Mourinho unhappy with Man United’s lack of killer instinct

Oli Fisher
Jose Mourinho: Wouldn't criticise referee

Jose Mourinho lamented his side’s missed chances as Manchester United surrendered a lead to draw 1-1 with Anderlecht in their Europa League quarter-final first leg.

Henrikh Mkhitaryan struck on United’s European travels yet again, but Leander Dendoncker’s late header leaves the tie intriguingly poised.

“We have to kill matches. We have chances, we have control, we don’t score goals – we risk,” the Portuguese said.

“(We have) lots of space to play, lots of space to kill. Lots of chances that you don’t transform because of a bad decision, bad control, a sloppy touch or a flick.

“Very bad decisions in the last third and then a team with a good organisation defensively, very compact. But then one chance or one mistake and you get punished.

“I think you have to play more seriously. You put all together a performance of two or three or four of our attacking players and you squeeze not much juice out of it.

“The people behind are very solid and focussed. If I were one of my defenders I would be very disappointed because they had serious work and the people who had to kill the game didn’t.”

When asked if he was impressed with the performance of 19-year-old striker Marcus Rashford, who was arguably the Red Devils’ greatest threat going forward, Mourinho said: “The same as the others. Marcus Rashford, Jesse Lingard, Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Anthony Martial – I think they were very similar (in not killing the game off).”

Manchester United next face Chelsea in the Premier League on Sunday.

Mourinho’s side are currently fifth in the standings – in the Europa League spot – and are four points adrift of fourth-placed Manchester City.

He said: “We are fifth in the league and have mathematically chances to improve our position and while it’s mathematically possible we will try.”