Mourinho laments ‘ridiculous’ start as Spurs stun United

TIL Desk Sports/ Jose Mourinho was left lamenting a “ridiculous goal” after one of the quickest strikes in Premier League history sent his Manchester United side on the way to a damaging 2-0 defeat by Tottenham at Wembley on Wednesday.

Christian Eriksen fired Spurs into the lead after just 11 seconds before an own-goal from United defender Phil Jones secured victory for the home side before the break. Defeat left United second in the table but a huge 15 points behind runaway leaders Manchester City.

In the Premier League era, Eriksen’s express finish is tied for second-quickest with a Mark Viduka effort for Leeds against Charlton in 2001. Only Ledley King’s 10-second goal for Tottenham against Bradford in 2000 and Alan Shearer’s after the same time for Newcastle against Manchester City in 2003 are ahead of Eriksen and Viduka.

“It’s a performance that starts with a ridiculous goal. That goal after a few seconds has a big influence in the game because Tottenham can play the way they like to play,” United manager Mourinho told. “In the end we played against a very good team. Both goals were ridiculous goals.

“The first goal is an accumulation of mistakes in spite of the fact that everything happened so fast. My players have watched the Tottenham kick-off many, many times,” the Portuguese boss added.