another meeting with the Gunners in the Premier League — where City boast a 16-point lead at the top of the table.
However, it is for the Champions League stage that Guardiola was lured by City’s Abu-Dhabi owners and given enormous resources with which to mould an all-conquering squad.
“I have always dreamed of big things and one of them being the Champions League,” said Laporte on his arrival from Athletic Bilbao on last month’s transfer deadline day. “That is the number one objective.”