Former Manchester United defender Kevin Moran has revealed his disappointment at the Red Devils not matching FC Basel’s intensity in the second half of their 1-0 Champions League defeat in Switzerland on Wednesday night.
Jose Mourinho’s men dominated the first period with Romelu Lukaku and Marouane Fellaini squandering good opportunities to score and put the game to bed.
However, the two teams went into the break level and Basel came out fighting in the second half, when they were rewarded for their intensity when the home side netted a 89th winner at St. Jakob-Park.
Moran admits that he expected Basel to come out with more energy and effort after the break as they were absolutely dominated by Mourinho’s men in the first half.
However, he also expected Manchester United to match Basel’s intensity and the former Red Devil was disappointed that the Premier League giants didn’t turn up after the break.
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Moran told MUTV’s Matchday Review: “I just thought the first half we played so well.
“The manager would have been so happy with the effort and the way the players performed, the chances they created and in the second half it completely changed.
“You expected Basel to come out to put in a much bigger effort – they did that and we didn’t match and that was disappointing.
“They gave all their energy and we didn’t match that and at the end we suffered because of the goal in the last minute.
“We should never play like that.”
The former Red Devil insisted that even had the side scored in the opening 45 minutes, it would not have excused their second half display.
He added: “Even if we did score a couple of goals in the first half, which we deserved, it was the second half performance that was disappointing.
“If we were 2-0 up and they came back to 2-1 or draw 2-2, it would still be how we played in the second half.
“And that was the disappointing factor, not just the performance.”
