Jose Mourinho Unsure on Manchester United's Title Chances After Brighton Defeat

Manchester United manager Jose Mourinho gave a cryptic answer in his post-match press conference when pressed on his side's title chances.

Mourinho was speaking after witnessing his side suffer their first loss of the season away to  Brighton on Sunday. United conceded three goals in the first half to a buoyant Brighton side who capitalized on the Red Devils' errors. Both Romelu Lukaku and Paul Pogba scored for the visitors but couldn't prevent defeat for the second season running at the Amex.

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Reflecting in his press conference, as reported by the Manchester Evening News, Mourinho spoke on his side's title chances saying: "I told in some press conference in end of November, December you will have an idea if we can compete." 

One of the big talking points from the game was United's defence, which made several key mistakes. The centre-back pairing of Eric Bailly and Victor Lindelöf were both singled out for criticism on the afternoon. Lindelöf for his positioning during Brighton's first goal, and Bailly for his rash nature; giving away a penalty which inevitably clinched it for the Seagulls. 

Mourinho said: "We made mistakes and were punished by our mistakes, sometimes you make mistakes and are punished sometimes the opponent doesn't take advantage of the gifts, and sometimes they do and this time was almost three on three so they were critical in the gifts that we gave them and because of that I think they deserve.

"I think is normal that opposition with difficult ambitions when they face the top teams is normal that they have different levels of motivation that they show. But sometimes it can be a fake feeling, what makes the big difference is the happiness, is the confidence and without nothing they are winning 2-0 and obviously that gives a big boost and pushes the losing side down mentally.

"And then we score the first goal which ave the feeling the game is open and we are going to finish the first-half on a high and then the third goal appears and we go again to this situation.

"And, finally in the second-half our goal was too late and gave us not even a chance of a next ball, which was quite strange because, for example against, Leicester the match ended with a corner against us and Schmeichel having 15 seconds to arrive from his box to our box and the referee waiting for that opportunity when it was after the extra time he gave and today the situation was similar in a sense, we had one last ball and we stopped when the ball was in the air but they deserve.

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"But they deserve, congratulations to Chris and them."

Manchester United will be expected to bounce back quickly as they prepare to face a high profile encounter with Tottenham Hotspur next Monday at Old Trafford.