JOSE WARNS HIS UNDERACHIEVERS.. I NEED MOUR

As United fall behind their rivals, ‘frustrated’ Mourinho calls for improved consistency, concentration and commitment

JOSE MOURINHO has warned his Manchester United players he is “expecting more” from them after their poor start to the season.

With just six games gone, United are eight points behind Premier League leaders Liverpool and cannot afford to lose further ground in the title race.

Defeats to Brighton and Tottenham, coupled with last weekend’s 1-1 draw at home to Wolves, have undermined their chances of making a title push.

Mourinho admitted some of his squad are simply not learning from their mistakes, although he rejected the notion certain players simply cannot handle the pressure of playing for United.

“I don’t think any player is afraid to play for the club,” said Mourinho. “Honestly, I don’t think so.

“But I sometimes feel frustrated because the work we do and what we give to the process, I’m always expecting more. Especially I’m expecting more in terms of stability in the process. It looks like when we feel we’re really improving and playing better and having a good run of results, it looks like there’s always a little going down in terms of the focus or the motivation – that I feel.

“That’s why, when I come to you, you never see me speaking like I don’t know what’s going to happen tomorrow – I expect to win tomorrow. I expect to play very well tomorrow.

“We work very, very well – especially Wednesday and Thursday, so I expect a very good performance and I expect to win a very difficult match. I don’t come here and say the training session wasn’t very good, the players not committed and I have a bad feeling.

“No, I have the feeling that tomorrow we are not going to play very well, that we are not going to win.

“That’s why after matches sometimes I have the feeling that I’m frustrated or surprised by a lack of concentration or apparent – I repeat apparent – lack of commitment and lack of attitude. Maybe people think that sometimes the boys are not committed, maybe people can think the manager doesn’t demand enough from them, maybe people think on the training ground we don’t train enough this area or that area. That’s quite frustrating.”

United’s build-up to today’s game has been dominated by the training-ground clash between Mourinho and Paul Pogba, which came 24 hours after the midfielder was told by his boss he will never captain the Reds again.

Mourinho tried to play down the episode, which arose over the timing of an Instagram post from Pogba the night of United’s EFL Cup exit to Derby, and claimed he has far more explosive confrontations with players when the cameras are not there.

“When you got me on camera speaking with Paul, I’m happy that you don’t come here more times, because you would get much more than that, I can promise you – much more than that,” said Mourinho.

“Much louder, much more aggressive. Words with a completely different dimension, you would get a lot. So I’m really happy that the rules are 15 minutes of filming.”