Mourinho: We shot ourselves in the foot
Jose Mourinho accused his Manchester United players of shooting themselves in the foot, as he saw his under-strength team gift Arsenal two goals in a 2-2 draw that extended their winless English Premier League run to four games.
United, who started with Paul Pogba and Romelu Lukaku on the bench, showed great spirit to twice come back, with equalisers from Anthony Martial and Jesse Lingard earning a much-needed point.
But, after a defeat at Manchester City and dispiriting draws with Crystal Palace and Southampton, United are now 18 points behind leaders City and closer to the relegation positions than they are to first place.
Mourinho, who saw a bad David de Gea error and Marcos Rojo own goal twice hand Arsenal the lead, believes the performance continued their run of self-inflicted harm.
"We scored four goals and we drew 2-2," joked Mourinho.
"But we scored four goals and even in matches like today where we play well, we always shoot ourselves...
"Our problem is finding a performance like this without the mistakes we made and we had very good performances where we make mistakes and we are always punished."
Mourinho's frustration was especially understandable given that Arsenal's opening goal, after 26 minutes, came after a mistake by de Gea, who pushed Shkodran Mustafi's header over his own head and over the goalline.
But United responded within four minutes as Rojo, playing for the first time this season, unleashed a terrific free-kick which Bernd Leno kept out at the foot of his left-hand post.
Herrera responded quickly, although replays suggested he may have been fractionally offside, reaching the loose ball on the byeline and turning it into the six-yard area where Martial was able to convert.
That pattern would be repeated after 68 minutes when Arsenal regained the lead through a Rojo own goal, but United took just 74 seconds to respond.
Lukaku caused uncertainty in the visitors' area and, as Sead Kolasinac tried to turn the ball back to his goalkeeper, he allowed Lingard to ghost in and complete a simple finish past Leno.
"I am proud of my players and the second half gives us confidence," said Arsenal manager Unai Emery. "We controlled the game and if one team deserved to win, we did more." - AFP
MAN UNITED: De Gea, Bailly, Smalling, Rojo (Fellaini 72), Dalot, Herrera, Matic, Darmian, Lingard (Pogba 75), Martial (Lukaku 63), Rashford
ARSENAL: Leno, Mustafi, Sokratis, Holding (Lichtsteiner 36), Bellerin, Torreira, Guendouzi, Kolasinac, Ramsey (Mkhitaryan 46), Iwobi (Lacazette 65), Aubameyang
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