In the aftermath of Manchester United’s drab draw with Stoke City on Sunday, courtesy of Joe Allen’s late equaliser, a negative response was expected of Jose Mourinho.
Chance after chance went wasted by the Red Devils and they were ultimately punished for a lack of potency in front of goal, especially from Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Paul Pogba.
Indeed, the high-profile pair squandered in excess of five clear-cut opportunities between them throughout the 90 minutes, especially so Pogba.
And yet, in a post-match interview with BT Sport, Mourinho claimed the Stoke draw was United’s best performance so far this season.
We’re not too sure about that one either.
The Portuguese said: “It’s simple – the best Manchester United performance of the season.
“It could have been 3-0 or 4-0 at half-time and six or seven at the end of the game. I can’t believe the result is 1-1. It was very undeserved.
“I repeat – it was a much better performance than against Leicester because the result made more than the performance and today was exactly the opposite.”
So, according to Mourinho, he was more impressed with United’s performance during a 1-1 draw with a bottom three side than a 4-1 win over Premier League champions Leicester City.
Okay then… Mourinho did recognise that his players were poor in front of goal, at least.
“In the first half, minute one, an amazing chance with amazing football,” he added, “then a few minutes later another one with Paul Pogba facing the keeper.
“We had three or four in the first half, we had three or four in the second half. We hit the bar. We did everything. We played good football.
“We touched the ball, we moved, we created so much. It was a really good performance, a performance to win by a comfortable score and, in the end, we lose two points.”
The match was clearly a tale of two keepers at Old Trafford on Sunday – but on this rare occasion, it was David de Gea who came off worse from his duel with his opposite number.
The Spaniard – who had dealt comfortably with four tame efforts earlier in the match – produced a poor parry from Glen Johnson’s 82nd-minute shot which sparked a goalmouth scramble and allowed Joe Allen to tuck in a vital equaliser from close range.
It was a costly mistake and contrasted with a superb display by Stoke City’s Lee Grant at the other end of the pitch.
The 33-year-old, unable to get into Derby County’s starting line-up regularly last season, joined Mark Hughes’ men on loan in the summer as back-up to Jack Butland and Shay Given but starred on just his second-ever Premier League appearance.
Grant made eight saves in total, the joint-most recorded by a goalkeeper in a Premier League game this season, and was cited by Jose Mourinho as the reason his team didn’t win by six or seven.
From his double save to deny Zlatan Ibrahimovic in the opening moments, to his acrobatic tip-over from Juan Mata and reaction block to deny Jesse Lingard, Grant showed off a full range of shot-stopping skills.