The former Red Devils manager knows the pain of a heavy defeat and believes his counterpart is in for a rough night

Jose Mourinho has stated that he does not belive Tottenham's demolition of Manchester United will "destroy" Ole Gunnar Solskjaer and his squad, but the former Red Devils boss did profess his sympathy for his successor after their 6-1 mauling.

Spurs ran rampant over a 10-man Red Devils side at Old Trafford in Sunday's Premier League clash, with doubles for Son Heung-min and Harry Kane helping to deal the damage on an often woeful performance from the hosts.

Despite an early Bruno Fernandes penalty handing them a second-minute lead, United capitulated at the back in dramatic fashion, with further goals from Tanguy Ndombele and Serge Aurier helping to cement a famous victory while Anthony Martial was sent off at the half-hour mark for an altercation with Erik Lamela.

United's abject defending in the first three games of this Premier League season has seen them concede 11 goals. The only other time they let in at least 10 over the same period at the start of a season was in 1930-31, when they were relegated.

The humbling nature of the defeat will cast further doubt over Solskjaer's credentialsas the manager to restore United to the summit of English football, but Mourinho, the man he replaced in the dugout in 2018, insists he deserves credit for an obvious overall improvement in the team's fortunes.

[b]"I have sympathy for Ole because of the result," he told reporters. "I don't remember that I lost by six but I lost by five, I lost by four. I know how we hurt.

"I know it's very, very important that the winning manager behaves in a way where he shows sympathy. Of course, I want to win, and of course, I want to win by seven, not by six. Don't get me wrong.

"But it's sympathy in our behaviour. Today was him, tomorrow is me. Of course, I feel sympathy for him. I can imagine that tonight he's not going to sleep very, very well. But this is the hard life of us.

"But when I look to his team, there was an evolution. It's not like he arrives here and the team doesn't improve. The team is improving, they have good players, he bought lots of young players. Very good players. If it's true that [Edinson] Cavani is coming, Cavani is one of the top strikers in the world. Manchester United is Manchester United. It's not a defeat that is going to destroy them. I can imagine they will react like Manchester United always react.

"So, I feel sympathy for the result, but apart from that no sympathy because he has an incredible job and it feels like the players like him, they are with him. They are going to react for sure."[/b]

Solskjaer was incensed by Lamela's behaviour, the Spurs winger having flung an arm at Martial and then dropped to the ground under minimal contact as the Frenchman retaliated.

Mourinho, though, suggested United were fortunate not to see further red cards, with Paul Pogba having put in one or two heavy challenges and Luke Shaw having scythed down Lucas Moura as he ran towards David de Gea's penalty area.

"I didn't watch [Lamela's reaction]," he said. "For sure, for sure, for sure, Manchester United could have ended the match with eight players. I can say because some of the reactions were not far from me and easy to see. But I agree with [referee] Anthony Taylor for not showing more red cards to them because it would be a disastrous situation for them.

"So, for example, that Luke Shaw red card...okay, that's a bit...the situation between Lamela, Pogba and Martial, I don't know. I don't know. What I know is that before that we were winning, we were dominating, we were ultra-confident. And that's the only thing that made the game easier. But the game was in our hands.

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Sokratis has also been left out of the squad for the group stages by Gunners manager Mikel Arteta

Mesut Ozil has been left out of Arsenal’s 25-man squad for the Europa Leaguegroup stages.

The club’s highest earning player - who pockets £350,000 ($454,000) a week - is one of two senior players who has been cut by boss Mikel Arteta, whose 25-man squad for the competition is only allowed to include 17 ‘non locally trained players’.

With 19 to choose from, however, Arteta has had to decide which two he would not involve - and Ozil, along with defender Sokratis, has been left out.

*Given the German has not played a single minute since football’s restart in June following the coronavirus enforced suspension, it is perhaps no surprise to see him axed from the squad.

Yet the fact he is the club’s highest earner still makes his omission eye-catching, especially as Arteta is expected to use the group stages of the Europa League as an opportunity to give some game time to players who have not been featuring much in the Premier League.

The decision comes just a day after Ozil publicly stated he would be willing to pay the wages of Jerry Quy, the man who has played the role of Gunnersaurus - the Arsenal mascot - for the past 27 years. Ozil’s took to social media to make the offer after it emerged that Quy had been made redundant.

“I was so sad that Jerry Quy aka our famous and loyal mascot Gunnersaurus and integral part of our club was being made redundant after 27 years,” said the former Real Madridstar. “As such, I’m offering to reimburse Arsenal with the full salary of our big green guy as long as I will be an Arsenal player so Jerry can continue his job that he loves so much.”

Ozil’s last appearance for Arsenal came in the win against West Ham in March, the final match before football was suspended due to the pandemic.

He has not even made a matchday squad this season, even in the Carabao Cup when Arteta has rung the changes.

When quizzed on the playmaker’s absence after the 2-0 win at Leicester last month, the Arsenal boss said: “The team is evolving, you can see the level they are achieving. This is where we are at the moment. We want to evolve more and play better and compete better.

“You can see that the players we are changing, we are using, it's very difficult every week not just for Mesut but for some other players as well to make the squad. Every week we try to pick the right players.

“It's difficult for others as well that aren't involved in the Premier League and didn't play tonight either. We have a squad of 26, 27 players at the moment and we can't give playing time to all of them.

“I understand and I respect your questions but I have to try to do my job as fair as possible. I try to select the players that are, in my opinion, in better condition.”

UEFA are due to officially announce Arsenal's 25-man squad for the Europa League group stages on Thursday morning.

https://www.goal.com/en-us/news/ozil-axed-arsenal-europa-league-squad/1cyxdhzwi3fqi1ggugpuf3xbz8