Jose Mourinho was frustrated after Manchester United’s defeat to Tottenham .Jose Mourinho went into Monday night’s game against Tottenham under pressure after Manchester United’s 3-2 defeat to Brighton and that has only intensified following his team’s 3-0 defeat at Old Trafford. The result was emphatic enough but that did not stop the manager from launching a fierce defence of his team’s performance.
Mourinho claimed his team were by far the better side in the first half and that the end result was not a fair reflection of the game. He pointed out that his team had good chances and that by pressing high up the pitch his players had forced mistakes from Tottenham in their own half. But was he right? Here, we take a look at the evidence. Mourinho walked out of his press conference demanding ‘respect’
Quality of chances
“We were so, so, so much the better team in the first half,” said Mourinho afterwards. “My team played so well and strategically they were so so so so good and you want to try to transform this press conference into a situation of ‘let’s blame the guy’. We missed a goal with an open goal, we missed chances, we were unlucky in rebounds for both goals.
“We lost a game because we conceded a goal from the first corner of the match against us on minute fifty-something. In the first half, zero free-kicks, zero corners conceded, in minute fifty-something they have one corner and score a goal, and you want, with that goal, you want to transform the story of your game.”United had a higher ‘expected goals’ in their 3-0 defeat to Tottenham.
Romelu Lukaku’s opportunity to score in the first half after rounding Hugo Lloris was clear but it was far from the only chance that United had. The home team had 23 attempts in total – more than in any of their Premier League matches in the calendar year. It was also the most shots that Tottenham have faced in any Premier League game this season or last.
“United should have scored one or two goals tonight minimum,” Gary Neville said. “They had big chances to score.” Opta’s expected-goals model supports that view. According to those statistics, the quality of United’s chances equated to 1.5 goals compared to the 1.3 goals that Tottenham’s chances would have been expected to yield.