Manchester United coach Jose Mourinho has blamed his side for making a number of mistakes that led to their loss at Brighton and Hove Albion.
Glenn Murray and Shane Duffy made the most of some lacklustre United defending to fire the Seagulls into a two-goal lead by the half-hour mark. Although Romelu Lukaku halved the deficit 11 minutes before the break, Eric Bailly’s rash challenge on Pascal Gross inside the area yielded a penalty which the German converted.
Paul Pogba then netted an injury-time penalty after Duffy brought down Marouane Fellaini but it proved too little too late for the Red Devils.
“We were punished by the mistakes we made,” Mourinho told BBC Sport. “For me that’s the story of the game. We made incredible mistakes in some crucial moments. Mistakes that killed us. Especially that third goal – we expected to come at 2-1 with positivity – then the third goal killed us off in the second half. Our second goal came too late. The week leading up was good and I expected the team collectively to be better. There are basic mistakes that makes almost an impossible mission to win the match.”
United have conceded four goals in their opening two games of the season.
Mourinho is highly renowned for his tactical prowess, game management and adaptability to different situations. A usual feature of his teams is playing with three or more central midfielders, as Mourinho has stressed midfield superiority as crucial in winning games. As a Porto manager, Mourinho employed a diamond 4–4–2 formation, with his midfield – consisting of Costinha or Pedro Mendes as defensive midfielder; Maniche and Dmitri Alenichev as wide central midfielders; and Deco on the tip – acting as a cohesive unit rather than a collection of individuals, providing Porto with midfield superiority while allowing the full-backs to move forward.
During his first two years at Chelsea, Mourinho employed a fluid 4–3–3 formation, having Claude Makélélé play the role of deep-lying midfielder. This gave Chelsea a three-against-two midfield advantage over most English teams playing 4–4–2 at the time, and helped Chelsea win Premier League titles in 2004–05 and 2005–06.