Manchester United boss Jose Mourinho is walking a tightrope with fans and sucking the life out of Old Trafford
Elsewhere, Antonio Conte needs a result against United, Wales did brilliantly to convince David Brooks to snub England and Three Lions supporters should get behind Raheem Sterling
THEY will boo and they will hiss, some will shout “Judas” then Jose Mourinho will hold up his fingers and count the number of Premier League titles he won for Chelsea.
It is three, as if anybody at Stamford Bridge will need reminding when they host Manchester United on Sunday.
The Special One lost Chelsea’s fans a long time ago, fracturing their relationship when he claimed home games were “like playing in an empty stadium”.
He is not welcome any more, especially after he patted the United crest with the palm of his hand after they were walloped 4-0 there last season.
Last weekend, when he criticised United supporters after a 1-0 win over Tottenham, he gave them a good slap around the chops, too.
His relationship with the fans is at risk already.
Mourinho is a lonely man again after falling out with the United supporters when they voiced disapproval as he took off Marcus Rashford against Spurs.
Of course, the stars aligned and everything fell into place for Mourinho when Anthony Martial, his replacement, scored the winner.
It led to a very temporary truce. There was an uneasy atmosphere at Old Trafford on Tuesday, with 74,000 United fans afraid to put a foot wrong in case they upset their temperamental manager.
Nobody heard that song, ‘Got United on my mind, Jose’s got us playing the way United should’ during a functional 2-0 victory over Benfica.
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They are not playing the way United should, not by a long chalk.
A few people stuck up for him, with his name sung very briefly by a small section in the join between the Sir Alex Ferguson Stand and the old Scoreboard End.
It was a half-hearted, token gesture. His programme notes for the Benfica game, when he wrote that “I hope you enjoy the game more than some of you did against Tottenham”, has created a divide.
The reverence and respect Mourinho should command as a manager with eight league titles and two European Cups to his name is already ebbing away.
Fans are unsure of his future, uncertain whether the Special One will be sticking around long enough to win a Premier League title with United.
Ed Woodward, United’s executive vice-chairman, has made his displeasure known after Mourinho’s outrageous flirtation with Paris Saint-Germain.
There are some things, as manager of a club like Manchester United, that you simply do not do.
Woodward was livid with Mourinho over an interview that has been perceived at Old Trafford as a very deliberate, provocative act.
Whatever your allegiance, United are one of English football’s institutions.
There is nothing wrong with Mourinho’s ambition to work in another country — but there was a menacing air about his threat to walk away.
He was supposed to be building a new team at United, piecing it all together so that they can carry off their first Premier League title since 2013.
That is the task at hand, to make good on his promise after succeeding Louis van Gaal after their FA Cup win in 2016.
He was doing a decent enough job until this latest outburst.
For all the complaints, United are second in the Premier League, almost sure of a place in the last 16 of the Champions League and into the quarter-finals of the Carabao Cup.
It is a decent start to the season, by most standards.
And it is winning football, certainly, but where is the sense of adventure that is usually associated with this club?
For some unfathomable reason, Mourinho is sucking the life out of the place. And it has only been 17 months.
MARINA GRANOVSKAIA’S thunderous mood after Chelsea’s capitulation in Rome will be a fairly good indicator of tensions behind the scenes at Stamford Bridge.
Antonio Conte maintains all is well with the top brass but the club’s fiery chief executive was known to be far from impressed with Tuesday’s unacceptable performance.
If Conte fails to put things right at home to Manchester United on Sunday, there will be no hiding place.
THE FA are trumpeting the promotion of Joe Gomez, Ruben Loftus-Cheek and Tammy Abraham but they have been outmanoeuvred by Wales over another promising young player.
England took their eye off the ball when Sheffield United midfielder David Brooks was voted player of the tournament during the Under-20s’ summer triumph in Toulon.
They failed to keep him in the St George’s Park system as former Blades defender Robert Page got in Brooks’ ear to convince him to play for Wales.
Page, Wales’ Under-21 boss, pushed for Brooks to be promoted to Chris Coleman’s squad after picking him for the juniors in September.
Brooks, 20, is recognised as the best young talent in the Championship and is high on Tottenham’s wanted list after a fine start to the season.
Spurs sent scouts to watch the midfielder again in the Blades’ defeat at QPR on Tuesday and many within the game say it is only a matter of time before he is a Premier League player.
Despite his talent, England have failed to keep hold of a young man who carried off the best player trophy in Toulon just five months ago.
RAHEEM STERLING is a soft target for England fans — but his form for Manchester City has certainly picked up.
He already boasts seven Premier League goals, one behind everyone’s favourite forward Harry Kane and level with Sergio Aguero and Romelu Lukaku.
Now Sterling, wanted by Arsenal during negotiations for Alexis Sanchez, gets another chance to prove his international pedigree against Germany and Brazil this month.
SUPER scout Paul Mitchell has disappeared off the radar following his decision to quit Tottenham this summer.
Although Mitchell is telling people in the game that Daniel Levy has put him on gardening leave until the January 2018 transfer window closes, Spurs insist he is no longer on the payroll and free to take another job.
Mitchell, who worked with Mauricio Pochettino at Southampton, irritated Levy when he initially threatened to quit Spurs over alleged “interest” from another club.