The charisma that Jose Mourinho exudes at his press conferences is charming. Yet, those charming moments have been extremely rare since he landed the Manchester United job. After a decent start to life in Manchester, the cards have come crumbling for Mourinho and his players, and the Portuguese manager is actively doing everything in his power to stop the rot. Following a summer which saw the club spent over £150m to sign new players, there was growing sense of optimism that this season could finally end three years of pain that have been evident since the retirement of Sir Alex Ferguson.
Jose Mourinho has questioned the bravery of some of his players, and has made big calls to leave certain players on the bench, in a move to make them raise their performances. United are sixth on the league table, some eight points behind surprise leaders, Liverpool. They have suffered damning defeats to Chelsea, Watford and bitter rivals, Manchester City, which is nothing to be happy about, according to Gary Neville. The Manchester United legend has stated that the behavioral change in Mourinho shows that he is passionate about making Manchester United great, and that he will go any length to put things right.
The former Valencia manager is happy that Mourinho is unhappy about the performances of his players. According to the Express, Neville spoke Sky Sports and said:
“People say Jose Mourinho is not so happy at the moment, and to be honest with you I would be disappointed if he was happy, with some of the performances he has seen,”
“I think what he will be most concerned about at the moment is the inconsistency, the fact his team’s performances fluctuate from being really good to being so bad.”. The Man United legend added.
Ahead of the crucial lunchtime kickoff match against Arsenal on Saturday, Mourinho is sweating on the fitness of a number of his players as they seem to close the gap on the pacesetters in the league this season. It is interesting to note that Mourinho has never lost a competitive game to Arsene Wenger after 13 matches, making this weekend’s game all the more interesting.
