WATFORD, England — Jose Mourinho couldn’t help but aim a tongue-in-cheek dig at Chris Smalling despite his goal handing Manchester United a 2-1 win at Watford.
Smalling’s first goal of the season put Mourinho’s team 2-0 up at Vicarage Road after Romelu Lukaku’s opener before Andre Gray pulled one back for Watford in the second half.
Mourinho, though, joked that he is still not completely happy with his central defender.
“The only thing I don’t like in Chris in this moment is the haircut but I am nobody to tell him that,” said Mourinho.
“He’s playing really well. Victor [Lindelof] and Marouane [Fellaini] were important, matches in two against two, because Burnley and Watford, two strikers, and two powerful strikers, can hold the ball, in the air, they are physical, they are clever, these three guys were important for us again.”
United survived a late red card for Nemanja Matic, and needed a terrific stoppage time save from David De Gea from Christian Kabasele’s header, to end Watford’s 100 percent start to the season.
Lukaku scored his 105th Premier League to pass Didier Drogba’s tally but it was the Belgian’s work-rate that Mourinho said typified his team’s spirit.
“I am very happy with the points,” said Mourinho.
“I’m very happy with the spirit, with something that represents for me the spirit of the team which is Lukaku’s sliding tackle after 50 metres running back to help the team.
“I feel a bit frustrated because we had everything in the first half to kill the game, if we play the second half the way we did in the last part of the first half, we would be in this moment a completely different result.”
The result handed United back-to-back wins for the first time this season, but it would not have been possible without De Gea’s last-gasp stop.
“Only one save but a fantastic save,” said Mourinho.
“We know what is a goalkeeper from a big team, some matches you don’t touch the ball, in some matches you are just somebody that is watching the game but in the right moment you have to be there and his moment was in the last minute.”
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