Match Reaction: Boss Always Believed

Jose Mourinho spoke to BT Sport after Manchester United’s dramatic and deserved victory over Hull City. Here’s what he had to say afterwards…

“I always believed the goal would arrive”
I know when we score late people will speak about a bit of luck but the reality is we deserved it, especially in the second half. We were so dominant, so intense in our rhythm and our attacking wave and I always believed the goal would arrive. I have to say that Hull City did an amazing job and defended with everything. They couldn’t counterattack because I think we played very well defensively and every time we lost the ball we were really strong. But I think they did fantastically well, congratulations to them and if I was the chairman I would give the job immediately to Mike Phelan. In the eyes of everyone, the players are giving everything and for him. They couldn’t do more than what they did and congratulations to Mike and the Hull boys.

“A special contribution”
A big smile and a big hug is enough! Marcus [Rashford] is working extremely well and both times when the team was in trouble and needed one goal, Community Shield with the result 1-1 and today when the score was 0-0 he came on and gave a special contribution. Everybody is speaking about him and Ibra [Zlatan Ibrahimovic] – they can play together as they showed today. I think with more work he can play coming from one of the sides but I think the kid is a striker and when we play with him and Ibra together we give different problems to the opposition. Sometimes Ibra drops back because he already likes to play with the ball at his feet and Marcus is fast and has appetite to attack the last line. We tried everything.

“The fans had that feeling”
I was thinking about a last change with Marouane [Fellaini] coming out but I was a bit afraid with them at set-pieces. It can happen when you dominate, dominate and dominate and there can be a set-piece in the last minute and you can lose the game. Marouane is a special guy for us in our defensive work and I think everyone played well and gave everything. The spirit is amazing. You only win these matches if you want to win a lot. If you are in a comfortable situation and you think a point is not bad or you think let’s see what’s going to happen, you don’t win, but the boys until the last minute believed. Of course I feel sorry for Hull but my guys deserved it and the way the fans supported them, especially in the second half, the fans had that feeling too and knew we were doing everything.

“Our objective is to be champions”
We started to think about what this game could be even before the game started. We knew the way they defended. We knew that [Tom] Huddlestone would play in a line of three and we knew they would be very organised. Tactically you can change things, bring situations to the game, try to create problems for your opponent, but it’s the mental side of it that can make a difference. We speak about this all the time. Our objective is only one – to be champions. If at the end of the season we finish second, third or fourth it’s because someone is better than us, if you finish fifth or sixth it’s because we were not good enough. You have to play to win every game. If we don’t win, we don’t win, but the mentality is there and the boys are giving everything . It’s amazing when I look to my side and I see the people on the bench suffering with us and then jumping for the goal. It’s a privilege for me to work with these guys.