Mourinho admits United’s form is not good enough

Jose Mourinho acknowledged yesterday Manchester United’s current run of form is unacceptable as he battles to turn around their season. The 55-year-old Portuguese is under enormous pressure, with United in their worst position after seven league matches since 1989 -- they are 10th, nine points adrift of the top two Manchester City and Liverpool -- and a public dispute with star player Paul Pogba has sewn discord in the dressing room. His side are looking to end a run of four home matches without a win -– their worst run at Old Trafford for 29 seasons –- when they host Newcastle in the Premier League on Saturday. Mourinho is adamant United will improve on their current league position of 10th but he accepted their form at present is not good enough.

“Yes, I accept,” he said, although he refused to answer when asked if he could assure the fans he was doing everything he could to improve their form. Mourinho has endured a testing week, following up a 3-1 league defeat at West Ham last Saturday with a goalless draw at home to Valencia in the Champions League on Tuesday. Asked why things were not working for United at present, the manager said: “For many different reasons.”

He was then asked if he could give the reasons, and responded: “No.” The manager faced heavy criticism for playing midfielder Scott McTominay in a threeman central defence at West Ham, and the sense of turbulence intensified over a social media controversy involving club captain Antonio Valencia. Valencia had to apologise after liking an Instagram post calling for Mourinho to leave his job. The defender claimed he had not read the text of the post before liking it.