The fact that José Mourinho was not satisfied with the performance of his own team was already apparent at half-time: Dele Alli, Steven Bergwijn, Giovani Lo Celso and Carlos Vinicius were all allowed to stay in the dressing room after a poor 1st half.
“I would have liked to change 11 players during half-time”, the Portuguese sighed afterwards. “I didn’t dare to use all my 5 substitutions right away because I still feared a long second half.”
“We have a large core with many players who deserved playing opportunities. It is my responsibility to give them those opportunities, but it is also their responsibility to seize those opportunities. Tonight they made my future choices a bit easier.”
“I expected a good performance from my team, but nothing came of it. Antwerp was more motivated and played with more passion and desire. They deservedly won and we deservedly lost. That is my responsibility. This defeat is my fault. . “
