Jose Mourinho is a changed man at Manchester United... Old Trafford boss has gone from siege mentality to hanging his players out to dry

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There have been occasions when the old Manchester United threatened to surface so far this season and the same can be said of their illustrious manager, Jose Mourinho.

Times when, in the wake of a poor defeat or potential for their stuttering form to be placed under the microscope, Mourinho has chosen to deflect attention away from an ailing squad. That old siege mentality to serve him so well in plenty of the seasons preceding this one.

Only, we have not seen an awful lot of Classic Mourinho. He looks like a changed man. Sick and tired of gutless performances, you imagine. The same could be said at Chelsea last term.

Jose Mourinho is a far cry from the man he was when he arrived in England

The Portuguese has cut a largely frustrated figure since taking the reins at Manchester United 

Mourinho slammed his side's performance against Fenerbahce on Thursday

First for the diversionary tactics. Burnley last weekend, for example, when the Portuguese's temper got the better of him in letting loose on Mark Clattenburg.

Goalless at Old Trafford, the official was given both barrels as he left the tunnel after half-time for not awarding United a penalty before the break.

Mourinho was sent to the stands, much of the focus then on his impending FA charge and touchline ban rather than United's rather unfortunate failure to find a way past an inspired Tom Heaton.

There were also the comments about referee Anthony Taylor in the build-up to last month's scoreless draw away at Anfield.

Referee Mark Clattenburg sent Mourinho to the stands after the Portuguese hit out at him

That Taylor could have a 'difficult game' dominated the day beforehand, rather than whether United were ready to perform in such a highly-charged fixture so soon after losing against Manchester City.

Spanish referee Jesus Gil Manzano and his team were also lambasted for not spotting that Feyenoord's goal in the Europa League was offside.

Clever, eh? The art of deflection. Only these Mourinho tricks of old - which we became accustomed to a decade ago during his first stint in English football - are less frequent.

Even Mourinho, a manager whose ability to manipulate situations has been so unrivalled for so long, cannot keep up the charade weekly in the wake of cheerless results which are by no means isolated.

He talks about refusing to 'personalise' - in other words, openly digging out his own players - but performances this season have been so error-strewn and stodgy that he has nowhere else to go.

And so to Thursday night in Istanbul. Another defeat, the convincing nature of which masked slightly by Rooney's quite marvellous strike and a late rally. Mourinho allowed the hat to slip - not for the first time during his four months in charge.

United's players, he claimed, treated the Europa League reverse against Fenerbahce as a 'summer friendly', questioning their attitude and mental fragility.

It looked rehearsed, the message sent with a cold stare into the background. He is, you can already tell, exasperated at a group of talented players - who train so well and who he enjoys good relationships with - becoming quite this passive on matchdays.

There are mitigating factors, of course. Zlatan Ibrahimovic is not hitting the heights he did in August and is not acting as a spearhead, instead dropping deep come looking for possession. Certainly not his game but, as seen with Rooney, that involuntarily happens when the goals dry up.

Zlatan Ibrahimovic has suffered a severe dip in form after starting brilliantly at Old Trafford

Paul Pogba was expected to set the Premier League alight straight away given the money United paid Juventus for his services as well, while the back four have gone to pieces.

The disapproval of individual performances truly started after the 2-1 home defeat by City, Jesse Lingard and Henrikh Mkhitaryan copping it.

Clattenburg was also criticised for his part - Mourinho incensed at another refusal to award a penalty when Claudio Bravo went through Wayne Rooney - but the headlines went to the substituted pair, both hauled off at half-time.

'I made a couple of decisions [with the starting lineup] because I thought the individual qualities of certain players would give me what I wanted. But I didn't get it,' the Portuguese said. Thinly-veiled indeed.

Henrikh Mkhitaryan was brought in from the cold against Fenerbahce on Thursday night

'We didn't have a tactical problem, we had problems with poor performances, we lost the ball very, very easy.'

Fifty-four days later and Mkhitaryan is only just back, given half an hour at Fenerbahce. Mourinho's synopsis afterwards? 'He must do better.'

This is not the Mourinho we are so used to - appearing weary (and no, that is obviously nothing to do with his living arrangements) and disconsolate.

Those around the club tell stories of his lively training sessions, a willingness to get involved with the fabled 'banter' on the team bus. But the public are not seeing that. They are seeing a man looking tired, fed up with abject displays and no longer willing to move discussion on to other topics to shield his players.

The same can be said at Chelsea, Mourinho using his final weeks in charge at Stamford Bridge to take pot shots at men who had sauntered to the title just months beforehand. Clearly by the end some of that dressing room were not sorry to see the back of him.

Nowhere near that situation at Old Trafford, of course, and the majority of players have taken to him - of that there is no doubt.

Mourinho publicly criticised defender Luke Shaw after United'sn 3-1 defeat by Watford

Yet he remains to focus on individualising defeats without mentioning names, something to start against City and made so obvious away at Watford that Mourinho might well have bobbed Luke Shaw's Soccerstarz mini-figurine along the Vicarage Road press conference table to illustrate who exactly was at fault for the second goal that day.

'Here for the second goal, Amrabat receives the ball and our left-back is 25 metres from him instead of five metres,' Mourinho said. 'But even at 25 metres, you have to jump and go and press, but no, we wait.

'This is a tactical but also a mental attitude. It's something that doesn't become perfect in a couple of weeks.'

Shaw took that well to his credit and has since said he needs to earn Mourinho's trust, which will definitely come in time.

But this is not a manager who wants to protect his players any more. These are players who have under-performed for the last three years and it was significant that Mourinho refused to speak about his minor spat with Antonio Conte at Chelsea recently.

Mourinho accused Chelsea boss Antonio Conte of humiliating him with his celebrations

They exchanged words, Mourinho accused the Italian of humiliating him with his celebrations during that 4-0 humbling, but when asked to elaborate on what was said he refused. An open goal for the back pages but United's boss preferred to condemn the pathetic defending instead. Why should he deflect?

All this culminated in that short stream of disapproval over in Turkey on Thursday night. 'At the start it was like they were playing the Champions League final and we were playing a summer friendly — that's the reality,' he said.

'I think they deserved to win. Football is not just about quality, it's also about effort, commitment, playing to the limits and giving everything.

'A team that concedes a goal after two minutes is a team that is not ready, not prepared, not concentrated. It's our fault.

'We are, in this moment, fragile. We are not scoring enough goals. In moments like this, we need to be stronger mentally and start the game better than we did.'

Those words could have been said a fair few times over the last two months and while referees have felt the heat, Mourinho's character is now such that he will not duck from rebuking his own players.