Mourinho rages on again despite United progress to FA Cup semi-finals
LONDON: Jose Mourinho, not for the first time, is commanding far more headlines than any of his players.
Manchester United’s manager launched a remarkable attack on the club’s recent history in the wake of the midweek Champions League exit to Sevilla at Old Trafford. He then followed up with heavy criticism of his players after a 2-0 defeat of Brighton in the FA Cup.
Headers from Romelu Lukaku and Nemanja Matic saw United follow Tottenham into the semi-finals. Earlier Mauricio Pochettino’s Spurs had strolled to an easy 3-0 win at Swansea on goals from Christian Eriksen (two) and Eric Lamela; injured Harry Kane was never missed.
No such enjoyment of victory for United. Only man of the match Matic and midfield aide Scott McTominay were spared Mourinho’s angry words at Old Trafford.
He accused his players of “a lack of personality, lack of class and lack of desire” and suggested a number of his under-achieving stars lacked the “personality” to be “a Manchester United player”.
England defender Luke Shaw, who was substituted at half-time, was one name picked out to bear the brunt of Mourinho’s anger but it was clearly directed at almost all the team.
He said: “I didn’t like the game. I think we deserved to win but we didn’t play the way I wanted the players to play. I didn’t have the reaction from all of them. I had the reaction from some of them. Some of them were mentally strong enough with the football quality to play — that was the reason we won.
“But when you have a minimum of six or seven players performing and wanting to play, who want the responsibility to have the ball, who have the desire really to play — it is difficult to have a good performance.
“I wanted more personality in the team because many, many times I felt that Matic was an island of personality, desire and control surrounded by lack of personality, lack of class and lack of desire.
“For me a Manchester United player is one who, when he plays badly, still gives to the team. That is a question of personality, that is a Manchester United player for me — and that is what some of the others did not have.”
United have already spent more than £300m on new players for Mourinho during his 19-month tenure and he wants a further £200m splashed in the attempt to narrow the gap on neighbours Manchester City. Targets include Lazio’s Sergej Milinkovic-Savic, Tottenham leftback Danny Rose and Real Madrid centre back Rafael Varane.
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