Manchester United manager, Jose Mourinho, has defended his tactics following Monday night’s shock 3-0 home defeat to Tottenham.
Spurs moved up to second place in the Premier League table with the win, their biggest league victory at Old Trafford since 1959.
Tottenham opened the scoring five minutes after the interval when Harry Kane headed home a Kieran Trippier cross from the right.
The visitors doubled their lead on 52 minutes when Lucas Moura swept home a Christian Eriksen pass, and the Brazilian netted his second of the night on 85 minutes from a Kane pass.
“The [score] was 2-0 but the team was in the game, and I think everyone could feel one goal could change the direction of the game,” Mourinho told Sky Sports.
“I felt Tottenham felt it, I think we were feeling that too. But then the third goal came and killed the game.
“We work all week, and by the strategic point of view we didn’t lose, by the tactical point of view we didn’t lose, but we lost the game.”
The Portuguese stood on the sideline applauding the United supporters at the final whistle and thanked the fans for their loyalty in his post-match interview with Sky Sports.
“All our fans don’t read papers, all our fans don’t watch television, all our fans are more intelligent than that,” he continued.
“They answered in an absolutely amazing way. I don’t think it’s normal for a team to lose a game and for the supporters to react like that.”
United have now lost two of their opening three Premier League games for the first time since 1992-93, a season they went on to win the title by 10 points following the signing of Eric Cantona from Leeds United in November.
