Jose Mourinho has credited a lack of midfield ‘bite’ as being the reason why his Manchester United team was unable to defeat struggling Southampton yesterday.
The Manchester team were down by 2 goals before the 30-minute mark and it seemed like they were heading for another defeat, but just like against Newcastle, the former Champions were able to come back and draw level, but unlike the Newcastle game, they were unable to find the winning goal to get the three points.
After the game, Mourinho said that his midfielders overcomplicated things
“We lost so many balls in midfield, so many balls in our transition to the last third that it was difficult to have that continuity,”
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Mourinho added: “We did so well in the last 15, 20 minutes of the first half, we chose to connect to the attacking players by transporting the ball, the right choice of pass, accelerating the game, but in the second half we went back to that dynamic.
“The players don’t understand that simplicity is genius. They keep, keep going to complicated football. But [there was] good spirit, good fight, a great example of players fighting until the limit. I would say, as positive examples, Marcus Rashford, Phil Jones, many others showing that respect for the shirt.
“The second goal was a direct free-kick and the first was because we didn’t press enough the ball, which is something we do wrong. It doesn’t matter the system we play, it has to do with the characteristics of the players.
“We don’t have many – I hope people understand what I mean – we don’t have many mad dogs, who bite the ball all the time. Scott and Matic did a very positive job for two midfield players and Phil Jones leads that group of three in a way we are totally in control.
“What we needed to improve in this game is simplicity in midfield. By losing so many balls in midfield, we broke that dynamic that normally leads to goals.”