Manchester United: Mourinho scapegoats Smalling and Shaw and demands belief in his way
In today’s episode of Jose Mourinho’s life, the Sun has an exclusive on the Manchester United manager:
Jose Mourinho: Manchester United stars backing boss over incredible bust-up with Luke Shaw and Chris Smalling
Mourinho picked out the England players for his “slurs”, as the Times calls them. They are “bewildered” by his attack on their professionalism.
As it his style, Mourinho builds a siege mentality and invites players to prove their loyalty to him through unstinting effort. After a couple of seasons of believing and running til empty for Mourinho, the team is covered in glory but spent, and Jose moves on.
Neil Ashton writes: “Senior players have accepted that the only way to succeed under the Special One is to accept his ruthless regime. Incredibly, they supported his public attack on Shaw and Smalling, who insisted they were not fit to play in Sunday’s 3-1 win at Swansea.”
Were they fit? “Both have played with pain-killing injections this season but boss Mourinho claims that is common practice for a top-level footballer.”
You run and run and run for Jose. And then you collapse.
The Special One said they refused to be in the match-day squad and had betrayed United’s “culture”.
United culture, or Jose’s way?
In other news the Sun notes:
Manchester United transfer news: Jose Mourinho to axe Chris Smalling and Luke Shaw after bust-up
Mourinho said of the duo: “I have a friend who is a big tennis player and he tells me when he remembered more the times he plays with pain than the times he plays without pain. To compete you have to go to the limit. It is cultural for some – and that is not my culture. More than me, it is Man United. We have players with ‘problems’. At every sport – and I know because I have friends in others sports and they play at the highest level in their sport, and how many times they play when you are not 100 per cent.”
And so it is, as ever it was, that Jose Mourinho divides to conquer. Do you believe in Jose? Is he the one, as the United banner declared on his first day as manager? If you don’t believe utterly in his, it’ll be your fault when it fails.
PS: Shaw and Smalling have been left out of Gareth Southgate’s England squad.
When asked whether he thought Smalling and Shaw were “flaky”, Southgate said: “That wouldn’t be my impression, having worked with Chris, and I know Luke well. He’s had a really tough injury.”
Is Luke Shaw Mourinho’s scapegoat, or the guinea pig on whom the manager can test out his abrasive style of man management?
Posted: 8th, November 2016 | In: Back pages, manchester united, Sports Comment | TrackBack | Permalink
