'We should have been 5 or 6-2 down' - Jose Mourinho tears into his team for their first half defensive display

Manchester United manager Jose Mourinho before the match

Kevin Palmer Twitter

November 03 2018 03:25 PM

Jose Mourinho ripped into his players once again after after Marcus Rashford snatched a last gasp winner to secure a 2-1 win at Bournemouth.

What Mourinho described as a 'disastrous' first half performance was backed up by an improved display after the break, yet the United manager didn't try to hide his annoyance as he spoke to BT Sport after the game.

"It was the whole first half. I said at half-time I was the luckiest manager in the Premier League in a half when it should be like 5 or 6-2, we were really lucky," began an irate Mourinho.

"Defensively awful, absolutely awful. When I say defensively I just don't look to the defenders. I look to the team we didn't press or do any of the week we did in the week. People watching this game will not believe how hard we worked this week. The first half was a disaster.

"I cant understand. My assistants said the warm up was the best we have all season and the week of work we had was phenomenal, so I can't understand this performance.

"I think a few mistakes create instability. I love the song, 'attack, attack, attack' but you need to have stability when you lose the ball and we are not showing that. It happened again against a good team but we were prepared for everything.

"The second half was exactly the opposite. We created lots of chances and in the end we have the goal that give us important points.

"I was strong but calm at half-time. I start by being positive and saying it is impossible to play worse than we did so the second half will be better for sure."

Mourinho's second half changes shifted he course of the game as Ander Herrera made an impact from the bench and Rashford scored the winner after he replaced Juan Mata after 56 minutes.

"I was happy bringing Ander Herrera into the game," declared Mourinho. "I felt we needed him to give more balance and to recover the ball faster. I was happy with that change. It was much better. The two points we lost against Chelsea in the last minute, we got them back today."

United now face away games against Juventus in the Champions League and Manchester City in the Premier League and if they repeat this lacklustre performance, they are unlikely to escape with anything less than two heavy defeats.