BRADLEY AIMS TO TURN SCREW ON PAL
STEVE MORGAN SWANSEA boss Bob Bradley aims to pile the pressure on Jose Mourinho at the end of a troubled week for the Manchester United manager.
Mourinho will watch United’s Premier League game at Swansea today in the stands after being given a one-game touchline ban.
It has been a desperate week for Mourinho who accepted two FA misconduct charges and then criticised his players following their timid 2-1 Europa League defeat at Fenerbahce on Thursday.
But Bradley, who was manager of the United States national team between 2006 and 2011, says he has seen a different side of Mourinho.
He said: “I’ve talked to him on the phone and traded some messages with him in the last year. We have some common friends.
“He’s been in the United States a lot with teams in pre-season and in many of those situations I’ve had a chance to see his teams train.
“He’s always been gracious in those moments.”
Bradley also recalled how an act of Mourinho kindness on one of those tours struck a special chord with him.
“When he was at Inter Milan and Real Madrid my eldest daughter, Kerry, was handling some of the administrative details for those teams,” Bradley added.
“I was standing quietly at training there one day when he comes straight across the field.
“He started talking about the US and how we had played well in the World Cup. I remember him saying sometimes you need a bit of luck and that you should be proud.
“Then he hesitated and goes, ‘And your daughter is a great girl’. She had done a bit of work around the team and he knew, from one father to another, that I would appreciate that. And I did. It shows you what kind of guy he is.”
Bradley has yet to taste victory at the Liberty Stadium, drawing one and losing two of this three games in charge as Swansea have slipped into the relegation zone.
“No, I don’t know my best eleven,” said Bradley. “It’s something I’m trying to figure out every day.
“You look every day in training at different combinations; in terms of tactics, it’s not pulling out something totally different every time. It might take a long time but hopefully
we will on Sunday.”