Sports
Mourinho blames referee, players for loss to Watford
Jose Mourinho was unhappy with the performances of the officials and his players as Manchester United suffered a third successive defeat with a 3-1 Premier League loss at Watford.
The Portuguese thought referee Michael Oliver should have disallowed Etienne Capoue’s opener following a strong challenge by Miguel Britos on Anthony Martial in the build-up.
Striker Marcus Rashford, on his first league start of the season, levelled after the break, but substitute Juan Camilo Zuniga restored the Hornets’ lead with his first touch before Troy Deeney sealed victory with an injury-time penalty.
Read also: More woe for Mourinho as Watford stun United
Speaking about Capoue’s goal, Mourinho told BT Sport: ‘I think no debate, I think no controversy. I think that is an obvious situation…but it’s something that I cannot control and I cannot even be critical.
‘I think in the first half for about 25, 30 minutes we didn’t play well and that’s something we can control, we can improve, we can work on it. The referee’s and the linesman’s mistake is not under my control. I can’t do anything to improve it.
‘In the second half we were much better, we get the draw (equalised) and after that we were the team and (Watford goalkeeper Heurelho) Gomes makes a phenomenal save and luck is again something we cannot control. We cannot control the referee, we cannot control the lucky moments.
‘The only thing we can control is our individual mistakes and our collective mistakes. Their second goal for example is a mistake because we know we have to press the wing-backs outside the box and not let them take advantage of being one against one in the box.
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