Jose Mourinho: We are in a false position

Jose Mourinho said people were focusing on results rather than performances after Manchester United lost another lead to draw 1-1 at Everton, insisting his team were in a false position.

Mourinho has repeatedly said he is trying to implement a positive and attractive way of playing at Old Trafford and feels United have not got the points they deserve.

They dropped two more when substitute Marouane Fellaini conceded an 89th-minute penalty at Goodison Park and Leighton Baines scored to cancel out Zlatan Ibrahimovic’s first-half opener.

Mourinho told Sky Sports: “When my teams win matches playing a different style then the style matters, not results.

“Now [other] teams are playing defensive and getting results and are praised.

“When my team plays extremely well, results are more important. But I am happy my team is playing really well. We have a position in the table [sixth] that has no relation to our football.”

Speaking at his news conference later, he said: “When my teams are playing pragmatic football and winning matches and winning titles you say that is not nice and not right.

“Then my team play very well — and it is a huge change to the last two or three years [at United] — and now you say what matters is to get the result no matter what.”

Asked for his view of the Everton penalty and the crude first-half challenge for which United’s Marcos Rojo could have been sent off, the Portuguese twice answered: “I didn’t see it.”

He said he had brought Fellaini on to counter the “direct” threat posed by the hosts and added: “Everton are not a passing team any more like they were in the past.

“Everton are a team that plays direct — goalkeeper direct, Ashley Williams direct, [Ramiro] Funes Mori direct. Everything direct.

“When you have on the bench a player with two metres in height, you play the player in front of the defensive line to help the team to win the match.”

The draw at Goodison was a sixth in 14 league games and leaves them on 21 points, nine adrift of fourth-placed Manchester City, and Mourinho said: “We are getting draws but deserving victory. We are leaving the stadium with a feeling we deserved more.”

Information from the Press Association was used in this report