Manchester United boss Jose Mourinho
says that to claim a footballer has performed poorly due to their
feelings toward their manager is to label that player “dishonest”.
The 2018-19 season has seen plenty of talk about the
relationship between United players and Mourinho, and there was more
after the Red Devils’ winless run in the Premier League extended to a
third game with Saturday’s 2-2 draw at Southampton.
Mourinho was asked ahead of Wednesday’s home clash with
fourth-placed Arsenal, who United are eight points worse off than, if he
still felt the players were all behind him.
The Portuguese said: “I still don’t understand that story. If you
think a player only plays when he is, in your words, behind the
manager, what I have to call these players or, in this case, what you
are calling them, is dishonest.
“A football player is paid – and very well paid – to be a football
professional. What is that? It is to train every day in his limits, to
play every game in his limits, is to behave socially according to the
nature of his job, is to respect the millions of fans around the world
and to respect the hierarchies in the club.
If a player doesn’t do that..one thing is perform well and perform not so well, another thing is to be a football professional.
“If you say that a player plays well or bad because of who the manager is, you are calling the player dishonest.
“I understand your question, but when pundits that were professional
players say ‘this player is not playing for the manager’ – did they do
that when they were players? Were they dishonest players? If they were
they shouldn’t be in front of a camera speaking to millions of people.
“I disagree totally with that question. You have to analyse a player
by ‘is he performing, yes or no?’ You shouldn’t go in that direction
because you are calling the players dishonest.”
He added: “You believe a player scores in his own goal and then runs
and celebrates ‘I scored in my own goal because I don’t like the
manager’? Do you believe in that? I don’t believe in that.”
In the wake of the Southampton game Mourinho’s relationship with Paul
Pogba has, once again, been a particular talking point, with reports
having emerged of the manager, in front of the players in the dressing
room after the match, having called the midfielder a “virus.”
After he refused to be drawn on that on Tuesday, Mourinho was asked
if Pogba’s form was a concern and if he would not have a problem
dropping him.
He said: “I am not going to analyse the performance individually. I
told after the (Southampton) game the reason why, in the second half
especially, we didn’t have those consecutive waves of attack.
“I told that the reason why we were not consistent and didn’t keep
the opponent under pressure all the time was because we lost too many
balls. Not the best decisions in terms of how many touches I need to
pass the ball, the speed of the decision.
“I told that without saying one single name, and I am going to say exactly the same without saying any names.
“The names I gave in Southampton were the names that I choose in a
positive way to show that desire, that fighting spirit, that anger, that
pride. When I told that (Marcus) Rashford was in a happy way, (it was)
because I like to give good examples.”
Mourinho also said the points gap between United and fourth place,
and between them and leaders Manchester City (19 points ahead of the Old
Trafford clash against Arsenal) was something something he “couldn’t
predict”, adding “every team got better, and we didn’t”, before
reiterating that his target was a top-four finish.
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