Manchester United suffered their first loss to Huddersfield Town A.F.C. since 1965, a tremendous upset that is currently the talk of the entire football world. Almost nobody saw this coming, but after it was over both United Manager Jose Mourinho and midfielder Ander Herrera had harsh words about their own team.
What happened? How did this go so wrong? What was the cause? According to Mourinho, it was a very “poor” attitude.
“The attitude was really poor. When you lose because of attitude that is really bad,” Mourinho said in his postgame news conference, referencing the Herrera interview.
“I heard Ander Herrera saying in the interviews, saying the attitude and desire was poor. Oh my God. When a player says that, I think they should all go to the press conference because I cannot explain that.”
“They [Huddersfield] played with everything they have, like I like, and like it has to be. They played with everything — aggression, desire, motivation, sacrifice — and we didn’t. The team that deserved to win, won. Simple.
“It was a surprise but it is reality. It was a surprise but it happened. For me, it is quite easy and simple to say the team that deserved to win, won.”
United came in just two points behind Manchester City (who beat Burnley 3-0 today) for the top of the table, but now dropped to five points off the pace. Mourinho was not done lighting up his own side. The Portugese said that his players displayed an attitude that would have been poor even for a friendly, and added that United supporters have every right to be angry (and yes, they truly are).
“I don’t even remember a friendly match where our attitude was so poor,” Mourinho continued. “In the second half they tried. We could have a second goal and a draw but it would have been an undeserved draw.”
“I feel really disappointed and if I was a Manchester United supporter, not a manager, I would be really disappointed because I think you can play and lose because the opponent had more quality, but not because the opponent had more attitude, so I am really disappointed.”
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank.net and TheBank.News, which is partnered with News Now and Minute Media. Banks, a former writer for the Washington Times, NBC Chicago.com and Chicago Tribune.com, currently contributes regularly to WGN CLTV and Chicago Now.
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