They weren’t even playing at Old Trafford today.
Manchester United secured their place in this season’s FA Cup final this afternoon as they beat Tottenham Hotspur 2-1 at Wembley.
United fell behind to a Dele Alli goal in the first half, but went into the break having levelled the scoring through Alexis Sánchez after some excellent work from Paul Pogba on the left wing. In the second half, Ander Herrera finished off a lovely team move with a drilled shot that went underneath Michel Vorm. That goal proved to be enough to see United through.
José Mourinho was largely pleased with the performance. Speaking after the match, he said: “I think you don’t get strong with happiness in negative moments, with a ‘let it go because we just lost football match’ [attitude]”, Mourinho told MUTV.
“I think you grow up with criticism and pressure an intense work mentally and physical and I think we are growing up and two very good performances this week using almost every player of the squad.
“Everyone is really happy to go back to Manchester with a place in the final. That’s the only way to play for big clubs [with a strong mentality], to play in big clubs you have to have incredible talent, or good talent with incredible mentality, if you don’t have quality you cannot play for a big club”, he added.
But there was still one aspect that had irked the Portuguese manager. Despite not playing at Old Trafford today, he aimed some criticism at United’s home support. “I think we need a bit more from Old Trafford and looking to the next season, its not possible to do it without a better Old Trafford”, Mourinho said.
The atmosphere can be a bit flat at Old Trafford. To what extent that reflects the type of football the fans have been watching all season, one can only guess.
