Zlatan: We Deserved More Than A Point

Zlatan Ibrahimovic felt Manchester United deserved more than the late point his penalty earned from Tuesday’s Premier League game against Everton.

On his return to the side after a three-game suspension, Ibrahimovic sent goalkeeper Joel Robles the wrong way from the spot in the 94th minute at Old Trafford to extend United’s unbeaten league run to 20 games.

Phil Jagielka had flicked the visitors ahead in the first half after latching onto Ashley Williams’ header at a corner, but Jose Mourinho’s side were much improved after the break and laid siege to the visitors’ goal in the search for an equaliser.

It finally came through Ibrahimovic’s 27th goal of the season but the Swede admitted United really needed all three points in the continuing quest for a top-four spot. 

“I think we deserved a little bit more,” the striker told BT Sport. “We conceded a goal by a mistake: first we made a mistake by missing Williams’s header and then the goal came out of nothing. 

“We need to keep focused; we cannot afford these mistakes because it’s very important points, especially with the table like it is. We are close but still we don’t get the points we need. 

“We were attacking for most of the game and we had good chances; we hit the post but we have to do more.”

Mourinho introduced Paul Pogba at the break and later brought on Henrikh Mkhitaryan and Luke Shaw as he shuffled his team’s formation in the pursuit of a breakthrough.

Asked if the team was suffering a confidence of crisis after a second home draw in four days, Ibrahimovic declared: “No, absolutely not. If you’re losing 1-0, you need to change your tactics. 

“If you do one tactic and don’t succeed to break the hole, you need to make changes. That is what the coach sees from the sidelines and we make those changes. I think the second half was better; it was a different game compared to the first half because we were attacking much more.”

Ibrahimovic thought he had equalised with 20 minutes to go when he headed home fellow returnee Ander Herrera’s cross, only for it to be ruled out for offside. Replays showed it was a very marginal decision and Mourinho afterwards insisted the goal should have stood.

“Was it offside? I could not see it,” Zlatan said. “I thought it was a goal as I came from behind, on the right side of the defender when he played back, and I thought it was a goal but I cannot say if it was offside or not. The TV has to judge.”