Champions League: Mourinho Names Players to Blame for 2-1 Defeat to Valencia

Manchester United manager, Jose Mourinho, has blamed fringe players for their 2-1 loss to Valencia on Wednesday.
The Red Devils missed a big chance to finish top of Group H in the Champions League, after Juventus also lost to Young Boys in Switzerland.
Mourinho made eight changes for the game at the Mestalla, ahead of the trip to Liverpool in the Premier League this weekend, but the new faces failed to impress.

Carlos Soler strike and Phil Jones own goal, meant substitute Marcus Rashford’s late strike was just a consolation effort.
“I think that to qualify in this group is a success.
“Never a failure. To finish second in this group is always a success.
“Before the game I told the players that if we win tonight and Juventus win, we did our job.
“If we don’t win and Juventus doesn’t win, we can blame ourselves.
“I don’t think the draw finishing first or second – apart from a couple of clubs that are clearly much better than the others – I don’t think the draw will be significantly different.

“But I expect (better) from my players, especially players that week in, week out, you ask me ‘why don’t they play?’, ‘why they don’t they start?’
“(It) was a good match to play, a match without any kind of pressure, a match in a competition that everybody likes to play.
“And, in the end, my team improved, really, when I made the changes that I didn’t want to make, which is a little bit of frustration because I didn’t want to play the three players that I played in the second half,” Mourinho said afterwards.

December 13, 2018