José Mourinho said he was happy for the Manchester United fans after knocking Manchester City out of the EFL Cup, because it came after the kind of defeat the club does not deserve.
The United manager avoided saying his side’s four-goal thrashing at Chelsea was a travesty, he simply felt it was an unacceptable scoreline for the club and their supporters to have to bear.
“It was a big defeat with numbers that the history of this club does not deserve,” Mourinho said after Wednesday’s 1-0 win. “I felt deeply for the fans because they were still supporting. It is easy to be a Man Utd fan when you are winning the treble or five titles in seven years, not so much when you are losing 4-0. That’s why I am proud today, the spirit of the supporters is phenomenal here, I never had people like these ones. The love the people have for the club is bigger than bad results and bigger than three bad seasons.
“We had to give something back and the players gave everything against City. Step by step we became more confident in the second half, we started pressing higher, the tempo improved and we had a greater intensity. This is not the Champions League final, it is only the EFL Cup, but to win against City gives everyone a better feeling.”
Pep Guardiola was understandably less delighted about a sixth consecutive game without a win. Few could have anticipated when he opened the season with 10 straight victories that in a little under a month City would be looking at their worst run for eight years, and though Guardiola experienced five winless games in a row with Barcelona this sequence is now the worst in his managerial career.
“It is strange that it should happen now, after seven years as a manager, but we are going to change things as soon as possible,” Guardiola said. “My approach will remain the same as it was when we were winning 10 matches in a row, I don’t intend changing anything, but we need to improve our results and we will.”
City travel to West Bromwich Albion on Saturday in what is now a game they can hardly afford to lose. Kevin De Bruyne has a chance of being back, but there will be fresh doubt over Vincent Kompany, kept off at half-time against United after complaining of feeling tired.