Michael Carrick blasted his Manchester United team-mates following their 1-1 draw with Anderlecht.
The Red Devils dominated the game in Belgium but the Europa League quarter-final first leg ended level.
Henrikh Mkhitaryan gave Manchester Untied a first-half lead but their failure to add to that was punished when Anderlecht striker Leander Dendoncker scored with a powerful header in the 86th minute. To rub it in it was the hosts first and only shot on target.
United looked set to take a 1-0 lead into next week's second leg but Leander Dendoncker's thumping header four minutes from time gave the Belgian's an important equaliser.
After the match Carrick, who was excellent, labelled Manchester United ‘sloppy’ for their failure to win.‘It’s frustrating. We were so in control but got sloppy, we have to kill teams off,’ he told BT Sport.
‘We should have won that game. They had one chance and scored a header. We need to be more ruthless, it’s as simple as that. We were too comfortable. We got sloppy.
‘I just feel we’ve got to find that difference to kill teams off.
‘It’s not the end of the world but we are better than that. It’s that little edge that makes the difference in the end, but we’ll look forward to the next game.’
"It's frustrating," Carrick told BT Sport. "We were so in control but got sloppy. We have to kill teams off. We should have won that game. They had one chance and scored a header. We need to be more ruthless; it's as simple as that. We were too comfortable.
"It's not the end of the world, but we are better than that. It's that little edge that makes the difference in the end."
Mourinho echoed Carrick's comments but admitted that the outcome was not wholly negative. "The result is positive," Mourinho said. "To play at home with an advantage is good, but I think the result should be much better, and we can only blame ourselves.
"We had an easy game to play in the second half, and we didn't play in an attacking sense. Too many sloppy decisions, sloppy use of the ball, and we gave them the chance to make a counterattack. If I was a defender in that team, I would be upset because we missed many half-chances. Sometimes you take a second touch, sometimes not, but the decisions were all wrong.
"This is what has happened all season. We have had chances and not converted them."
Mourinho's last sentence sums up United's campaign and explains why they go into the Chelsea game with their eyes on something else. On so many occasions, United have dominated games and failed to kill off their opponents, emerging with draws when victories have been required. (Thursday night was their 14th draw of the season in all competitions and their sixth game to finish 1-1 after United took the lead.)
The constant dropping of points, two at a time, has left United marooned outside the top four in the league, and against Anderlecht, their inability to finish the tie off means they will face an anxious second leg in Manchester next week.
United's home record in Europe this season has been impressive, with Mourinho's players winning every game so far at Old Trafford in the competition. As such, they will go into the return game as heavy favourites, expecting to progress to the semifinals and move to within 180 minutes of next month's final in Stockholm. But United will suffer the consequences of lacking a killer touch sooner or later, and it would be disastrous for their season if that backlash comes with a defeat or high-scoring draw against the Belgians next Thursday.
While Mourinho is right to insist that Sunday is just as important as Thursday, deep down he already knows which game really matters.
The sides play the second leg at Old Trafford next Thursday.
What Jose Mourinho said:
MANCHESTER UNITED boss Jose Mourinho has hit out at his attacking players after they conceded a late goal against Anderlecht.
United had ample opportunities to kill the game with goalscorer Henrikh Mkhitaryan and Paul Pogba guilty of misses.
And Mourinho has pinned the blame for United's draw on the shoulders of his forwards.
He told BT Sport: "In my poor English I cannot find a better word [than sloppy]. You have to play more seriously.
"Put the performance of two or three of our attacking players together and you squeeze not much juice out of it. Rashford, Lingard, Ibrahimovic, Martial. They were very similar.
"But the people behind very solid very focused. The defenders did the serious work but the people who had to kill the game didn't."
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