Jose Mourinho insists he’s not upset by the criticism he’s faced this week from “football’s Einsteins” yet indulged in some self-victimisation when he jokingly referred to himself as “the worst manager in the history of football”.
While he sought to discredit those who have highlighted his questionable actions this week, in reality it revealed genuine hurt. Mourinho loves to be loved – by players, staff, fans and media – and is well aware his charm and standing in the game is not what it was.
He also went on to claim he’s most angry about the individual criticism his players have received as he wants to “protect them”.
How much Henrikh Mkhitaryan, Jesse Lingard, Daley Blind and Luke Shaw agree with that statement, having endured public rebukes from the Portuguese, is unclear; while the only Manchester United player to have received any criticism from outside the club this week, Wayne Rooney, is the very one he has protected so stridently.
This is all scrambled logic from a manager who loves to play the press game but is also appearing increasingly exasperated by it as he is no longer in vogue.
Mourinho and his ways look distinctly unfashionable against the likes of Pep Guardiola, Jurgen Klopp, Antonio Conte or Ronald Koeman. Mourinho embraced the villain’s role in Italy and Spain – although in both cases it left him cold – but is uncomfortable with it in England.
WATCH: @ManUtd boss Jose Mourinho not upset by 'football Einsteins': https://t.co/xbJa1TvZlv #SSNHQ https://t.co/nA7xg5WXyC
— Sky Sports News HQ (@SkySportsNewsHQ) September 23, 2016
In 2013 he declared while still manager of Madrid, “I know in England I am loved” while a year later added, “Sometimes I feel more English than the English”. But maybe all this confused bluster is a default setting for what the reality of the situation is; that the Manchester United job is far tougher than he first envisaged.
Talking up their title hopes in mid-August didn’t seem that bold at the time but it revolved around the arrival of Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Mkhitaryan and the promise of Paul Pogba arriving. Plus, of course, Mourinho’s own self-belief.
Admittedly, that method worked briefly at Chelsea in 2014 but the Blues possessed a stronger and better balanced squad than the one he has inherited at United. Because the answer to the issues at Old Trafford go beyond the presence of upgrading a few individuals in important areas and goes back further than David Moyes, as well.
Since 2010, of the signings made by Sir Alex Ferguson with a view to the long term, only David De Gea and Chris Smalling are genuine first-teamers. Shinji Kagawa, Javier Hernandez, Nick Powell, Alex Buttner, Angelo Henriquez and Wilfried Zaha have all come and gone while Phil Jones remains in stasis.
The year 2012 was also pivotal as both Pogba and Danny Drinkwater were allowed to leave, as the 38-year-old Paul Scholes came out of retirement and went on to make 42 appearances. Moyes and Van Gaal’s muddled additions then only added to a group lacking a coherent strategy.
Rooney’s contract has burdened both Van Gaal and Mourinho with a club figure of tremendous influence and commercial importance but whose ability in his post-prime years fundamentally does not fit their designs for the team.
While the overall mentality of the club has become completely disengaged from what Ferguson so successfully fostered, these players have simply forgotten how to win and how to be formidable.
Mourinho can change this, he’s that good. He just maybe needs to accept it’ll take him much longer than originally planned. And that it doesn’t make him a bad manager.
