Mourinho singles out players after Man United loss

Manchester United players faced strong criticism from manager, Jose Mourinho, following their 2-1 loss to derby rivals Manchester City. Speaking following the Premier League game at Old Trafford, Mourinho said some his players were "overawed" with the occasion.

Man United manager, José Mourinho REUTERS/John Sibley/File

The United manager hauled off Henrikh Mkhitaryan and Jesse Lingard at half-time and said it was only because he did not want to "destroy them" that he did not substitute them earlier.

But he saved his most trenchant remarks for centre-backs, Daley Blind and, in particular, Eric Bailly, saying some players had shown signs that they didn’t possess the necessary big-game temperament.

Speaking to reporters at Old Trafford, Mourinho said: "We had problems with poor performances. We lost the ball very, very easy. Even our central defenders, that were really top class until today, they lost easy balls.

"Back-passes, first-station passes, from Bailly to (Marouane) Fellaini, from Blind to (Paul) Pogba.

"We lost the ball in these kinds of positions. So it was not (just) Mickey (Mkhitaryan) and Jesse, it was much more than Mickey and Jesse.

"I think some of the boys really felt the dimension of the game - everything around the game, the derby, the big game, the focus, the attention."

Pep Guardiola's City took a deserved 15th-minute lead when Kevin De Bruyne beat Blind to Kelechi Iheanacho's flick-on before steering a shot past David de Gea.

"We're happy," Guardiola said. "These guys have a heart. In the first-half we were better and won a lot of duels against a physically stronger team.

"In the second-half, the long balls, you just pray because it's almost impossible to control that."

An error from City's debutant goalkeeper Claudio Bravo, who flapped at a deep free-kick from Wayne Rooney, allowed Zlatan Ibrahimovic to pull a goal back.

But although United improved following the half-time introductions of 18-year-old Marcus Rashford and Ander Herrera, they could not find an equaliser.