Get out of the comfort zone
Smalling. He insists his hunger has never changed from his first appointment in football as Bobby Robson’s translator at Barcelona. “Something that doesn’t change is my mentality, the desire to win, the feeling I’m never happy, I want more out of myself,” he said. “I started as Sir Bobby Robson’s assistant in 1991-92. In all this period, football has changed so much. The only thing that hasn’t changed in me is that desire to work and that desire to win. That’s something I fight for and will fight for forever.”
Moyes and Van Gaal were sacked after failing to guide United into the Champions League but Mourinho believes he will be given more time by the club’s American owners, the Glazer family, and executive vice-chairman Ed Woodward, because they can see progress.
And he hopes that reaching the EFL Cup final, the knockout stages of the Europa League and the last 16 of the FA Cup will help harden the mentality of his squad. He said: “Mr Woodward and the owners, we don’t need to speak every day because we know exactly the way to do it – to fight for the competitions we are in.”
Rio Ferdinand has criticised Paul Pogba and Jesse Lingard for posting a picture of themselves practising a goal celebration on social media by reminding them that they are only sixth. Mourinho may have felt the comment rammed home his point but was diplomatic. “I respect Rio. He was a legend in my club – and I am not – so as somebody who is not at his level in the club, I don’t think I have any legitimacy to comment on Rio. I’m not saying to you that I agree or disagree,” he said.