City prove slicker
ENGLISH PREMIER LEAGUE Mourinho criticises United’s poor first-half performance and referee decisions as Guardiola draws first blood Manchester United Manchester City
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OSE Mourinho blamed a poor firsthalf display and refereeing mistakes as he suffered defeat in his first Manchester derby. It was first blood to Pep Guardiola as the old La Liga foes resumed hostilities in the Premier League, with Kevin de Bruyne and Kelechi Iheanacho firing City ahead.
Claudio Bravo, making his debut in the City goal, flapped at Wayne Rooney’s free-kick to gift Zlatan Ibrahimovic a reply just before the break but the hosts could not force the equaliser.
United manager Mourinho felt Bravo should have been sent off for lunging at Rooney in the second half and that Nicolas Otamendi should have been pulled up for handball – decisions by Mark Clattenburg that compounded a poor opening period by United.
Asked if he was disappointed by the first half or encouraged by the second, Mourinho, who shook hands with Guardiola after the final whistle, said: “Both. I think in the first half we deserved to be losing and in the second half we didn’t deserve to be losing.
“The first half was their half and they got what they deserved. In the second half, we were the best team. We didn’t get what we deserved.
“Clearly, I was disappointed with the first half, disappointed with some really poor individual performances that affected the overall performance of the team.
“In the second half, I was very pleased with many things, but disappointed with the result and disappointed two very important decisions from Mark that were against us.”
Pressed to elaborate, Mourinho said: “It’s obvious that was a penalty and red card to Bravo.
“If it is outside the box, it is a direct free-kick and a red card. Inside the box, it is more difficult. It is more difficult because it is a big decision and sometimes the referees they are like us, they are human and they think twice before big decisions.
“The second penalty was Otamendi handball.
“I believe some of you will say ‘that’s not a penalty’. I say it was 100 per cent a penalty because Otamendi tries to stop the cross in the face of the goal, but the cross comes behind him.
“He knows and he brings the second arm back. The first arm is the one that is close to his body. It was a clear penalty so we were punished by that. But we were also punished by our very bad first half and that’s football. And mistakes from the referee are football too.” the
Jesse Lingard and Henrikh Mkhitaryan were brought into United’s line-up for the derby, but were replaced at half-time after poor displays. Mourinho took responsibility for mistakes in the team set-up but insisted they were not the only poor performers.
Guardiola defended his goalkeeper despite Bravo’s numerous mistakes.
The City manager said: “We played good in the first half because of Claudio. I like the keepers to attack the ball and after what happened with the goal, the second half he continued to play and that’s a good thing about his personality.”
Gabriele Marcotti – Page 20