No class ‘ ‘
the reason we won.
“But a team of 11, when you have a minimum of six or seven players performing and wanting to play, who want the responsibility to have the ball, who have the desire really to play – it is difficult to have a good performance
“So I am not happy with the performance all all. But I am happy with the result.”
England fullback Luke Shaw was the one player named by Mourinho as having failed to follow his game plan and was, accordingly, substituted at halftime.
That made Shaw an obvious target for Mourinho to be questioned about although the United manager clearly had other players in mind when issuing his widespread critique.
“I wanted more personality in the team because many, many times I felt that Matic was an island of personality, desire and control surrounded by lack of personality, lack of class and lack of desire. “I have to say that for example McTominay lost more passes today in all the matches he played put together but he was a Manchester United player. “And for me a Manchester United player is one who when he plays badly still gives to the team. That is a question of personality, that is a Manchester United player for me. And that is what some of the others did not have.” Mourinho had hinted before the game that many of his stars are currently under-performing and, tellingly, Paul Pogba and Alexis Sanchez were both left out of his starting line-up. But the United manager’s response to what was, after all, a comfortable victory was an astonishing psychological tactic that may, ultimately, backfire – a point that Mourinho accepted when asked why he had made such a calculated outburst.
“My calculation is that without pressure, they don’t perform well. What can I lose?” he said.
“And the ones that are always there are the ones that will always be there. And that is an example of personality.”
Mourinho, whose only hope of a trophy this season is the FA Cup, warmed to his theme.
He said that some of his big name stars are simply scared of the job in hand at Old Trafford.
“A few of the guys, I saw them scared to play. You know when the sun is shining – and in football the sun is shining when everything goes well, you win matches, you score goals, everything goes in your direction – every player is a good player and every player wants to play and every player wants the ball and every player is confident to play and every player looks amazing.
“When it is dark and cold, and that in football means a period of bad results or a bad result like what happened to us a couple of days ago, not everybody has the confidence and the personality to play really.” – AFP LIVERPOOL manager Jurgen Klopp believes comparisons between Mohamed Salah and Barcelona’s five-time Ballon d’Or winner Lionel Messi are premature, but that the Egyptian is on his way to one day becoming the best player in the world.
Salah’s stunning season continued with a four-goal haul in a 5-0 thrashing of Watford at Anfield to take his tally for the season to 36 yesterday – the most goals ever scored by a Liverpool player in their debut year at the club.
Messi showed why he is still widely considered the world’s best by scoring his 100th Champions League goal in tearing Chelsea apart in a 3-0 win on Wednesday.
But Klopp believes Salah, 25, has time on his side to succeed Messi and Real Madrid rival Cristiano Ronaldo, both now in their thirties, as the world’s best player.
“I think Mo is on the way (to being the best in the world),” said Klopp.
“I don’t think Mo or anybody else wants to be compared with Lionel Messi. He is the one who is doing what he’s doing for what feels like 20 years or so.”
And Klopp challenged Salah to maintain the standards he has set this season in the manner Messi and Ronaldo have for the past decade.
“As it always is in life, if you have the skills, you have to show that constantly, and consistently he is very good and he helps us a lot.”
Salah even defied the slippery conditions of a snow storm as he weaved his way past Jose Holebas to slot home the opener after just four minutes.
“Conditions were difficult. It was obviously slippery and everybody suffered, but not Mo in that situation. It was really special,” added Klopp.
Liverpool had to wait until two minutes before halftime to double their advantage, but there was no surprise who was on the end of a sweeping team move as Salah got his second of the evening from Andy Robertson’s inch-perfect cross.
Salah turned provider immediately after the break when his cross was wonderfully backheeled past Karnezis by Roberto Firmino.
The Egyptian made it 4-0 with 13 minutes remaining as, despite falling over, he managed to slide the ball past Karnezis.
And he then capped off a brilliant personal performance in the dying seconds, thrashing into the roof of the net after Karnezis had fumbled Danny Ings’ shot.
Watford manager Javi Gracia admitted his side had been completely outclassed.
“We know we play against one of the best teams in Europe at this moment and they were much better than us,” said the Spaniard.
“We need to compete with the best 11 we can and it was not the best performance for us today.” – AFP