Manchester United's Henrikh Mkhitaryan scores against Anderlecht during Thursday's UEFA Europa League quarterfinal, first-leg match at Constant Vanden Stock Stadium in Brussels, Belgium. Andrew Couldridge / Reuters

Manager blames bad decisions, poor shooting for lackluster draw

BRUSSELS - Manager Jose Mourinho branded his misfiring Manchester United stars "sloppy" after the club conceded the late equalizer in a 1-1 Europa League quarterfinal first leg draw at Anderlecht on Thursday.

United had several chances to seal a victory after Henrikh Mkhitaryan opened the scoring from a tight angle in the first half, but its ongoing failure to convert chances backfired four minutes from time when Leander Dendoncker tallied for the home side.

"The result is still positive," said Mourinho, with the second leg at Old Trafford next week.

"I think the result should be much better, but we can only blame ourselves.

"We had an easy game to play in the second half and we didn't - we lost the ball easily.

"We made sloppy decisions, we had sloppy touches on the ball and then we gave them opportunities to have counter-attacks."

Mourinho praised his defense, which stood firm until Dendoncker's late run wasn't tracked, allowing the strapping midfielder to rise above Matteo Darmian and Marcus Rojo to power home a header.

"It was a strong performance for them, from the defense," said Mourinho. "They did what we asked them to do."

But with centerbacks Chris Smalling and Phil Jones injured, Mourinho said Eric Bailly and Rojo will have to shoulder the burden of every match until the end of the season.

"There's nothing I can do, they have to go until the end. There's no other chance, we don't have any other central defenders."

Mourinho was less impressed with his forwards, who squandered many attacking positions and have managed to notch only 19 goals in 11 Europa League matches this season.

"The decisions were wrong, the only one that was right was Paul Pogba's shot - a good save by the keeper," said the Portuguese boss.

"This has happened all season."

Asked why his team is still struggling to score goals, Mourinho was at a loss.

"Good question, difficult answer," he said.

United captain Michael Carrick echoed his manager's feelings with a brutally honest assessment of the team's shortcomings.

"It's frustrating. We were so in control, but got sloppy. We have to kill teams off," Carrick 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 just got sloppy.

"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."

Anderlecht coach Rene Weiler said the late equalizer kept his side's hopes of progressing alive.

"We always believe, it's always our aim to win," he said.

"We know it will be a hard game in Manchester. We'll fight for it, we still have chances - qualification is still open."

The Belgian champion came on strong in the second half after struggling for long stretches in the first period.

But Weiler said his team hadn't been overawed at the start.

"I don't think we were timid. We had courage, we played well, we competed well," said the coach.

"They kept the ball well but that's due to them, not because we were timid."

Agence France-presse