JOSE MOURINHO LAMENTS BELOW PAR MANCHESTER UNITED PLAYERS

Jose Mourinho appeared to criticize Jesse Lingard and Henrikh Mkhitaryan after claiming a couple of his players were “below the normal level” and Manchester United “paid for it.” Mourinho suffered his first defeat, 2-1, as United manager after going 2-0 down in the first-half at Old Trafford against Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City. Kevin de Bruyne put the visitors ahead after quarter of an hour, and Kelechi Iheanacho doubled City’s lead 21 minutes later, before Lingard and Mkhitaryan were replaced by Mourinho at half-time. “In the first-half they were much better than us,” Mourinho said. “We start the game bad, with some players really below the normal level in terms of their concentration, in terms of their mental aggressivity, mental availability. “[In] a game of this speed you need to be sharp the way you think, the way you play. We had a few players below the level and the team paid for it. “Players disappoint managers and sometimes they give us great surprises. I thought, because of the characteristics of the game, we could have hurt them with individuals, with some qualities. They didn’t give me what I want. It’s their fault [and] it’s my fault.” Zlatan Ibrahimovic pulled a goal back for United just before the break, but Mourinho claimed his side should have had two penalties awarded to them by referee Mark Clattenburg. Claudio Bravo, making his debut in goal for City, appeared to catch Wayne Rooney late in the penalty area and Mourinho also believed Nicolas Otamendi handled the ball in the area. “We are very disappointed with the result,” Mourinho said, “but I’m also disappointed with two decisions of Mark. It is a penalty and a red card for Bravo. If you tell me it’s not a penalty and a red card, I tell you, for sure, outside the box it is a free-kick and a red card.”