Manchester United manager Jose Mourinho has blamed his players for letting their levels drop against West Brom this weekend as their defeat officially handed Manchester City the title.
Pep Guardiola’s side beat Tottenham yesterday to bounce back from a difficult week or so that saw them drop out of the Champions League and also lose to United in their last league game.
The Red Devils were superb in a 3-2 win at the Etihad Stadium to put City’s title celebrations on hold temporarily, but Mourinho believes his players got ahead of themselves after the result.
The Portuguese described them as being ‘on the moon’ after their win at City and said that they did not put as much into trying to get a result against West Brom today in their shock 1-0 defeat at Old Trafford.
Many were critical of how United played again, with valid criticism aimed Mourinho’s way for a narrow formation that seemed to stifle the creativity of his team.
The 55-year-old, however, was having none of that and placed the blame squarely at his players for their reaction to the City result.
‘I won eight titles and I am not on the moon because I won against Manchester City,’ Mourinho is quoted in the Metro.
‘I saw lots of people in the moon because we won against City. You could see the difference in the attitude to players compared to last week.
‘We deserve top be punished, but the defeat was too heavy. It was a bad reaction after the City victory, the consequence of that is complicated football. Some players think it is stylish football.’