19th August, 2018
Manchester United manager, Jose Mourinho does not want to be critical of his players as people “do not accept it” and says he will only speak of them positively.
United were beaten 3-2 by Brighton on Sunday and when asked about the performance of his players, Mourinho refused to single out any individuals for criticism but did admit his team made “too many mistakes”.
“When I speak about individual performances and when I’m critical with my players, you just don’t accept it,” he told Sky Sports.
“The press and pundits are usually very critical of me when I go in that direction, so please don’t ask me to go in this direction, because it’s not good for me.
“So I will be very, very happy to analyse my players’ performances when they are very good.
“It is a great thing for me to come in front of the camera and say player A, B, C was fantastic. It’s amazing for me. When I cannot do that, don’t push me to the other side, because I don’t go to the other side.
“We made too many mistakes, and you were punished by the mistakes, because sometimes players make mistakes and you’re not immediately punished. We were always punished, and I think the third goal is too hard, and the team tried,” he added.
“The team in the second half tried, but I think the mental point of view, the accumulation of mistakes and punishment step by step was giving happiness and confidence to a good team like Brighton, who took that confidence from us.
“I was not expecting obviously big mistakes. We are not speaking about small mistakes, we made big mistakes, and we were punished by them. Of course when you lose your confidence, you lose a bit of the game plan.
“Certainly, you make that mistake, concede the third goal, and get into a situation where the players were really, really down.”
Mourinho also refused to be drawn on his disappointment with United’s summer transfer business, saying: “The window opens on January 1. It is closed.”