After the 3-0 victory against Saint Ettiene in the first leg of the Round of 32 of the Europa League earlier this week, Jose Mourinho’s Manchester United are now in a decent position in the domestic season after a mediocre start.
The manager will be happy with the progress his side have made in the last couple of months and will hope that they can keep up the good work till the end of the season.
The Portuguese manager is a real stickler for discipline in his dressing room and in a recent interview after the victory against the French outfit, he lashed into his players for his attitude going into the game.
ASSE Saint Ettiene, who have been in decent form this season, are currently in the 4th place in the points table in League 1 and were expected to put up a fight at the Old Trafford.
However, a hat-trick from star striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic, his first for the Red Devils was enough to give them a 3 goal advantage going into the second leg.
And though this is ad decent position to be in, the manager was evidently unhappy after the game and called for some professionalism from his players.
Speaking to the media after the game, Mourinho revealed that he was not fond of the attitude of his players in the buildup to the game.
The Red Devils started the game on the back foot at the Old Trafford and were lucky to come out victorious come the end of the game and Mourinho revealed the reason behind the poor start.
‘I had the feeling immediately in the dressing room, too noisy, too funny, too relaxed,’ Mourinho said after the match.
‘My assistants had the feeling in the warm-up, some of the guys were not focused on getting the right adrenaline in their bodies. The game started and the first thing we did was a back-pass to the striker,” Mourinho added.
The hosts put on a decent show in the second half to dominate the game and take away a victory and Mourinho was quick to acknowledge it.
‘The first-half was hard. Even myself on the touchline, it was difficult to communicate. Second-half different story,” Mourinho revealed.
‘We were lucky to be winning at half time,’ he said after seeing his team come in 1-0 up thanks to a fortunate free-kick from Ibrahimovic.
He went on to rave about how his side managed to get back to their best after the mediocre start to the game.
‘It was a different story in the second half. Fast, we were recovering the ball higher up in the pitch.
‘I didn’t think still it was a perfect game because we still lost the ball in various circumstances.
‘The result is not over but it’s a good result,” he added.
United will now face Blackburn Rovers in the 5th round of the FA Cup this weekend.