Jose Mourinho blames refereeing decisions for Manchester United defeat at West Ham

Mourinho believed two of West Ham's three goals should not have counted

Jose Mourinho blamed poor officiating for two of West Ham’s goals as Manchester United fell to a dismal 3-1 defeat at the London Stadium on Saturday.

Felipe Anderson converted Pablo Zabaleta’s cross to open the scoring after five minutes, though Zabaleta had appeared to stray offside.

Victor Lindelof’s own goal doubled West Ham’s lead and though Marcus Rashford pulled a goal back, Marko Arnautovic soon restored the hosts’ two-goal lead.

Mourinho was also unhappy with the award of this third goal, claiming Zabaleta’s challenge on Rashford in the build-up was a foul.

“It is an offside goal but no VAR,” Mourinho said of West Ham’s first. “Last Tuesday [against Derby in the EFL Cup], the VAR would disallow... The linesman made this mistake and we were punished with that goal.

“The second goal is our mistake, came in the worst possible moment, which is before half-time,” he added. “A goal that is hard to accept, not because is an own goal but because [Andriy] Yarmolenko is in the box, we do our homework we know he is left-footed and plays to the inside.

“We know that everyone in these inside positions he wants to shoot, and we have Matic on the ball, Luke Shaw and Lindelof a couple of yards. We have to block, we have to press, stop the shot, we didn’t, 2-0.”

Mourinho said that West Ham’s third was “too strong” a setback for his team mentally, ruling out any comeback, but believed Zabaleta fouled Rashford in the build-up to the goal.

“This time it was a referee mistake, not a linesman mistake,” he said. “But we are not very good in transitions. We are not a team that is very good when we lose possession and the other team counter.

“This time, OK, it’s a foul. Zabaleta doesn’t see the ball, he only goes for Marcus Rashford. Mr Oliver decides the other way. Then we were not good enough to stop the counter.

“The third goal was just too much for a team that needed more time with 2-1 to look for the possible second goal.”