WE’RE FINE

JOSE Mourinho insists has ‘no problem’ with United executive vice-chairman Ed Woodward amid tension at the club.

Mourinho was terse at yesterday’s pre-match press conference and arrived half-anhour early. The United manager was peppered with questions about the fallout from the shambolic 3-2 defeat at Brighton last Sunday.

Speculation has mounted over Mourinho’s position amid supposed interest in former Real Madrid coach Zinedine Zidane, which the club denied earlier in the week. Mourinho conceded United have had a ‘difficult week’ in the wake of the Brighton loss and when it was suggested his relationship with Woodward was still fine, Mourinho replied: “Of course.” No problems? “No.”

A curt Mourinho insisted he had not pored through the Brighton post-mortems and dubbed a reporter a ‘pessimist’ for suggesting that there had been a ‘overreaction’ to the Reds’ performance at the Amex Stadium.

“Don’t ask me because I don’t read,” Mourinho retorted in response to the negative coverage United have received. “I don’t know 10 per cent of what is written, of what is coming on TV screens so I’m not the right guy to answer to it. You [reporter] are pessimistic, I’m not.

“I think difficult [week], difficult is after the match you lose, is always difficult, especially for people that really care about the job, about being football professionals. But after that you think about the next match.

“You do the same when you win, you have to move on and focus what next and when you lose you have to do even more.

“I would like to play well and win. It’s to play well and win, don’t make mistakes, that’s what we want.”

United special: Pages 46-48