It’s fair to say that Jose Mourinho was far from impressed with his players in Man Utd’s defeat to Huddersfield Town at the weekend.
The Red Devils slipped to a 2-1 defeat at the John Smith’s Stadium, losing their unbeaten record in the Premier League as they fell five points adrift of leaders and rivals Man City.
After such an impressive start to the campaign both domestically and in the Champions League, they’ve seemingly lost their way a little. Following their negative display in holding Liverpool to a draw at Anfield the previous week, the free-flowing and clinical United from the first six weeks or so has dissipated slightly.
As seen in the videos below, Mourinho was not happy with the attitude shown by his players at the weekend.
"I heard Herrera say the attitude was poor…all the players should explain why!"
Jose Mourinho is not happy with his team ?#PLTonight pic.twitter.com/wJiHS14M2T
— BT Sport Football (@btsportfootball) October 21, 2017
Mourinho questions Manchester United attitude after loss to Huddersfield – video https://t.co/zVFqblQ8bA #¢MUFC #HTAFC pic.twitter.com/Bfb7SDUJSy
— Guardian sport (@guardian_sport) October 21, 2017
While Ander Herrera was specifically mentioned in Mourinho’s irritated post-match interviews, The Mirror claim that the Portuguese tactician’s relationship with the players in general is ‘under strain’ as a result of his comments to the media and his attitude in training the next day.
It isn’t the first time that he’s publicly criticised his players, and it most certainly won’t be the last. That in itself is likely to have split opinion as many would argue that the manager should be soaking up the pressure for his players not throwing them under the bus as it were.
Nevertheless, that’s Mourinho’s management style and he’s unlikely to change at this point in his career. What is certain now though is that he will need a positive reaction from his players as after plotting a way to navigate past Swansea City in the League Cup in midweek, Man Utd host an in-form Tottenham side this weekend who will ruthlessly expose their issues if the visitors aren’t in their best form.
While it seems a little premature for suggestions of troubles in the relationship between the players and manager, their performances on the pitch will likely say all that needs to be said in response to the speculation.