 |
Romelu
Lukaku scores the opener during the Premier League game between Southampton and
Manchester United on Saturday
|
Jose Mourinho praised the
influence of his central defensive pairing of Eric Bailly and Phil Jones as
Manchester United resisted Southampton’s pressure throughout Saturday’s 1-0
victory at St Mary’s.
 |
Jose
Mourinho in animated mood on the St Mary's touchline
|
After
Romelu Lukaku’s 20th-minute finish gave United the lead, they struggled to
perform with the same fluent authority that has inspired their fine start to
the season as Southampton significantly improved – albeit without creating an equalizer.
That
they remained goalless owed as much to the hosts’ long-term struggles in the
final third as the form of Bailly and Jones, which comes after the years of
instability that followed the departures of Nemanja Vidic and Rio Ferdinand.
United
also spent £31million recruiting Victor Lindelof during the summer, amid the expectation
that he would succeed Jones, who has since regularly started for England, and
asked of their performances, Mourinho responded: “Very good.
“And
also (substitute Chris) Smalling. We did for 20 minutes what the majority of
the Premier League teams are doing, which is to play defensively with five at
the back.
“We
did that for 20 minutes. We had chances to kill the game and score the second
goal, but didn’t.
“Then,
Southampton were strong. I felt the manager (Mauricio Pellegrino) enthusiastic,
exciting, risking bringing on two strikers like (Manolo) Gabbiadini and
(Charlie) Austin to play direct, and also in a style that isn’t normally their
style.”
Saturday’s
victory follows four others in the Premier League that have been by
considerably wider margins, and Mourinho, who was dismissed late on for
appearing to clash with fourth official Mike Jones, said: “It’s better to win
5-0 than 1-0. We wanted to win also 5-0.
“But
it’s not always possible. We had opportunities in the first half to score the
second goal and then the game is different.
“Lukaku
and (Ander) Herrera, too, and if we’d done that I would have brought on
(Antony) Martial and (Jesse) Lingard and go for a different result. But credit
to Southampton and to Pellegrino.”
Southampton
have so far failed to score in five of Pellegrino’s seven fixtures since his
summer appointment as Claude Puel’s successor.
It
was a lack of goals that contributed so much to Puel’s sacking, but Pellegrino,
45, said: “In general we controlled the game against a team who are really
difficult to control, even when they are defending because on the
counter-attack they are really good.
“They
have pace and, in direct play, are really strong. But we did 90 per cent really
well. Against this type of team you have to play really well, really close to
‘excellent’, to win.
“They realized we were playing well. The best teams in the world adapt their players to every single situation.”
No comments:
Post a Comment