LEICESTER, United Kingdom: Jose Mourinho took a swipe at his old club Chelsea as the Manchester United boss accused the Premier League leaders of lacking style.
Mourinho’s side cruised to a 3-0 victory at Leicester on Sunday and he was quick to highlight the difference between the dominant United display and what he perceives as the more prosaic efforts of Antonio Conte’s men. Frustrated by criticism of the cautious nature of his teams when he was in charge at Chelsea, Mourinho made it clear that he is unimpressed the way the Blues, currently nine points clear at the top, and also Tottenham and Liverpool, have been praised despite employing safety-first philosophies.
“My team is playing very well but for many years in my career, especially in this country, when my teams were ruthless and phenomenal defensively I listened week after week to people saying that was not enough, despite winning the title three times,” Mourinho said. “This season it looks that being strong defensively and good on the counter attack is art. That is a big change in England. We are Manchester United, we want to play attacking football. This is the way the fans want us to play.
“But I don’t want to be a manager of a team that doesn’t win matches. We have to score goals. Today we did and that made the difference. Today was very important.”
Henrikh Mkhitaryan scored United’s opener and set up the third for Juan Mata after Zlatan Ibrahimovic had doubled the visitors’ lead.
Mourinho acknowledged the first goal had been crucial as it boosted his team’s belief and shattered Leicester’s already fragile morale. — AFP
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