Manchester United manager Jose Mourinho has refused to blame his defenders for their abysmal performances in a sobering defeat against Brighton on Sunday.
Eric Bailly and Victor Lindelof came in for heavy criticism after a woeful defensive display at the AMEX Stadium saw the Seagulls take advantage with three first-half goals.
Glenn Murray put the hosts in front before Shane Duffy and Pascal Gross then scored either side of Romelu Lukaku's close range header to inflict further misery on Mourinho.
Mourinho admitted to Sky Sports in his post-match interview that his defenders had made too many mistakes but refused to be drawn into a comment on their individual performances.
He said: 'Look when I speak about individuals and I am critical with them, you just don’t accept it. The press, pundits are very critical with me when I go in that direction so please don’t ask me to go in that direction because it’s not good for me.
'I will be happy to analyse their performances when they are good. It’s good for me to come in front of the cameras and say they have been fantastic but don’t push me to the other side because it’s not good for me.
‘Too many mistakes and we were punished by them. Sometimes payers make them and you aren’t immediately punished but we were always punished by every mistake made. The team at half-time and in the second half we tried but the accumulation of mistakes and punishment with goals I think step by step was giving happiness and confidence to Brighton and took it from us.
The Portuguese boss was optimistic when Lukaku pulled a goal back but claimed his side then lost track of their game plan when they once again went two goals down. He was also surprised that referee Kevin Friend blew for full time as soon as he did.
'I was not expecting obviously big mistakes and we were punished by these mistakes and when you lose your confidence there is a tendency to lose a bit of confidence, lose some direction of the game plan. We came here with a certain intention and then you score the first goal and hopeful reach the second half at 2-1. Then you make another error and you go into half-time with the players really down and Brighton are happy.
'Another goal could have changed things again but our second goal arrived too late. We are used to the referees letting it go but Kevin (Friend) looked like he was in a hurry to finish the game. When the team was ready for that long last ball, Kevin was keen to end the game.'
Mourinho also revealed that he doesn't think Alexis Sanchez's injury is serious and the Chilean should be back in action soon.
'I don’t know (about a specific date) but let’s wait for the results of studies,' he added. 'I don’t think it’s a big thing. One or two weeks.’
TonyV25
78
Well I'm seeing a very different Mourinho from the last week or so Not blaming any one or picking any individual to criticize Now this will make an impact on the players who will try to work hard and know their Manager is backing them
Dakacelz
32
Mourinho should take the full blame. Picking the wrong players for the game. 1st. Martial has just been fined, he wants to leave and he hates Jose. Why was he selected his mind is not on the job. 2nd. Mata had a bad game on the right last week and was picked for the same role against Brighton. He played worse than last week and replaced at halftime. Rashford would have been a better choice. 3rd. Young playing him at right back was a mistake, he can’t play on the right. Lindelof should have played at right back and Smalling in his position. Young could have played at left wing instead of Martial. Young kept loosing his man forcing Fred and Lindelof to cover for him. Mourinho’s playing style doesn’t work. There are 20-30 passes between the defence and midfield and the ball ends up back to the keeper. If the ball gets to the forwards it is lost and the United players peddle back to outside their 18 yard box to defend instead of defending in the middle of the field. If United regain the ball there are too many passes allowing the other team to regroup and defend. They need to move the ball to the attacking position a lot quicker. United won’t win anything again this year and will struggle to make the top four.