Mourinho relieved to not rue Manchester United's 'disgraceful, childish' defending

Jose Mourinho was relieved Manchester United were not made to rue "disgraceful, childish" defending as they secured a dramatic 3-2 win at Crystal Palace from 2-0 down.

Andros Townsend gave Palace an early lead thanks to a deflected strike, but their second just after half-time raised serious concerns for Mourinho.

Jeffrey Schlupp took a quick free-kick just inside the United half and played a ball in behind the defence for Patrick van Aanholt, who ran clean through and smashed past David de Gea.

But United fought back thanks to goals from Chris Smalling, Romelu Lukaku and Nemanja Matic, with the latter's stunning strike from 30 yards coming in stoppage time.

And although he was ultimately upbeat at full-time, Mourinho was not impressed with his team's defensive focus.
"It was a difficult match for me because my team made so mistakes," he told Sky Sports.

"We had an amazing attitude, very good quality in second half, but we made so many defensive mistakes, and I don't just mean my defenders, I'm speaking about the team in general.

"So the game was not a game that moved me in the moment because I don't like my teams to lose organisation like they did, but it was an amazing match and an amazing comeback.

FT: Crystal Palace 2 #MUFC 3.

United come from two goals down to turn things around at Selhurst Park in the most dramatic fashion, with a stoppage-time strike from Matic sealing three vital points! #CRYMUN pic.twitter.com/e5VllTtlNH
— Manchester United (@ManUtd) March 5, 2018

"If we didn't concede the second goal and went straight from dressing room to changing the result, then I would say I did something good at half-time, but with that disgraceful, childish second goal, everything changed.
"But then the players kept an amazing attitude. I think [Jesse] Lingard on the right as a fake right-back created problems and [Juan] Mata found spaces inside.

"We moved the ball quicker, [Marcus] Rashford on the left at least brought their right-back wide and gave more space in the middle.

"Then there was the attitude and you need a little bit of luck to win a game in the last couple minutes."
The win moved Mourinho's side back to second in the table, a position they will be looking to hold onto as they face third-placed Liverpool next Saturday.