UK Edition
Jose Mourinho issues wake-up call to Manchester United - 'Some of my players still stuck in comfort zone'
Jose Mourinho has revealed he is still trying to shake some Manchester United players out of their “comfort zone” in a bid to get them to mirror his own will to win as the club chase three trophies and Champions League qualification.
The United manager’s admission came as he urged his misfiring attackers to start easing the burden on Zlatan Ibrahimovic for goals after bemoaning his team’s wastefulness this season.
Mourinho suggested he was surprised to discover when he took over at Old Trafford last summer that some members of his squad did not share his winning standards and has been working hard to get them to embrace the pressure he says he thrives on.
United face Southampton in the final of the EFL Cup on Feb 26, and are also still in the FA Cup and Europa League, but they are facing a growing battle to finish in the top four and currently trail Liverpool, in fourth, by four points.
Although Mourinho did not name any individuals, left-back Luke Shaw and forward Anthony Martial are two players who have struggled to win over the manager this term.
“I didn’t know the players very well [when I arrived],” said Mourinho, ahead of Sunday's game at champions Leicester. “I didn’t know that some players need time to live with this [pressure to win], because it must be part of your natural habitat - play to win, [have that] responsibility to win, cope with the pressure to win.
“This is something that has to belong to your natural habitat. For some guys, it doesn’t. They also need that time to go out of their comfort zone, or a zone where they are protected that we assume the objective is not to win. That also takes time.
“I think a very good way to do it is to fight for the competitions like we are. These are all details that are going to help people.”
Mourinho was reluctant to be drawn into a debate when asked if he agreed with Rio Ferdinand’s criticism of Paul Pogba and Jesse Lingard posting a video of a new celebration on social media, despite United being sixth and struggling for goals. “I’m not saying to you that I agree or I disagree,” he said.
But despite acknowledging that much has changed in commercial and social media terms in football since Sir Alex Ferguson retired as United manager almost four years ago, and even more since he first began working with Sir Bobby Robson at Sporting Lisbon in 1992, Mourinho insists one constant has been his fierce determination to succeed.
“Something in football that doesn’t change, especially in my mentality, is the desire to win, the responsibility to win, the feeling that I’m never happy with myself, that I always want more from myself,” Mourinho said. “I don’t accept anything that is good. You don’t want good, you want very good. That is something I always fight for every day for the people that surround me - players, assistants, medical department, everybody.”
Mourinho claimed opposition goalkeepers being named man-of-the-match in numerous United games this season, in contrast to last term when it was frequently United’s No 1 David De Gea, reflects the team’s improvement in attacking terms.
But with the worst big-chance conversion rate in the league, Mourinho acknowledged United need to discover more cutting edge and cannot keep being so reliant on Ibrahimovic. The Swede has 14 league goals but the next-highest scorers are Juan Mata and Pogba with four apiece. Marcus Rashford has not scored in the league since Sept 24 and Wayne Rooney only once in the top flight since Aug 14.
“I have to agree with you that we don’t score enough goals, and some of our players from these attacking creative positons they could - they should – score more goals,” he said.