Manchester United boss Jose Mourinho has revealed that his boys failed to turn up against Manchester City due to the lack of attacking play from his midfielders.
The Red Devils salvaged a draw against their fierce rivals at the Etihad on Thursday, leaving their hopes of finishing top four in a balance. Mourinho who missed the likes of Juan Mata and Paul Pogba in the crucial game, has now pointed out to the lack of attacking options in the midfield as one of the reasons why they failed to beat City.
He said: ‘We wanted to do more in terms of attacking and to explore more of the counter attack. In the first half we had good control but the second became more difficult,
‘We had to make a decision to play for the draw and had to fight hard to take a point.
‘They started strong, pushed hard and I promised not to speak about players who weren’t playing so I won’t but we just didn’t have the quality of players in midfield – we were missing quality there.
‘In the first half, we were always dangerous and there were points where our movement could have been the start of something important but we lost too many balls.
‘Today we showed exactly that (resilience) against a strong team that wants to win at home. With ten men. Without midfield players on the bench. I played Fosu-Mensah (there) in an extreme situation. To play a big derby like this one shows resilience, and big character from the players.’
Jose Mourinho also admitted that Manchester United will have to fight for the fourth position with the likes of Liverpool and Arsenal.