Jose's verdict on City

Jose Mourinho made a point of praising the players’ ‘commitment, effort and togetherness’ after the 3-0 loss at City on Saturday.

We started well at the Etihad against a City side flying high at the top of the Premier League, and on the back of 15 straight wins. Indeed, Harry Kane came closest in the opening stages when his free-kick came back off the inside of the post.

However, Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg was judged to have brought down Ilkay Gundogan in the box on 23 minutes, Rodrigo slotted home the penalty and City took a 1-0 lead into half-time. Gundogan doubled the lead five minutes into the second half and then wrapped it up with his second on 66 minutes.

Jose said: “I’ll start with something that is very important for me and that’s the players’ commitment, effort and togetherness. The second half was very hard. I saw some players in the limits of their condition and physicality, I was even scared by some of them minute 88, 89 still sprinting, still trying.

“That gives me a painful feeling, because I feel for them, but at the same time, gives me a very positive feeling of a team that fought and fought until the end.

“Going in a football direction, I believe that in the first half, we were good, we started the game very positively, we didn’t fear them, didn’t have problems, didn’t have any defensive problems, even playing in an offensive way like we tried to do.

“Once more, unlucky, the Harry Kane ball (free-kick), I don’t know how it’s not a goal and, unlucky, another penalty of modern days. But I liked the team in the first half, very positive.

“In the second half, when you concede a goal after five minutes, it’s very hard, because then it’s the fatigue plus the emotional side. The guys fought until the end, and I feel the result is too heavy, too heavy. It gives me another feeling... if we get into that (League Cup) final (25 April) in the same physical condition as them, let’s go.”

Jose on Spurs TV