Manchester United manager Jose Mourinho has said that the midfield performance was partly responsible for the club’s 2-2 Premier League draw at Southampton on Saturday. The Red Devils went 2-0 down within the opening 20 minutes of the game but they managed to salvage a point after making a terrific comeback before the half-time whistle.

Thereafter, United never really offered a genuine threat towards the Southampton goal and they eventually had to do with a point, much to the frustration of the fans. Speaking after the game, Mourinho highlighted that the result was a fair one despite his team holding the vast possession in the Premier League encounter.

He added to put the blame of the midfield setup with Paul Pogba, in particular, being guilty of squandering possession of the ball on multiple occasions during the course of the match, Mourinho said: “I think the result is quite fair in spite of the fact we were more dominant in the game. They had a better start than us.

“We were in trouble, organising a defensive line with only one centre-back we tried to protect that weakness with playing three instead of two central defenders.It worked quite well, the goals we conceded were a direct free-kick and a good shot. But we needed to lose less balls in midfield and if you do that you have more continuity in attack. We lost so many balls in midfield.”

United were hampered before the game with minor injuries to Chris Smalling and Eric Bailly and this left them with just one fit central defender in the form of Phil Jones with Victor Lindelof already on the sidelines with a muscle problem. Owing to this, Mourinho went with a three-man central defence, which included midfielders Scott McTominay and Nemanja Matic, and this reduced the efficiency at the back. United are currently seventh on the table with 22 points. They are scheduled to host Arsenal at Old Trafford in the midweek Premier League game.