Jose Mourinho praised the comeback of his Manchester United side against Southampton, but acknowledged that it was two points dropped as the Reds drew at St Mary's.
United fought back from two goals down after 20 minutes to level the scores before the half-time interval with goals from Romelu Lukaku and Ander Herrera.
Speaking to MUTV, BT Sport and the media in his post-match press conference after the game, the manager was happy with the comeback but also explained the need for his players to keep things simple...
TWO POINTS DROPPED
“Yes [it was two points dropped]. The result is not good so I have to say we dropped two points. If you are losing 4-0 and you get to 4-4 I would say maybe not. I think the comeback is good from 2-0 down to 2-2 in normal conditions everybody says it is a point gained, you have the game lost and you get a point, so normally you say it is a positive point, but it is a match that we want to win. It is a match where because of that good reaction in the first half we had 45 minutes to win the game. It was not like we had 10 minutes to win it, we had 45 minutes, so for me obviously it was not a good result.”
SIMPLICTY IS GENIUS
“Somebody told me many years ago that simplicity is genius and I agree totally with that old manager that had that brilliant phrase. I think many years after in some areas of the pitch, simplicity is genius and in the second half we want to win, the players showed that desire. What we did so well in the last 15-20 minutes of the first half was that we chose to connect with the attacking players by transporting the ball, leaving the ball in the right moment, the right choice of pass, playing simple, accelerating the game. In the second half we went back again to that dynamic where we lose too many balls in midfield and the players, they don't understand that simplicity is genius, especially in some parts of the pitch. They keep and keep and keep going to complicated football.”
A CHANGE OF DEFENSIVE SYSTEM
“I think Scott [McTominay] and [Nemanja] Matic did a very positive job for two midfield players and Phil Jones led that group of three in a way where we were totally in control. I would say that the only problem that we had was that the two attacking players didn't have enough continuity, because in midfield we lost too many balls.”
OUR SPIRIT WAS GOOD
“I would say Marcus Rashford was a mad dog. He was let’s say very, very tired with little problems. [He had] That appetite, that desire, that fire that you need to recover the ball faster and to recover the ball higher on the pitch, but these are just details. Overall I am not happy with the result, but I cannot be critical, I think the spirit was good, I think the desire was good. I think if they were not doing better than what they did it is because they were not able to do it. In the Premier League to play a football match with only one central defender is hard.”
RASHFORD INJURY CONCERN?
“He [Rashford] was injured, he was asking to come off. Not that kind of injury, but some players with that kind of injury do not play for two weeks, but Marcus no, Marcus I am pretty sure he will be fine for the next one [against Arsenal]. It is one kick here, one kick there, one fall here, one fall there, fatigue, lots of running, lots of movement, 75 minutes and he was done. We tried then with Martial replacing him.”
LUKAKU'S GOAL
“I think a goal is always important in a striker. But I have to say I am super happy with Marcus Rashford’s performance and he didn’t score a goal. So sometimes goals are not everything, but for a player that has not scored goals for quite a long time, I think to score a goal, a good goal, I think is always nice. I can imagine he goes with the better feeling with this match than previous matches.”