The manager questioned his charges' approach to a tense stalemate at Old Trafford, while calling on them to show better against Young Boys
MATCH REPORT: Man Utd 0-0 Palace: Lukaku's goal disallowed as Red Devils continue bad form
Manchester United manager Jose Mourinho suggested that his players lacked the heart to take three points from the weekend's Premier League fixture after being held 0-0 by Crystal Palace.
The Reds' uneven league form continued unabated on Saturday as they failed to break down the determined Eagles at Old Trafford.
United dominated possession but could not find a way past Wayne Hennessey, with the home crowd reacting with sporadic jeers at the final whistle.
Wins for Liverpool and Manchester City put Mourinho's men even further from the Premier League summit, trailing the leaders and their city rivals by a mammoth 14 points after 13 games.
And Mourinho questioned his men's will to win as he tried to explain this latest slip.
"A bad result, no chance to see it as one point we win because there are two points we lost. Crystal Palace deserve the credit. They came for this and they got it and fought for it and gave everything for it," the manager told reporters.
"I don’t want to take their credit away We should also blame ourselves as we started really well and did the most difficult thing apart from score which is to find the spaces to play, by analysing the opponents and training and bringing the ideas to the game.
"We used the sides very well and made them move to one sides and then go to the other but there was not enough intensity, not enough desire.
"It is a game we really need to win. If we play with the same philosophy against Young Boys then we won’t win and have to go to Valencia and win there. There are games that are special and not just one more: this was a special game, the first of eight Premier League games until the end of December and a game we need to win and it was not enough from the heart.
"You must play with brain and also with heart and I think there was not enough heart."
When asked what could be done to alter that passivity, Mourinho was less certain.
"You cannot change players’ natures dramatically, The solution is that probably I have to make certain choices based on heart and then probably I will blame myself because I will think heart is not enough and am missing some quality," he added.
"Palace deserve some credit but we have to blame ourselves. Hennessey apart from the brilliant saves, he wasted 10 minutes every time he had the ball for goal kicks, but we also lost probably 30 minutes by letting them breathe when they have the ball.
"We didn’t have that intensity that in my opinion is basically related with your brain, with your heart. I know national teams are very dangerous and how players get injured in the national teams or come back which is what happened with Victor [Lindelof], I tried to play with the majority of the team not involved in international games to have that freshness but I had that freshness below the limit of intensity."
Mourinho's United are back in action on Tuesday, when they will host Young Boys in the Champions League's Group H.
Wikikosz
237
1)Mourinho is a good coach but he is playing to get fired ever since he knows how much hes getting paid out. 2) Mourinho has set out to destory Man United ever since he was at Chelsea in one of he press conferences he made it clear. 3) Mourinho is not a long term coach he has never being and he will never be. 4) He knows actually what he is doing. He proved it where ever he went. 5) Most importantly He should never have come to United. 6) He will never chance his tactics 7) This story of Him blaming the players are pathetic. He knows what his doing!!! 8) There is more money in getting fired. 9) lol how can we play a defensive game if we have nothing to defend. 10) He is playing to get Fired. Mourinho rather b the most hated man in football coz there is less stress then being at the top. MOURINHO loves playing the villian.
montestiokah
225
That is what he is good at.... Blaming the players nothing more
Naimurrahmansiam
155
Accourding to Jose there was not enough heart.Accourding to me not enough brain from Jose.He still hasn t brought any slight change to his tactics despite seeing whats going on.Game after game its the same.The players can t play his defenssive tactics clearly.Man U were beaten alot of times but Crystel just couldn t finish.The score could easily have been 3-0 Crystel or atleast 2 for sure.Now offesively the only problem is Young with nothibg in those crosses.If Jose wants to continue like this then better get Marcelo.Otherwise I can t see any other LB who can always get good crosses to help them score.The players are just giving their all to keeping their defensive bus shape and drifting the ball wide for a cross.Their should be a proper plan for both.As when caught in possession players can t gr back to that bus shape direct but they still they it and forget some basics to defend and end up having an opponent player in the box.Jose either should go to Madrid with these tactics as it will suit them or just bring something more effective.
lirilIb
154
You can speak up
Vupcirs
152
whenever he lose or draw he there must be some criticise for the players why did he change the lineup fr 4.3.3 and go back to his old boring defensive hard to watch line up 4.2.3.1
R7imo
137
Jose is good coach but when a player can't think that I can do my best with his tactic his guidelines this is the fault of that player Manchester utd president sould have think of that, thay have to buy more time player and who have believe in himself that I can adopt any tactic's and play well, so before criticised Jose think of that
SoccerSmarts
103
I wonder why there is no passion for the players at man utd. Maybe it's bc every time they go on pitch the know media will make fun of them and they will probably lose. Half of the players want to leave the team and are only on it for the money. They need to step up their game...Agree?
Anoopmurali
96
I think it’s time we need to change JM as Man Utd manager. I don’t see any other option for Man Utd. He will go like this blaming everything on the players for another defeat or draw. He really can’t see that he is not the best any more. He really can’t motivate his players make or make them play to their best. He doesn’t rotate the squad or he can’t do any thing good for Utd at the moment. I didn’t see Man Utd dominating single game this season. All players are negetively influenced by his coaching and tactics. Man Utd let him leave as soon as possible and bring someone who really can take Utd to the level we were at the time of Sir Alex . Please don’t make same mistake by bringing names . We should really think what will be best for us.