Jose Mourinho blasts Manchester United fans who booed his decision to sub Marcus Rashford for match-winner Anthony Martial
Boss doesn't understand why some booed when he took Marcus Rashford off for Anthony Martial against Tottenham
JOSE MOURINHO launched a stinging attack on Manchester United fans after they booed his match-winning substitution.
The Special One was jeered for replacing Marcus Rashford with Anthony Martial — only for the Frenchman to grab the winner against Spurs.
Boss Mourinho said: “I really don’t understand some reactions. Are they Red Devils? Sometimes I don’t know because our players work amazingly well.
“There were two strikers playing together (Romelu Lukaku and Martial) against three top central defenders — the best we have in Europe — and their work was amazing.”
Mourinho was on camera at the final whistle putting his finger to his lips making a ‘sshhh’ gesture after his masterstroke worked.
Explaining his actions, the Portuguese said: “Some people speak too much. Calm down, relax a little bit. Don’t speak too much, relax.”
Mourinho changed the game when he brought on Martial in the 70th minute, with the winner coming 11 minutes later when he raced on to Lukaku’s flick-on and bobbled in a shot.
The Old Trafford chief commented: “I said it was the same position as Marcus but he is more comfortable than Marcus, dropping in the channels to drive the ball and attack space. I was telling him to do that and at the same time play in front of Lukaku.
MAN UNITED 1 SPURS 0 Martial scores dramatic late winner as United beat title rivals
“OK, it wasn’t a clean shot but the movement was good, the desire was good and the ball is obviously in and gives us two more points. He scored with a bad shot but a bad shot sometimes can be a beautiful one.”
It was Martial’s fourth goal from the bench this season and he now wants to push for a regular starting place.
The forward said: “Me, I want to play. I don’t want to be on the bench. Rashford has been good too and the manager wants to give us a chance."
Mourinho reckons his side provided the perfect response after losing at Huddersfield last week.
He said: “We think that every match we have to win. That’s why I was so disappointed at Huddersfield because it looked like we didn’t know that every point is a precious point.
“In this game, if we drew or even conceded in the last minute and lost 1-0, I would never be against the players because I felt from minute one every ball was like the last ball of their careers. So I am really happy.”
Mauricio Pochettino admitted Tottenham missed eight-goal top scorer Harry Kane, who was ruled out with a hamstring injury. But Poch revealed the England hitman could be back to face Real Madrid in the Champions League on Wednesday.
He insisted: “I said before the game, you are going to miss your main striker and HK is one of the greatest strikers in the world.
“But it was not an excuse for winning or losing this game as Harry was not here — you must always adapt.
“We’ll see in the next few days if he will be fit and available for Real Madrid. We will assess him on Sunday and after that make a decision.”