Mourinho: Top-four Hopes Are Not Dead

Jose Mourinho has insisted Manchester United are still in the top-four race, despite missing a chance to move up the table when being held to a 1-1 draw by Bournemouth on Saturday.

The Reds remained sixth following the frustrating result and it is not the first time United have failed to take advantage of a real opportunity to push for a Champions League spot.

“The reality is we are losing too many points at home,” Mourinho said in his post-match press conference. “These matches at home against Hull, Burnley, Bournemouth, Stoke – it’s more of the same.

 “We play well, we start well, we have one chance in the first minute and another in the third or fifth minute. But then their goalkeeper gets confident and he is eventually the Man of the Match.”

United return to league action on 19 March when travelling to the Riverside Stadium to take on Middlesbrough and Mourinho believes the Reds are still very much in the race for the top four.

“Are we dead in relation to the top four?” he asked. “No. We are not dead – there are matches to play, points to win, points to lose, points to fight for – but the reality is we are losing too many points at home.

“If you look at the points we’ve lost at home – all the matches where we draw – if you accumulate these points, you’re thinking about 10 or 12 and, with these points we wouldn’t just be speaking about the top four – we’d be speaking about the top two or the top one.”

The boss also spoke of converting chances as his side go into a key run of fixtures which sees United play FC Rostov in the Europa League Round of 16 and Chelsea in the Emirates FA Cup quarter-final.

“We need to score goals – other teams with less chances score goals,” he commented. “Against Southampton in the EFL Cup final, we had five chances and scored three but, against Bournemouth with more than 10 chances, we scored one goal.

“The old story of creating lots of chances and not scoring goals is that - an old story – but one that applies perfectly to our football in these games at home.”