Mourinho: United's attitude in Huddersfield was worse than a friendly
Jose Mourinho questioned the attitude of his players following Saturday's 2-1 defeat at Huddersfield Town.
Manchester United's Juan Mata and Victor Lindelof were both at fault in the space of five minutes to gift first-half goals to Aaron Mooy and Laurent Depoitre. Throughout the contest, the Terriers restricted the visitor to just three shots on target, despite conceding nearly 80 percent possession to United.
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"When you lose a match because of attitude, that is really bad," Mourinho, who was left damp and dishevelled in Huddersfield, told BBC Sport.
He added: "I don't even remember a friendly match when our attitude was so poor. We could have a second goal and a draw but it would have been undeserved.
"(If) I was a Manchester United supporter, I would be really disappointed because you can accept losing because the opponent had more quality, but not because the opponent had more attitude."
(Photo courtesy: Action Images)
Huddersfield, led by influential performances from Christopher Schindler and Mooy, greedily competed for second balls and capitalised on errors in a typically industrious outing. The Terriers sat deep in the closing stages, and were able to carve out three points to the delight of the raucous home support.
Mourinho won't accept any suggestions of being overawed by Huddersfield's fans or David Wagner's players, though, and was clearly perturbed when he heard Ander Herrera admit United failed to match the locals' aggression and passion.
"I heard Herrera in his flash interview saying the attitude and desire was poor," Mourinho said later in a news conference.
"Oh my God, when a player says that and feels that, I think they should all go to the press conference and explain why. Of course, it concerns me."
The loss enabled crosstown rival Manchester City - a 3-0 victor over Burnley - to stretch a five-point lead atop the Premier League. United travels to Swansea City in the League Cup on Tuesday, before returning to top-flight duty next Saturday against Tottenham Hotspur.