With Manchester United still entrenched in sixth place despite a run of 13 games without defeat, Jose Mourinho argued he would prefer to lose rather than draw matches his teams dominate.
The Manchester United manager argued that a defeat would force him to think about making radical adjustments to the team. However, he felt unable to make changes to a side that could have won all 13 of its league games since being thrashed by Chelsea in October. Instead, United have drawn six of those matches, dropping 12 points in the process.
“It is easy to make changes when you see players not playing well and when you see a team not playing well,” he said after the 1-1 draw at Stoke in which United had been rescued by Wayne Rooney’s 94-minute free-kick.
“Sometimes, I prefer to go home after a defeat when we give a bad performance and we got what we deserve. It is more difficult when you feel that things are all right and that the results are not related to the performance.”
What frustrates Mourinho has been Manchester United’s finishing in front of goal. At Stoke, Henrikh Mkhitaryan and Juan Mata both squandered straightforward chances before Rooney’s salvage act. Manchester United aimed 25 shots at Lee Grant’s goal – four times as many as Stoke – and were fortunate to escape with a point.
In the six games they have drawn on that run, there has only been one match, the 1-1 draw with Liverpool, which Manchester United have not dominated. In those six games United have aimed 114 shots on goal and scored five times.
“A top team has to be much more clinical,” said Mourinho. “You have to get the first chance of a match and ‘bang’ it’s 1-0. When you are winning by a goal then get the next chance and kill the opponent.
“We are not doing that enough. We did that in a couple of matches but even in the games that we won – and I remember Middlesbrough and Crystal Palace – it is always very hard for us to score goals."