No question that Jose is suffering
JOSE MOURINHO is feeling the strain of the growing crisis engulfing him at Manchester United.
Mourinho is under pressure ahead of United’s must-win game at home to Tottenham on Monday and showed he is feeling the heat.
The moody manager began his press conference half an hour ahead of schedule in a bid to wrong-foot the media and then refused to answer a raft of questions.
The United boss was terse and truculent throughout a briefing that lasted just four minutes 19 seconds, his demeanour only adding to the sense of turmoil at Old Trafford.
Mourinho denied there were any problems between him and United’s executive vicechairman Ed Woodward, despite the latter failing to deliver all of his manager’s transfer targets.
Mourinho is known to be frustrated at Woodward’s inaction in the transfer market this summer, believing it has undermined United’s chances of success.
United signed only three players – Fred, Diogi Dalot and back-up keeper Lee Grant – and failed to recruit a central defender, a position Mourinho had made a priority.
A 3-2 defeat at Brighton last Sunday exposed United’s defensive frailties, although Mourinho claimed he was not a odds with Woodward over the executive’s failure to recruit a new centre-back before the transfer window closed.
Asked if his relationship with Woodward was fine, Mourinho said: “Of course.”
And he claimed he had taken no notice of the backlash and talk about his position following the Brighton loss, despite his sulky demeanour when quizzed.
“Don’t ask me, because I don’t read,” said Mourinho. “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 it.” Asked if he felt there had been an over-reaction to United’s defeat at Brighton, Mourinho added: “You are pessimistic, I’m not.
“It’s always difficult after the match you lose, especially for people that really care about the job, about being a football professional.
“But after that you think about the next match. You do the same when you win, you have to move on and focus on what’s next and when you lose you have to do even more.
“I feel we played well against Leicester and we won. I felt we played badly against Brighton and we lost. “I would like to play well and win. It’s to play well and win, don’t make mistakes, that’s what we want. “You have to play against 19 opponents at Old Trafford and away, you have to play against everyone, so I don’t know if it’s the right time [to be playing Spurs]. “The time is now, the fixtures were decided this way and we have to play Tottenham in the second match at Old Trafford, and then we go away twice in a row to Burnley and Watford.
“This is what it is and of course it’s a difficult match, against a team that last season finished in the top four. So a difficult match.”
Asked about Paul Pogba admitting his attitude was not right during the defeat at Brighton, Mourinho said: “Paul said it, he has to answer by his words. If you want any explanation about Paul’s words you must get him and ask him.”
Alexis Sanchez, Nemanja Matic and Antonio Valencia could return against Tottenham at Old Trafford.
Sanchez missed last week’s loss at Brighton through injury and will be assessed, while defensive midfielder Matic (abdomen) and captain Valencia (calf) have returned to training.
Summer signing Dalot (knee) is also training with for the first time. Ander Herrera, Sergio Romero and Marcos Rojo have been United’s other injury issues.