Jose Mourinho hailed Manchester United’s “perfect result” against Liverpool as his team won 2-1 at Old Trafford on Saturday to cement their spot in second place in the Premier League table and give themselves a five-point lead over their fierce rivals.
Although he said he “wouldn’t go as far” to call the performance perfect as United’s 2-0 half time lead, via two Marcus Rashford strikes, was halved by an own goal by Eric Bailly and came under threat from late Liverpool pressure, Mourinho was fairly happy with a characteristically dogged display from his side.
However, he wasn’t happy with United’s supporters. In the second half they loudly criticized academy graduate Scott McTominay who kept possession rather than going forward to give his team a breather with a veteran move. Mourinho applauded on the sidelines at the time, then hit out at United’s supporters over the way they treated the young midfielder.
Asked by reporters if he was unhappy with fans booing his decision to take off Rashford who was on a hat trick, Mourinho instead rounded on them for their loud criticism of McTominay.
“I am not upset at all with that reaction. I am upset with a reaction they had with Scott McTominay. A kid, 20 years old, was making all the right decisions and they want him to make the wrong decisions,” Mournho said.
“When a kid decides to break the intensity of the game, not to lose, keep possession and play a back pass to give a solution and keep the ball in the opponents in the other half. It was a wonderful solution that many top players with experience, they don’t do it. The kid did it and the fans reacted against the kid. That, for me, was the bad one. To react against me and my decisions, that’s not a problem.”
It was another fine display from McTominay in the engine room alongside Nemanja Matic as United barely missed Paul Pogba who missed out through injury after getting injured late in training on Friday.
Mourinho was generally positive about the Old Trafford atmosphere, but he still isn’t happy with some of United’s fans and made his feelings very clear.