Jose Mourinho insists he was happy with the way his Manchester United team went about their business in Thursday night’s goalless draw at West Ham United.
The Reds secured second place in the Premier League, our highest finish for five years, with the stalemate at the London Stadium, as David De Gea claimed the Golden Glove for the most clean sheets this season with his 18th shut-out of the campaign.
Read what the boss had to say after the game in the capital in his post-match interviews with MUTV and BBC Sport below…
PLEASED TO SEAL SECOND SPOT
“We are the second best team in the Premier League, a fantastic competition with lots of good teams with six teams trying to finish first. I feel okay, I am not jumping around – that’s not my nature or my history. Manchester United are the same. We don’t celebrate second positions but we are happy because for a few months, we realised it was impossible to win the league and, of course, the target is the second position. The top four is obviously important but it’s better to finish second than fourth and it’s better to be second for months and months and months than losing that position and that control. I think we deserved that, the boys deserve that and to be the runner-up is not bad in a league of this dimension and this difficulty.”
DISAPPOINTED WE COULDN’T TAKE A CHANCE
“I am [disappointed] but they [the players] had a good attitude, they played the way they should, they play to win the game like we planned. But you need a point to finish second, you need a point to have a relaxed Sunday [against Watford] and when you get to minute 70-75 and you realise the game is under control and even with [Andy] Carroll playing more direct, we adapt very well to that change of style. It was just about keeping control of the game and finishing with the point we need.”
I CANNOT CRITICISE THE PLAYERS
“I am not critical of the performance at all. Against Brighton, at half-time I told the players they were going to lose and tonight at half-time I said we would win. I was wrong but we were positive in the game. In the 80th minute we know that a point was enough so we start thinking about that and we let the game go.”
DE GEA’S GOLDEN GLOVE A TEAM ACHIEVEMENT
“Yes, he [David] has been terrific but the Golden Glove is about the team and it’s not about somebody analysing the goalkeeper and deciding this is the best goalkeeper in the Premier League. It’s about the clean sheets and the clean sheets are about the team, so obviously we are all very happy for that, in relation to David but it’s a team achievement.”