Manchester United manager Jose Mourinho has criticised his side's lack of creativity during this afternoon's narrow 1-0 win over Brighton & Hove Albion at Old Trafford.
The Red Devils needed an own goal from Lewis Dunk midway through the second half to come away with all three points against their promoted opponents, just about doing enough to maintain their flawless home record in the league this season.
The victory was enough to temporarily close the gap to leaders Manchester City to five points, but Mourinho was unhappy with his side's performance.
"It was a battle. It was a battle because Brighton were very good. I think they were good from minute one until the last minute. Good approach, defensively very well organised. I keep saying to defend well is very important. For some pundits no, but to defend well is very important. And they defended very, very well, and they were quite dangerous on the counter-attack," he told reporters.
"I think they played really well and we didn't play well. Today our creation was poor. The three players who played with (Romelu) Lukaku, they didn't get the ball, they were not successful in the one against one. Marcus (Rashford) did not have a happy match at all. The good thing for me was the intensity got higher in the second half in search of the goal. Then after the goal we couldn't kill the game.
"In the last 10, 15 minutes I saw a humble team with everybody trying to play for the clean sheet and giving everything. So I am happy with the attitude. I have to praise a team and a manager who a few months ago were playing in the Championship. Today they came to Old Trafford and they were the team until now who gave us the biggest problems."
United have now won all seven of their Premier League home games this season, scoring 20 goals and conceding just one in the process.
Barney Corkhill
