Did Lindelof Cost United The Game? Mourinho Gives His Thoughts On The Defender’s Performance
Reuters/Jason Cairnduff
Blames have been made and fingers have been pointed following United’s embarrassing defeat to newly promoted Huddersfield Town. Fans and critics ripped into the woeful defensive display from new arrival Victor Lindelof, whereas boss Jose Mourinho oddly defended him.
The Red Devils were keen on piling up the pressure on rivals Man City, who have been practically unstoppable this season. However, Mourinho’s men found themselves on the unfortunate side of the match, and finished the game with a 1-2 loss; their first defeat of the campaign.
Things started to go downhill for United when Phil Jones was forced off the pitch due to an injury about halfway through the first half. The long-serving defender was replaced by Lindelof, who couldn’t quite execute the task he was burdened with. The Swede found himself on the receiving end of utter embarrassment following his mistake that led to the second Huddersfield goal.
After Aaron Mooy knocked his side into the lead, Laurent Depoitre followed up with their second just five minutes later, after capitalising on an almost hilarious clearance attempt through a header which was completely missed by the former Benfica man. Though Marcus Rashford managed to net a goal with less than fifteen minutes to go till the final whistle, it was too little, too late.
However, unlike majority of the fans and critics, the Portuguese tactician reckoned that Lindelof is not to be blamed for the loss, and insisted that he does not hold anything against the defender.
“Mistakes, yes,” the former Real Madrid boss told Sky Sports. “But I think mistakes can’t be isolated from the context and the context in the first half was a context that opened the door for mistakes to come.
“So I would be very unfair if I point the finger at the players involved in individual mistakes that lead to the goal. I could, I should, I would probably if it was isolated from the context of a great team. But it wasn’t, it was exactly the consequence of what we were in the first half – a bad team who deserved to be punished.”
Though the Swedish international’s mistakes were to be addressed, he cannot be held completely responsible for the awful defensive performance the reigning Europa League champions showed today.
Meanwhile, as the Red Devils now trail 5 points behind the Cityzens, David Wagner’s men continue their fairytale of incredible success in the Premier League.
Written by Ashish Sreejith 
Have had two addictions in life- playing football and watching football. Usually described as introverted but not when it comes to speaking and writing about the beautiful game of football.