Manchester United boss Jose Mourinho frustrated by 'ridiculous' defending vs Tottenham

Tom Doyle1 February 2018

Manchester United manager Jose Mourinho lamented his side's poor defending as they fell to a disappointing 2-0 defeat to Tottenham at Wembley.

Christian Eriksen scored within 11 seconds as Tottenham brushed aside a below-par United to seal a dominant win in the race for the top four.

Eriksen's strike, coming after four Spurs passes, is the third fastest in Premier League history, slower only than Ledley King and Alan Shearer, who both took 10 seconds to hit the net in 2000 and 2003 respectively.

A Phil Jones own-goal then put Tottenham in charge before half-time at Wembley, with United fortunate not to suffer a more emphatic defeat.

AFP/Getty Images

Their chaotic display was summed up by Jose Mourinho substituting Marouane Fellaini in the second half, less than eight minutes after the Belgian had been brought on.

Mourinho was frustrated by Spurs' opener but believes Jones' own goal killed off any hopes the visitors had of coming away from Wembley with anything.

He told the BBC: "It's a performance that starts with a ridiculous goal.

"The first goal is an accumulation of mistakes in spite of the fact that everything happened so fast. My players have watched the Tottenham kick-off many, many times. It was a really, really bad goal.

"The second goal mentally kills the team. A team to win matches needs to score goals and also defend well - on this occasion we were very bad."

In Pictures | Tottenham vs Manchester United | 31/01/2018

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Mourinho caused consternation when he withdrew Fellaini seven minutes after his introduction off the bench, but it was later revealed the Belgian midfielder had picked up an injury.

Mourinho added: "He came off because he had something in his knee. Unlucky for him and unlucky for me. He came on with enthusiasm, but he has an injury in his ligament."

Additional reporting by the Press Association.