Jose Mourinho still bothered by Manchester United’s shock loss to West Brom despite Bournemouth win

Jose Mourinho says he is still bothered about Sunday’s 1-0 defeat to West Brom, and that “attitude” has cost Manchester United at least “10 points” this season.

That was despite admitting that the 2-0 win over Bournemouth was a much more promising display where his players “told” him they all want to appear in Saturday’s FA Cup semi-final against Tottenham Hotspur, given the manager has now created so much intrigue about the line-up.

Mourinho was meanwhile quick to point out that Paul Pogba put in a “top” performance, as he set up a goal for Romelu Lukaku and played a part in Chris Smalling’s, to bounce back from being substituted against West Brom.

United were generally more vibrant and buoyant, although it didn’t completely please Mourinho.

“I spoke with them about it,” Mourinho said of his squad. “I think we are inconsistent. We are inconsistent many times in our attitude. With our top five opponents, we didn’t lose any points.

“Against [Manchester] City, we won, we lost; against [Tottenham Hotspur], we won, we lost; against Chelsea we won, we lost… so we didn’t lose points in the two duels against the main opponents, but then we lost points against the teams that were promoted.

“We lost against Huddersfield and Newcastle. We lost points against the teams that are probably going to be relegated or are in the relegation fight. We lost three points against West Brom, two points against all the other teams involved in that fight, Stoke, Southampton. So I think we were not consistent. And you pay the price.

“I don't accept [inconsistency]. That's why my face is still the face of last Sunday and not the face of somebody who has just finished a winning game. I still live with the emotions of last Sunday. I know how to win titles. I won eight championships in four different countries and three in this country. I know why you win and why you don't win.

“No doubt about City's quality and that in any circumstances they would win this title but we could have perfectly, I would say, 10 more points. No doubt we should have.

“The change has to be based on their attitude, their mentality. It’s about that. This season was a much better season in the Premier League than the last one. Last season we were sixth. I know the Europa League was a target and we lost a bit of focus form a certain moment and lost a few points in the Premier League.

“But this is a much better season, we are safe in the top four, we have more points and goals than we had last season. But it could have been even better. I don’t say we could have been champions, because Man City have been better than us, the difference in points shows that. But we have to be more consistent in our approach.”

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Mourinho had said that some players would have to put in “phenomenal” displays to get into Saturday’s side, but did row back on that, as he admitted some squad members had been rested for this victory.

“I wouldn’t say phenomenal but I think all of them played well. All of them told me they want to play. Obviously I’m going to change the team. I gave a rest to [Nemanja] Matic and [Antonio] Valencia with the objective of at least having a couple of players fresh but all the others told me they are here, they want it.”

None more so than Pogba.

“Top performance,” Mourinho asserted. :Obviously the performance against City was special but he came with two goals. But this was a very similar level. Top performance. He can do it.”