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Jose Mourinho admits he is stuck with some players who are too mentally weak to succeed at Man Utd
Jose Mourinho is not "in love" with some members of his Man Utd squad Credit: GETTY IMAGES
Jose Mourinho has issued another blunt appraisal of his Manchester United squad by admitting he is stuck with some players who are too weak mentally to succeed at Old Trafford.
The United manager also questioned the overall mindset of his team after declaring that it “doesn’t smell right” that the club could have beaten all of the Premier League’s top six this season but lost to the three promoted sides.
United trail champions Manchester City by 17 points and Mourinho insisted his team still needed to make a big jump both mentally and in quality terms to compete for the title and Champions League next season.
Asked if it was a question of needing more quality or a better mentality to bridge the gap, Mourinho - whose side face West Ham on Thursday night - said: “Both. How many points separate us from Manchester City? Not two, three or four - a lot of points. I think we need both things that you mentioned. Some of the people we have, they have to be more consistent in their performance, and we need more quality.
“I trust some [players] more than others that can bridge that gap. That’s normal. I know the players. I worked with the players for a couple of years. I know them better than anyone. And of course, some of the players I am totally convinced are going to make it. Some others I have good hopes that they are going to make it and some others I don’t believe they are going to make it.”
Nonetheless, Mourinho claimed it was not as simple as offloading the players he did not “love” and intimated that only Pep Guardiola, the City manager, had the luxury in England of being empowered to assemble “the perfect squad”.
“Of course we can keep [those players],” Mourinho said. “Unless there is a perfect squad, where you buy one goalkeeper you don’t like, you buy another one; you buy a central defender you don’t like, you buy another one. Unless you can do that, and you go in the direction of the perfect squad, you have to keep players you don’t love.
“When I say love, I say it footballistically - players you don’t totally believe have the level of the squad but you have to keep. If you go to the Premier League managers, I don’t say every one, but I say the majority of them will tell you the same.
In my squad, I have some players where I would like to have better than what I have. That’s basic.”
Mourinho has had particular frustrations with the mentalities of Luke Shaw and Anthony Martial while Matteo Darmian and Daley Blind are likely to be sold this summer. Another player who struggled to win Mourinho’s trust, Henrikh Mkhitaryan, joined Arsenal in January.
United have beaten City, Liverpool, Spurs, Chelsea and Arsenal in the league this term but lost at Huddersfield, Newcastle and Brighton as well as at home to relegated West Bromwich Albion, something that does not sit comfortably with Mourinho.
“If you told me that we lost five matches, and one was against Huddersfield, and one was against Manchester City and one was against Leicester City, and you lose in different circumstances, I say that’s human beings playing football. But when you lose against all the teams that were promoted, it doesn’t smell right, for me.”
Asked how he could address that, Mourinho said: “Try to succeed in getting every player to have the same mentality as I have. To have the same mentality as I have, is to face every game in the same way.”
- James Ducker, Northern Football Correspondent
Jose Mourinho has issued another blunt appraisal of his Manchester United squad by admitting he is stuck with some players who are too weak mentally to succeed at Old Trafford.
The United manager also questioned the overall mindset of his team after declaring that it “doesn’t smell right” that the club could have beaten all of the Premier League’s top six this season but lost to the three promoted sides.
United trail champions Manchester City by 17 points and Mourinho insisted his team still needed to make a big jump both mentally and in quality terms to compete for the title and Champions League next season.
Asked if it was a question of needing more quality or a better mentality to bridge the gap, Mourinho - whose side face West Ham on Thursday night - said: “Both. How many points separate us from Manchester City? Not two, three or four - a lot of points. I think we need both things that you mentioned. Some of the people we have, they have to be more consistent in their performance, and we need more quality.
“I trust some [players] more than others that can bridge that gap. That’s normal. I know the players. I worked with the players for a couple of years. I know them better than anyone. And of course, some of the players I am totally convinced are going to make it. Some others I have good hopes that they are going to make it and some others I don’t believe they are going to make it.”
Nonetheless, Mourinho claimed it was not as simple as offloading the players he did not “love” and intimated that only Pep Guardiola, the City manager, had the luxury in England of being empowered to assemble “the perfect squad”.
“Of course we can keep [those players],” Mourinho said. “Unless there is a perfect squad, where you buy one goalkeeper you don’t like, you buy another one; you buy a central defender you don’t like, you buy another one. Unless you can do that, and you go in the direction of the perfect squad, you have to keep players you don’t love.
“When I say love, I say it footballistically - players you don’t totally believe have the level of the squad but you have to keep. If you go to the Premier League managers, I don’t say every one, but I say the majority of them will tell you the same.
In my squad, I have some players where I would like to have better than what I have. That’s basic.”
Mourinho has had particular frustrations with the mentalities of Luke Shaw and Anthony Martial while Matteo Darmian and Daley Blind are likely to be sold this summer. Another player who struggled to win Mourinho’s trust, Henrikh Mkhitaryan, joined Arsenal in January.
United have beaten City, Liverpool, Spurs, Chelsea and Arsenal in the league this term but lost at Huddersfield, Newcastle and Brighton as well as at home to relegated West Bromwich Albion, something that does not sit comfortably with Mourinho.
“If you told me that we lost five matches, and one was against Huddersfield, and one was against Manchester City and one was against Leicester City, and you lose in different circumstances, I say that’s human beings playing football. But when you lose against all the teams that were promoted, it doesn’t smell right, for me.”
Asked how he could address that, Mourinho said: “Try to succeed in getting every player to have the same mentality as I have. To have the same mentality as I have, is to face every game in the same way.”
