Jose Mourinho is a master manipulator.
Mourinho is well aware that there are only so many column inches to fill and the more the press focus on his interviews, the less they will scrutinise his players and their performances.
He’s been doing it for years and Mourinho appears to be doing something similar now that his position at Manchester United has been brought into question.
The United boss remains the favourite to be the first Premier League manager sacked this season and he has already given the media plenty to talk about this term.
He’s complained about the lack of summer spending, he’s claimed that “from a tactical point of view, we didn’t lose” after falling to a 3-0 defeat to Spurs and he’s dedicated United’s win over Burnley to executive vice-chairman Ed Woodward.
And midfielder Nemanja Matic thinks he knows why Mourinho has been dominating the headlines in the past few weeks.
Following Sunday’s 2-0 victory, Matic admitted that he felt Mourinho was attempting to shield his players from pressure in the press.
“He knows what he is doing,” Matic said, via the Guardian. “You [the media] probably know that also. It’s good for us.”
Mourinho does not feel like he is in danger of losing his job and United claim that the rumours of a rift between their manager and Woodward have been blown completely out of proportion.
Matic remains unsurprised that the Portuguese is coping so well with the criticism he’s faced this season.
“I think he is dealing very well with the pressure,” Matic said. “That is why he is here at Manchester United. I don’t see any difference.
“He was very confident before the game – he prepared it in a very good way. We knew where they could cause us problems with the long balls; that is why Marouane Fellaini played close to our defence, to stop the long balls.”
