José Mourinho calls out his players after shock United loss

José Mourinho was not a happy man after Manchester United’s surprise loss away to Huddersfield Town on Saturday. More shocking than the result, however, was the manner in which his team was defeated. United were second best on the pitch all day long, and although both Huddersfield goals resulted from individual errors, the final score was a fair reflection of the proceedings. Put simply: the better team won - a point that Mourinho acknowledged. On mistakes by Juan Mata and Victor Lindelöf, Mourinho said:

“I know, and I know you like that you like the individualisation of the mistake and the defeat. I think it is very unfair because the mistakes from him in the first goal and Mata in the second are mistakes that belong in the context. If you play an amazing game and then lose because of an individual mistake, yes you point the finger and say 'we lost undeservedly and because am individual mistake'. That is not the case. In the first half I was just waiting for that mistake. It was Mata and Victor, but it could have been another one because the attitude was really really poor.

Mourinho then went on to question the attitude of his players, referencing Ander Herrera’s admission that the Huddersfield players had shown more desire on the day.

“They beat us on attitude. When I lose matches I want to lose matches because the opponent is better than us and showed more quality than us. When you lose a game because of attitude then that's really bad. I heard that Ander Herrera is in the flash interviews and is saying the attitude and desire was poor, oh my god, when a player feels that they should all go to the press conference and explain why because I can't explain why.”

Mourinho also expressed that the United supporters had a right to be disappointed in the performance.

“I feel really disappointed and if I was a Manchester United supporter I would be really disappointed because you can play and lose football matches because the opponent had more quality than you. You cannot lose football matches because the opponent had a better attitude than you. So I am really disappointed.”

For a manager who is the best in the business at deflecting attention away from his players, Mourinho clearly meant to make a point here. He certainly has a point: too many United players were lackluster and sloppy on Saturday. On the other hand, wouldn’t it be a nice if there was a very well compensated United employee whose job it was to prepare and motivate the players? Imagine that.