Former Liverpool manager Graeme Souness has said that a lot of the pressure on Manchester United manager Jose Mourinho has been self-inflicted.
United have struggled to start the season following comprehensive losses to Tottenham, West Ham United and Brighton followed by a penalty shootout loss to Derby County in the third round of the League Cup.
With just 10 points from their first seven games, it’s the club’s joint worst start to a Premier League season with the Red Devils winning just three of their opening seven league games.
Entering his third season at the club, Mourinho is under mounting pressure to keep his job as manager and Souness believes that a lot of the speculation surrounding his position stems from his own actions.
“When you’re in a situation, and I’ve been in this situation as a manager, when the genie is out of the bottle and the criticism has started, you might win a couple of games and be able to put a lid on the genie and get her back in there, but she’s out after every bad draw and every loss going forward,” Souness said on Virign Media Sport.
“I think that’s where is right now. He’s under extreme pressure and a lot of it self-inflicted. If you look at his track record at Real Madrid – I think the players got him out there – I think it was the same at Chelsea in his last job and it looks like it will be the same here at Manchester United.”
https://twitter.com/VMSportIE/status/1047175173240225792
Mourinho asked his team to fight, work, compete, win duels, be humble and come off the pitch exhausted after Premier League statistics revealed that his side have made the lowest number of sprints in the Premier League thus far.
“All of my life, I have followed certain golden rules,” wrote Mourinho. “One of them is that a team can lose matches – that is just a part of football – but the team must never, ever lose its dignity.
“The team must fight, work, compete, win duels, be humble, and then at the end of the game every player must be exhausted because of the hard work they have given for the club, for the fans and for each other.”
Stats are given far too much importance in the modern game, but this one is quite telling.
Effort levels reflect commitment to a manager…this from Sky says it all about Mourinho right now #MUFC pic.twitter.com/fC6FmdjGKh
— Kevin Palmer 💙 (@RealKevinPalmer) October 1, 2018
