Manchester United put on a "childish" display in its 2-2 Premier League draw with Leicester City on Saturday, according to manager Jose Mourinho.
Harry Maguire scored a dramatic stoppage-time equaliser to dent United's fading title hopes, leaving it 13 points adrift of leader Manchester City – the biggest Christmas margin between first and second in top-flight history.
Mourinho claimed afterwards that he felt the match at the King Power Stadium was an "easy" one to win and had said as much to his players at half-time, when the match was locked at 1-1.
The leveller, which cancelled out Juan Mata's earlier double, came with United defender Chris Smalling carrying an injury for the closing stages.
"We were punished by our mistakes. What more can I say?" Mourinho told Sky Sports. "I would say it was childish loss of possession, so easy. And then you are punished in the end.
"At the end we showed no maturity. Because Smalling was in trouble, he comes out of the game, and they put Maguire as an extra man.
"The players on the pitch cannot react to that, analyse the game and make a quick adjustment. So I think childish in their box and childish in our box. We were punished at two points in an easy match to win."
United looked particularly exposed for the opener, when Jamie Vardy applied the finish after Riyad Mahrez had raced on to a long Wilfred Ndidi pass from deep.
"The midfield players didn't control the space between the lines, [Phil] Jones had to jump into an area that is not his and then the ball goes to the side and it is difficult to recover," added the Portuguese.
"But the team was playing well and kept the composure and equalised before half-time and in the second half, as we all know, the result should be four, five or six, but the reality is that it's 2-2.
"Sometimes you make mistakes and you are not punished by that, but we were punished."
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