Kieran McKenna, Jose Mourinho and Michael Carrick on the bench at Chelsea

Key quotes: Jose's verdict on the draw at Chelsea

Saturday 20 October 2018 15:45

Jose Mourinho was naturally disappointed with the end result, but felt Manchester United were the better side and was proud of his players after the dramatic 2-2 draw at Stamford Bridge.

Speaking to Sky Sports, MUTV and at the post-match press conference, the manager spoke about a number of issues, including the Reds' performance, the six minutes of added time and the unfortunate fracas at the end of the game...

WE WERE THE BETTER TEAM
"I can tell you that the 97-minute game was so good that you have to focus on that. [We were] the best team on the pitch. If you say before the match one point at Stamford Bridge, it's always a good result because it's so difficult for teams to win here. But after the game, the way the game was, it's an awful result for us and a phenomenal result for them [Chelsea]. [It was] different because against Newcastle, in the first half we weren't there. In this match, we were there. We had lots of times with the ball in the last third and we weren't aggressive enough with the ball to attack the spaces to have some mobility. But we were there, we were in the game. We controlled their triggers - [Eden] Hazard was controlled and I've never seen Jorginho play so little like he did today, so we were completely in control. We conceded a goal from a set-piece, but we were in the game so the distance between the first and the second half was not as big as it was against Newcastle. But maybe after the 2-1, we had again great positions to score the third goal. We were the best team, we were calm, we had complete control and I hope every referee does the same as Mike Dean to give six minutes [of injury time]. Normally, when I'm losing, I never have five, six or seven minutes." 

I'M PLEASED WITH EVERYTHING BAR THE RESULT
"The team played very well. As a team, we played very, very well. Individually, in the second half, they [the players] raised the bar, especially the attacking players who brought the game into a different dimension. But the defensive players also had a solid performance and again, I repeat, against a very good team full of very good players. I'm really, really, really pleased with the individuals in the team and the work we did in the last couple of days. I'm really pleased with everything apart from the result, which is an awful result for us."
Mourinho: A draw is hard to take Video

Mourinho: A draw is hard to take

"Normally when we leave Stamford Bridge with a point, we're happy but today we're sad and frustrated," Jose tells MUTV…

WHERE THE ADDED TIME CAME FROM 
"[It came from] some changes that every team does - three for them, three for us. We wanted to do two at the same time but [Marcus] Rashford was injured so we couldn't do it. But I never saw what the majority of the goalkeepers in the Premier League do, which is to go until the limits of the yellow card [for time-wasting] and David [De Gea] never did that. From us, we always tried to play, even if we were winning 2-1 and in extra time, we wanted to play and try to kill the game, so we didn't have a negative game. But that's football."

AN ASSESSMENT OF THE FIRST GOAL
"I don't see because I'm far [away] but what I can tell you is that we defended mixed - we had some players in the zone and some on opponents. Every player knows with closed eyes which player is his player, which space is his space in case of him being on the zonal. If something happened where they lost the opponent or something that made them that way because they knew it clearly which opponent was theirs."
I HAVE ACCEPTED AN APOLOGY 
"I have a certain level of education, socially and in sport. What I did today I will do one day in Madrid, in Porto, in Milan and try always to behave in the same way which I did. But the reaction of the fans is up to them and not up to me. No, no, no, I'm not annoyed with anything. What happened was with Sarri's assistant and Sarri was the first one to come to me to say he would resolve the problem internally with him and, after that, his assistant came to me in Sarri's office to apologise to me. I immediately said that, if he really feels it that way and you want to apologise, of course I accept the apology and forget it because I also made a lot of mistakes in my career, so I'm not going to kill him because of one."
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