José Mourinho has pointed to the disjointed displays offered by Marcus Rashford and Anthony Martial as justification for their bit-part roles this season after Brighton secured a first win over Manchester United since 1982 to confirm top flight survival.
Neither Romelu Lukaku nor Alexis Sánchez was fit to feature at the Amex Stadium but Rashford and Martial laboured against Albion, with only David de Gea of the visitors impressing in a mess of a performance. The defeat left the manager questioning whether his players were as desperate as he is to secure a top-two finish.
“It was not good enough,” said Mourinho, who had made six changes to his lineup and asked those selected to impress before the FA Cup final. “The players who replaced others did not perform at a good level and, when individuals do that, it is difficult for the team to play well.
“Maybe now you will not ask me why A, B and C do not play so much. People always ask: ‘Why always Lukaku?’ Well, now they know why always Lukaku, and why always this player and why always that player. We are probably not as good as people think we are individually.
“I knew what was going to happen, and I told them, but that is what we got. Brighton had one target, to get the point and celebrate their Premier League survival. Our target was to get points to help us finish second and they clearly showed that, for them, it is more important for them to stay in the Premier League than for us to finish second. They showed it from the first minute and we didn’t show that. We were not able to motivate ourselves.”
Mourinho added: “For me that’s always disappointing because that’s not me. And if my players want to be honest and fair, which I think they want ... if you ask them they will tell you how long I spoke ... during the week, trying to anticipate the scenario and trying to persuade them that the only way to compete against a team like Brighton is to have the same commitment and ambition they have.
“We were not ready to prove that second position is important for us. I am disappointed because second is important for me. I’m not sure every one of my players is disappointed.”