Josedemandsrespectand consistency from Pogba
Jose Mourinho has set out an agenda for the rest of the season based on one word – respect.
The Manchester United manager is upset that his achievements – and those of his team – have not been fully appreciated in a season dominated by Manchester City’s runaway Premier League triumph and Liverpool’s electric European exploits.
Mourinho believes that only a secondplace finish will convince his critics of the progress he claims to have made since he won two trophies in his first campaign as United manager.
“When we don’t play well, people have a go at us, which I understand,” he says.
“I never complained, for example, after the second match against Sevilla. I didn’t complain about any criticism.
“However, when we do good things, there is always a ‘but’.
“It is really, really hard for people to praise this team and to praise the boss. I think that is very, very clear.
“That is why I keep saying we have to try everything to finish second because if we finish second, then it is impossible to deny what is real.
“The reality is the points with no buts.
“If we manage to be in second place, it is difficult to say that the sixth was better than us or the fifth was better than us.
“Respect is about honesty. It is when we play badly, to tell the truth. And when we do something positive, also to tell the truth with no buts.
“I think Man City wins the title. They have been the best team during the season and the distance of points at the end will be the consequence of the superiority that they showed.
“But my team is a team that has beaten every other team in the Premier League this season, including every one of the top-six opponents.
“This is a team that in the last three big matches we have played – against Chelsea, Liverpool and Manchester City – has won all of them.
“It’s a team that has already more points than last season, a team that has had brilliant matches and one that showed character many times.
“The last time was being 2-0 down at City and changing for 3-2. But I prefer to go back a little bit further.
“After the Sevilla match, only a good group with good people could do what they did, which is win every match.
“The easy thing after going out of the Champions League against Sevilla would have been to collapse in the Premier League – collapse in the sense that we let the motivation and the quality go down.
“We didn’t do that.”
United face struggling West Brom today and look set to finish closest to City by the final day.
But Mourinho refuses to be drawn on whether the gap can be closed next season, and declares that his club are not going to break the bank in the summer transfer window to catch their rivals.
“We are not going to spend more than we can,” he says. “We are not going to do anything crazy.
“We are just trying to improve a little bit more to give sequence to what we are doing here.
“But it is not just about us and them. It is about City and United and Liverpool and Arsenal and Chelsea and Spurs.
“I think it is about these six teams, and during the summer everybody will try to improve.
“Last season we finished sixth and this season we hope to finish second, so we have improved.
“Next season we are going to try and improve again.
“But maybe also Manchester City will invest heavily in the summer, and they don’t let the others close the gap to them. I don’t know.”
If United are to claim second spot – and perhaps secure a trophy with the FA Cup – they will need expensive midfielder Paul Pogba to reproduce his game-changing twogoal performance at the Etihad Stadium last week.
Mourinho, however, is not looking for that. If fact, he takes a sideways dig at the Frenchman’s previous commitment on the training field.
“I tell you what I told him after the match,” he says. “I told him I don’t expect him to be the man of the match every week, or to score two goals every week.
“But I do I expect Paul to be consistent and that’s the challenge he has to put to himself – to keep a certain stability, not have the good match, the so-so match and the bad match.
“If he has that stability, the special match will happen.
“But he really has to try to go for that stability and the first thing is at training level – stability in the working week – and for the last few weeks I’m really happy with him.”