Manchester United were demolished 4-0 by an impressive Chelsea unit at Stamford Bridge and Jose Mourinho had the Red Devils’ poor start to blame for the poor result.

It was an afternoon to forget for Jose Mourinho as Manchester United were effected a thrashing at the hands of Antonio Conte’s Chelsea who, with the victory, moved up to within one point off Manchester City, Arsenal and Liverpool at the top. The Portuguese had his own side to blame for the shocking result that transpired on the night and pointed out that his side’s lacklustre start gave Chelsea the momentum early on in the game.

Pedro gave the hosts the lead in just 31 seconds after a Marcus Alonso through-ball caught the United defence in an awkward position before the Spaniard rounded up the keeper and smashed the ball into an open net. The early set-back didn’t push United back as they expressed a sense of urgency there-on to try and find the equalizer. However, Chelsea attacked well on the counter and caused a lot of problems for Manchester United throughout the game.

LONDON, ENGLAND - OCTOBER 23: Pedro of Chelsea takes the ball around David De Gea of Manchester United as he scores his sides first goal during the Premier League match between Chelsea and Manchester United at Stamford Bridge on October 23, 2016 in London, England. (Photo by Shaun Botterill/Getty Images)
LONDON, ENGLAND – OCTOBER 23: Pedro of Chelsea takes the ball around David De Gea of Manchester United as he scores his sides first goal during the Premier League match between Chelsea and Manchester United at Stamford Bridge on October 23, 2016 in London, England. (Photo by Shaun Botterill/Getty Images)

Speaking of the game, the United boss said,”It started badly after a few seconds. We are close to the 1-1 and after another defensive mistake and it is 2-1. You come with a strategy, you can not concede a goal in the way we did.”

Throwing light on their different approach towards Sunday’s game the Portuguese said,”We were coming to have an offensive approach, we wanted to create chances, we showed that after the 1-0. The second and the third were counter-attack goals. If we score a goal like we almost did for the 2-1 the game would be different.It is one of those days when you give the advantage to opponents by doing nothing.”

The boss also lamented the poor defensive mistakes his side committed that eventually led to some of Chelsea’s goals and claimed it played spoilsport on his side’s plans to defeat the Blues. He further went on to state that given the poor run of form off-late, it was crucial that United put together a winning run if they are to have any shot at closing the gap at the top of the table.

LONDON, ENGLAND - OCTOBER 23: Jose Mourinho, Manager of Manchester United looks on during the Premier League match between Chelsea and Manchester United at Stamford Bridge on October 23, 2016 in London, England. (Photo by Shaun Botterill/Getty Images)
LONDON, ENGLAND – OCTOBER 23: Jose Mourinho, Manager of Manchester United looks on during the Premier League match between Chelsea and Manchester United at Stamford Bridge on October 23, 2016 in London, England. (Photo by Shaun Botterill/Getty Images)

He was quoted as saying,”In terms of points, we got zero points, we lose three points. We are six points from the top, three from the top four, we now need to win matches. We need to win our matches now, which are not easy, we need to win to close that gap, after these last three matches, we made two out of nine, we now need points.”

The Red Devils now visit the Etihad stadium for a daunting fixture against city rivals Manchester City in the EFL Cup. After a poor showing against Chelsea, Mourinho will have to lift his player’s spirits and bring them together if they are to have any chance of coming out successful against Pep Guardiola’s side. He will certainly ring in the changes for the big clash on Wednesday and it’ll be interesting to see how he lines up his side as compared to their last encounter against the Citizens over a month ago.

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