Herrera says Mourinho soaks up pressure for the players

JOSE Mourinho has helped ‘protect the team’ with some of his comments following United’s struggles of late, according to midfielder Ander Herrera.

United have dropped points in three of their last four league games after bursting out of the blocks in August and September with a series of dazzling performances.

Mourinho’s approach against a vulnerable Liverpool side was questioned last month, despite earning a point, and United then suffered a shock defeat to Huddersfield a week later.

After the game, Mourinho was left ‘concerned’ by Herrera’s admission that the Terriers played with more aggression in the first-half hour of their 2-1 win.

Mourinho then made a pointed ‘shhhh’ gesture to the television cameras at full-time of United’s 1-0 win against Tottenham before later turning on a section of his own supporters in his programme notes for booing his decision to substitute Marcus Rashford in that game.

But Herrera believes his manager is simply taking the pressure away from his players in trademark style.

“You can talk about everything with him and he is much closer with the players than it appears in front of the media,” he told Panenka magazine.

“He assumes that role to remove some of the pressure from the players and to protect the team.”

United currently lie in second place, eight points off bitter rivals Man City, ahead of welcoming Newcastle to Old Trafford on Saturday.