Close menu

Jose Mourinho: Man Utd manager questions players' commitment

Last updated on .From the section Man Utdcomments182

Man Utd were sleeping - Mourinho

Manchester United manager Jose Mourinho has accused his players of approaching the loss to Fenerbahce as if it was a "summer friendly".

The Red Devils dropped to third in Group A of the Europa League following a 2-1 defeat in Istanbul.

United have now won just two of their last seven games in all competitions.

"A team that concedes after two minutes is a team that is not ready, not mentally prepared, not focused, not concentrated," said Mourinho.

Champions League final v summer friendly

United have scored just two goals in their last four games, while conceding after just 30 seconds against Chelsea and 65 seconds against Fenerbahce.

Striker Moussa Sow netted the opener with a stunning overhead kick, Jeremain Lens added a beautifully curled free-kick, before Wayne Rooney struck a long-range consolation late on.

The 89th-minute effort took his tally in Europe for the club to 38 goals, equalling Ruud van Nistelrooy's record, but he has netted just twice in 17 games all season.

Group A

The Portuguese said: "Our problems started in our global attitude. They were playing the Champions League final, we were playing a summer friendly. That is the reality of how the game started.

"They deserved to win, football is not just about quality, it is also about effort, commitment, playing the limits and giving everything. You have to play for 90 minutes in the maximum of your desire and concentration.

"In an atmosphere like this, to give the advantage to the opposition, that is where they want to be. They then slowed the play, putting pressure on the referee, simulating and that is our fault."

The former Chelsea manager did admit "one of the good things today is that Rooney finally scored a goal".

'You can't win the league with these players'

Henrikh Mkhitaryan
Out-of-favour Henrikh Mkhitaryan returned to the United team for the first time since 10 September

Of Mourinho's four summer signings - Paul Pogba, Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Henrikh Mkhitaryan and Eric Bailly - only Frenchman Pogba started the match, before hobbling off injured with a leg injury.

Ibrahimovic took his place and Mkhitaryan played for the first time since 10 September. Defender Bailly is out for two months with a knee injury.

Former Manchester United midfielder Paul Scholes feels the form of the side is "a worry" and believes they will struggle to win the Premier League over the next couple of years.

He told BT Sport: "United have two big problems at the minute. They are really struggling to score goals and to win games of football with Daley Blind and Marcos Rojo at centre-half, they almost need to score three.

"This team in two years will be unrecognisable from what it is now. Whatever we do in this two years has to be a bonus.

"It has shown in the last three years that they can't win the league with these players."

Pogba out, Schweinsteiger in?

World record signing Pogba lasted only half an hour after suffering what appeared to be a dead leg. The extent of the injury is not known and whether he will be fit to face Swansea in the Premier League on Sunday.

The ex-Juventus midfielder joins an injury list which also contains the following defenders:

  • Eric Bailly (knee ligament) - sidelined until December
  • Antonio Valencia (broken arm) - no return date
  • Chris Smalling (foot) - no return date
Paul Pogba
Pogba's injury could mean good news for...
Bastian Schweinsteiger
...German midfielder Bastian Schweinsteiger who returned to training with the first team on Monday

'We could have scored more'

Fenerbahce boss Dick Advocaat, who was in charge at Premier League side Sunderland last season, enjoyed the victory but feels his side could have won more comfortably.

"When we had the ball, we were not afraid to attack," said the Dutchman. "We scored two goals but could even have scored four or five."

What they said on #bbcfootball:

Mohammed Khan: You are all forgetting that most of these purchases were Louis van Gaal's. Changes were never going to be immediate.

Alex Corps: This is one of United's most congested, plodding teams in a while. Shake it up and play Rashford, Martial, Memphis as a front three.

Patrick: City beat the best team in the world in the same week United struggle in Turkey... embarrassing.

And one person said this...

Major: JOSE OUT already please, Ancelotti in.

Friday's newspaper reaction

Telegraph
The Daily Telegraph
Independent
The Independent
Daily Mail
Daily Mail

Comments

Join the conversation

These comments are now closed.

182 comments

  • Comment posted by Jay74, at 12:19 4 Nov 2016

    Perhaps if the players stopped believing their own hype and started getting back to basics they might achieve something

    Pogba gatecrashing an NFL news conference, like some kind of ‘I can do what i want’ superstar
    Memphis Depay Lording it around Manchester in a Bentley
    Smiles, hugs and shirt swaps after getting beat 4-0 by Chelsea

    I mean.. really..

    Not in Roy Keane’s day.

  • Comment posted by Jay74, at 11:43 4 Nov 2016

    Imagine if you supported a club who had spent £500m on its squad, hires the self proclaimed 'special one' to manage it and then gets beat off a winning goal by someone not good enough to play for Sunderland?

    Surely that can't happen in real life can it?

    Oh wait a minute...

  • Comment posted by D1679291009231, at 11:53 4 Nov 2016

    @9... Couldn't disagree more, I'm also a neutral in the MU debate but a managers job is to sign the right players, pick the best team, implement the best tactics and most of all motivate and lead them to be better than the sum of their parts. Mourinho is not doing his job, simple as that.

  • Comment posted by Sams Town, at 13:00 4 Nov 2016

    Man Utd don't have one outfield player that would get into the City team that beat Barcelona...

    Utd players are either too old & slow....too raw....or simply not good enough...

    That's incredible after record spending for several years..

    City are now superior in every way.

  • Comment posted by We all laugh at the London stadium, at 12:06 4 Nov 2016

    This is very refreshing. Well done Jose and well done Pep. Jose for saying it as it is and that the players need to man up. Pep for the stance he took with the clown Toure and his twit agent. Jose and Pep. Winners.

  • Comment posted by D1679291009231, at 11:46 4 Nov 2016

    At least he's being honest about the standard of the squad... Although he couldn't help the comment about simulating and influencing the ref, of course no team Mourinho has ever managed have simulated or influenced the ref.

  • Comment posted by Swarvey, at 11:43 4 Nov 2016

    Football is evolving, Jose is regressing

  • Comment posted by J , at 11:56 4 Nov 2016

    "A team that concedes after two minutes is a team that is not ready, not mentally prepared, not focused, not concentrated," said Mourinho.

    I beg your pardon JM, but that's YOUR remit.

  • Comment posted by Gezzer44, at 11:49 4 Nov 2016

    I just hope that UTD don't sack him. I'm loving the MUFC decline and with Jose leading them, there is only one way they are going. Spending a fortune every year playing catch up. Lucky to get top 10 this year. Jose will end up in China or the US.

  • Comment posted by Dirk Diggler, at 12:04 4 Nov 2016

    Leave Jose alone - I think he is a good enough Manager to keep them up :)

  • Comment posted by BaggiosPonytail, at 11:38 4 Nov 2016

    He seems to be carrying on from where he left off at Chelsea.

    This isn't going to end well...

  • Comment posted by Sams Town, at 12:29 4 Nov 2016

    The Man Utd way......?

    1....Unveil new Manager.
    2....go on record spending spree
    3....Play the same garbage football
    4....Sack Manager
    5....Repeat above

    MUFC are an example of how not to run a Football Club

  • Comment posted by User0239985643, at 12:40 4 Nov 2016

    Nice to see the resurgence of Chelsea since they dumped Mourinho.

    I could expand on that, United fans, but I think the point's been made.

  • Comment posted by Sams Town, at 12:42 4 Nov 2016

    This takes something very special....

    Mourinho falls short of Moyes & LVG in all league & Cup matches.

    Moyes - W9 D4 L3 - 31 points
    Van Gaal - W8 D4 L4 - 28 points
    Mourinho - W8 D3 L5 - 27 points

  • Comment posted by GeeBee, at 13:14 4 Nov 2016

    Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha Ho ho ho ho ho ho. No seriously ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ho ho ho ho. You could NOT make this up. Did no-one at Old Trafford take note of what happened at Stamford Bridge last season. I just wonder what De Gea is thinking. Probably " I should be sitting in Madrid right now ".

  • Comment posted by User0898557860, at 12:06 4 Nov 2016

    you get what you wish for, you wanted a bitter, delusional, petulant, sexist, little egotistical, excuse for a man, Glory days are over, get used to it, you should have kept Moyes,he was a football genius.

  • Comment posted by Rob, at 12:10 4 Nov 2016

    "A team that concedes after two minutes is a team that is not ready, not mentally prepared, not focused, not concentrated,"

    Surely one of the Managers main Jobs is pre match preperation.

  • Comment posted by User0664637282, at 11:46 4 Nov 2016

    Typical of McNutley and the BBC. Why open an HYS on this when there are positive stories for football fans to comment on?! Southampton's comeback against Inter for one. They will get what they expect, hatred and bile. I thought this was about football.

  • Comment posted by SeeDubya, at 13:11 4 Nov 2016

    A lot of Premier League players will be looking at that picture of Ibrahimovic losing the plot and smiling. I reckon any half competent Premier League midfielder could get him sent off if they put their mind to it and if they can, they should! It is a weakness in his game and it should be fully exploited.

  • Comment posted by davidindevon, at 11:53 4 Nov 2016

    Just as at Chelski last season Moaninho seems to be deliberately engineering a crisis between him and his players with the sole intention of goading the lily livered Manu board to sack him. His body language since he has been there has been confrontational and he will be looking solely to move back to London to be with his family and with his bank account suitably swollen. Evil man, awful club.

Elsewhere on the BBC