Jose Mourinho insists Wayne Rooney’s status as Manchester United captain will not save him from being benched after a below-par start to the campaign. To be honest, he did not even play against Feyenoord, so he was directly involved in the last two matches.
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However, Mourinho sought to deflect attention away from England’s all-time leading goalscorer during a pre-match press conference ahead of Leicester City’s visit to Old Trafford on Saturday (24 September).
Mourinho says he wants to protect his players from external criticism, although recently conveyed his public disapproval about some of his players’ performances.
“One team was Manchester United and another was managed by the worst manager in the history of football (Mourinho at Chelsea 2005-2006)”.
Although those barbs were more than a few years ago, Ranieri will still feel aggrieved by Mourinho’s words calling him a “loser” and having “the mentality of someone who doesn’t need to win”, and takes his Leicester City side to Old Trafford knowing a win would put one over on the man who took his job at Chelsea. The England global has been deployed in midfield even though Mourinho had said before the season that the Three Lions skipper would never play as a midfielder under him.
“The only thing that upsets me a little bit is the kind of criticism for my players”.
That gives me a feeling that it is hard. Another goal during the week saw him dig United out of a hole in the League Cup and Danny Simpson will have to be on top form to keep him out of the game. They can speak, they can write.
“But I am a good man, a man of good will”. I am a man of goodwill.
“The manager has been doing some work with me off the left and right so I think he’s trying to improve me in those areas”. I am helping so many people. “So why not also feed the Einsteins?” The frontman was forced off in last weekend’s loss to Watford and, despite returning to training on Friday, will be absent with an ankle/calf problem.
“Martial is not available”, Mourinho explained.
“The critique is part of the evolution, the critique is part of the process, the critique helps people to learn how to cope with critics”.
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“It’s their life. From you, they can not expect other things than be ready to smash them when they have periods of not so much success”.
