United have the man they hired so why the moaning?

ALATE train back from London and a snapshot of life at the modern Manchester United.

Jose Mourinho’s team had just lost at Chelsea — their second defeat in three Premier League games — and the mood among the rank-and-file fans flitted between reflective and occasionally sour.

It was not the defeat that hurt travelling United supporters but the manner of it. Their team had been meek at Stamford Bridge and under their pragmatic Portuguese manager it was not a one- off performance.

‘We didn’t have a go until it was almost too late,’ said one man in his 40s. ‘What’s that all about?’

Supporters can be a tricky barometer. They constantly change their minds, for a start. And social media — swamped with the attentionseeking and the permanently angry — has not helped.

But away support at a club like United tends to harbour only the truly committed.

Ahead of tomorrow evening’s home game against Newcastle, United are second in the Premier League.

To be ahead of Chelsea, a re- energised Liverpool and the much- feted Tottenham is a significant Mourinho achievement.

Nevertheless, his time at United is currently characterised by questions about entertainment, his relationship with supporters and, critically, his own future.

United should not fret unnecessarily about how long their manager stays. He has never been one to hang around in one place for long. And it is unlikely he will do so beyond next season’s final contract year if he believes his horizons are limited by the unfeasibly high bar Pep Guardiola is threatening to set across town at Manchester City.

Mourinho is not wired for second- placed finishes and it should surprise nobody that he has been fluttering his eyelashes recently at Paris Saint- Germain, the French club with which his agent enjoys such a close relationship. If he can feasibly win a third Champions League anywhere in the coming years, it is there.

But the here and now of Mourinho’s world is much more intriguing. He feels under-appreciated by the media — about which he does care — and a section of the United support. He was hired to stabilise United and has done more than that.

On Mourinho’s watch, the club have re-established credibility and forward momentum but their manager feels cast in a role he doesn’t like. So he has been starting fires with words, just as he always has.

Inside the club, the style of football is a talking point, as is the manager’s occasionally uneasy relationship with fans.

‘I just wish he would smile at people a bit more,’ is a recent quote from one executive.

Within his own dressing room, views are mixed. His criticism has stung at times. Marcus Rashford, for example, was not thrilled when Mourinho turned public fire on his own forwards after Zlatan Ibrahimovic’s injury last season. Neither was Anthony Martial.

But the French forward said this week that he believes he has benefited from Mourinho’s strain of tough love, while Rashford is a regular in his manager’s team.

Certainly, when Mourinho does eventually vacate his corner suite at the Lowry Hotel he will leave a much healthier squad than the one he inherited. In Paul Pogba, Nemanja Matic and Romelu Lukaku, he has recruited the cornerstone of a future.

United have the manager they hired and he won’t change. Anybody who hopes otherwise should have another look at his c.v.

This week, Mourinho had his mechanic’s overalls on to tour the premises of one of his sponsors, Jaguar. There is, they say, no truth to the rumour that he was there to fit the handbrakes.