Mourinho happy despite flaws

Jose Mourinho claims there are 'things he can't get' from his Manchester United players following their 2-2 draw with Arsenal at Old Trafford on Wednesday.

Mourinho made a raft of changes to his team for the visit of the Gunners with Paul Pogba and Romelu Lukaku dropped to the bench and, despite a bright start, they found themselves behind just before the half hour mark due to David de Gea's handling error.

United hit back through Anthony Martial but they fell behind once again to an Alexandre Lacazette goal only for Jesse Lingard to equalise 13 seconds after the restart.

Mourinho was pleased with his side's battling qualities but he hinted that the squad is lacking in a number of areas.

"It is positive, but there are things I can’t get from them and I can’t say more than this," Mourinho told BT Sport. "They had big soul, everyone gave everything and that’s a good thing. That’s for sure and that’s a good thing.

"It was open because they scored the second goal. We shoot ourselves so many times during the season it is really difficult. As always we made mistakes and we paid for the mistakes.

"Some good performances. (Diogo) Dalot first start, (Marcos) Rojo not had games, (Matteo) Darmian the third start, Bailly doesn’t play for couple of months, (Chris) Smalling a brave guy to play with such difficulties.

"We made two big mistakes for the goals, we allowed them to have counter attacks, easy passes that we lost, easy controls that we lost, things that at the high level you normally don’t do it.

"Then the whole performance is marked by these ups and downs. The second goal comes in an awful moment for a team that was on top of the game at this moment."

Mourinho refused to elaborate on his comments, saying: "I cannot tell you much more, I prefer to say I am happy with the soul and the commitment and bravery I’m really happy with that."

He went on: "I am happy with the soul and heart, but we are not consistent and uniform.

"Today was more the same, but with great spirit and people ready to have a go and fight hard, it was a credit to the team.

"They went to the limit and were really tired. Some of them had not played all season, Chris Smalling playing in very difficult condition, but Arsenal were only dangerous when we lost the ball in bad areas.

"This is a performance of big soul and heart, Rashford, just to give a name, gave everything for the shirt. But even from our bench you could feel the little panic when the ball comes to our defensive third."

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