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Man Utd boss Jose Mourinho praises three stars after Chelsea draw
MANCHESTER UNITED boss Jose Mourinho picked out three players for their impressive performances at Chelsea this afternoon.
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Manchester United were unlucky not to come away with maximum points at Stamford Bridge as Ross Barkley’s late strike cancelled out Anthony Martial’s brace with the score finishing 2-2.
Paul Pogba came in for criticism for his part in Chelsea’s opening goal after he failed to mark Antonio Rudiger from a corner and the defender punished him with a powerful header past David De Gea.
But his overall performance certainly impressed his Portuguese boss, with Jose Mourinho heaping praise on the Frenchman, as well as his midfield partners Nemanja Matic and Juan Mata.
"Players make mistakes and I prefer to focus on the global performance," Mourinho said.
My midfield was very good, Paul was good, Matic was good, Mata was good, Ander Herrera was also in the game, these three attacking players work a lot.
"My midfield was very good, Paul was good, Matic was good, Mata was good, Ander Herrera was also in the game, these three attacking players work a lot.
"Mata, Martial, Rashford, were all in difficulty, the team did a fantastic work, so I will try to focus on the level of the performance and forget the bad result.
"If they focus on the performance they will be really happy with themselves, if they focus on the result they will be very, very disappointed," Mourinho replied when asked if the players could be positive about the result.
"The work is tomorrow morning when we meet to train, is by one side to think about Juventus, because Chelsea is over and we only play them in a few months."
United found themselves up against it in the first half and went into the break a goal down before a final half an hour saw a rejuvenated Mourinho side get their rewards.
But Mourinho was adamant his side should have seen out the game and left his former stomping ground disappointed to have conceded late on.
“I am very happy with my team, my players, my supporters,” he said.
“But very disappointed with the result.
“It is really difficult to get points here.
“In this case, it was a very bad result.
“When you are the best team you want to win, you deserve to win.
“So I think it was a bad result.
“Normally at Stamford Bridge, the away team gets a point and it is a good result.”
Things don’t get any easier for the Red Devils with the return of Cristiano Ronaldo on Tuesday night when Juventus pay a visit to Old Trafford in the Champions League.