Gone in eight minutes: bizarre briefing adds to tension
Jose Mourinho’s sullen behaviour at Manchester United took another bizarre twist yesterday when he held a press conference that was missed by most of the media.
The manager turned up half an hour early for the briefing and then left after a tense eight-minute exchange. He had departed as some reporters were still arriving.
Mourinho spoke to broadcasters for only four minutes 19 seconds and delivered a series of monosyllabic answers, hanging around just long enough to deny reports of a rift with United’s executive vice-chairman Ed Woodward.
Gary Neville, the former United captain, accused Woodward this week of undermining Mourinho by failing to deliver the centre-half the manager wanted.
But Mourinho opted for diplomacy when asked if his relationship with Woodward was fine. “Of course,” he replied. When further asked if there were problems, the manager added: “No.”
Mourinho’s brief responses were reflective of a frosty press conference that did little to quell tensions as the Portuguese’s dour demeanour shows no sign of changing.
When asked if reports of conflicts with Woodward formed part of an overreaction to last Sunday’s 3-2 defeat by Brighton, Mourinho said: “You are pessimistic, I’m not.”
Mourinho is expected to react to that performance by making a number of changes for the visit of Tottenham to Old Trafford on Monday, with Anthony Martial, Victor Lindelof, Andreas Pereira and Juan Mata all at risk of being dropped. Nemanja Matic, Antonio Valencia and new signing Diogo Dalot are all back in training after injuries.