Mourinho slams managers turned pundits over United criticism

MANCHESTER (United Kingdom): Jose Mourinho has hit out again at media pundits -including Gary Neville -- for their criticism of Manchester United and star players such as Paul Pogba and Alexis Sanchez.

And the United manager suggested that their own failures in management make them unqualified to offer such views.

Neville has been a repeated critic of his former club's manager and, during United's dramatic victory at Crystal Palace on Monday, in which they trailed 2-0 before recovering to win 3-2, did not hold back in his comments.

"I've never seen a Jose Mourinho team as inefficient as this," said Sky Sports television analyst Neville.

"They are always efficient teams, they always do things really calmly, they are usually solid in defence."

But Mourinho responded with criticism of his own, especially in the case of Neville who had a brief, unhappy spell in charge of Spanish side Valencia.

"Some of the guys with an opinion couldn't resolve their own problems when they were managers," Mourinho told reporters on Friday. "So they are giving opinions like they have solutions for everything but is not like that."

The former Chelsea manager added: "But they are in a position where they can give opinions about everything, sometimes I read and listen, sometimes I don't.

"This week I was more focused on enjoying Champions League and Europa League and preparing my match than focusing on opinions," the Portuguese boss insisted.

Mourinho was speaking ahead of the Premier League meeting with bitter rivals Liverpool at Old Trafford on Saturday in which he will be looking for star striker Romelu Lukaku to improve on a goalscoring record which has seen him score just one of his 23 goals against a team currently in the top 10 of the division. - AFP