Manchester United boss Jose Mourinho has admitted his team should have gone five or six goals behind before half time against Bournemouth.
The Red Devils defended poorly in the opening exchanges as the Cherries created a whole lot of chances but could only convert one through Callum Wilson.
United fought back through Anthony Martial after he was smartly found by Alexis Sanchez just before the break.
And Mourinho's men went home with three points with a late goal from Marcus Rashford in the 92nd minute.
But the Portuguese manager conceded that his side were defensively awful in the first 45 minutes of the match and had a better second half in the match.
"I said at half-time I was the luckiest manager in the Premier League, in a half when it should be like five or six to two," Mourinho told BT Sport.
"We were defensively awful. As a team we didn't press or do any of the week we did in the week. People watching this game will not believe how hard we worked this week.
"The first half was a disaster."
And the second half? "The second half was much better. We created lots of chances and deserved to score before the 92nd minute.
"[At half time] I started off positive. I said it is impossible to play worse than we did so the second half will be better for sure."
When asked why United started so poorly, Mourinho was at a loss: "I can't understand [why we started slow]. My coaches said it was the best warm-up of the season.
"I think a few mistakes create instability. I love the song, 'attack, attack, attack' but you need to have stability when you lose the ball. It happened again against a good team but we were prepared for everything.
"We were ready for that. We knew that Joshua King was not playing. I really can't understand the kind of mentality that brings me more white hair."
On the other hand, Bournemouth boss Eddie Howe told BBC Sport: "It is a tough one for us to take, we feel we produced a really good performance particularly in the first half, and we deserved more than the goal we got.
"We would have loved to put the game to bed in that moment but football doesn't work like that. They showed quality in the second half and their subs made a difference."
Comments