Heart. Desire. Maturity. Character. Personality. Jose Mourinho has put together a rather damning checklist of qualities missing in some of his Manchester United players these past few days.
It’s by no means the first time Mourinho has chosen to publicly criticise his squad as he tries to get more out of them in what is developing into a turgid season at Old Trafford, and it’s unlikely to be the last.
As the boos rang out around the stadium after another dispiriting performance and result, you had to wonder if they are still listening to him.
There comes a point where words cease to have the desired effect, and the United players are said to have grown weary of Mourinho’s verbal grenades. Some of them are understood to be angry at his latest remarks but most were described as apathetic last night.
Having listed the deficiencies in his younger players — principally Luke Shaw, Marcus Rashford, Anthony Martial and Jesse Lingard — in an interview that came to light before this stalemate with Crystal Palace, afterwards the United manager criticised the whole team for lacking heart.
‘I cannot change players’ natures dramatically,’ he said. ‘The solution is that probably I have to make certain choices based on heart and then probably I will play myself.’
Echoing comments he made before another goalless draw against Valencia last month that some of his players care more than others, Mourinho predicted that not all of them would have let this latest setback ruin their Saturday night.
‘There are people who will have a bad dinner and there are people that will enjoy a nice dinner and there will even be people that will party,’ he said.
Privately, Mourinho has believed for some time that he lacks the strong characters in his United squad that he used to have at Chelsea, Real Madrid, Inter Milan and Porto. He is a coach who wants leaders and warriors, men who will respond to criticism by going out of their way to prove him wrong.
When he spoke in his TV interview with Univision about the modern-day footballer being protected by an entourage that gives them ‘too much care, too many excuses’, Mourinho hinted at his frustration with changing times.
Increasingly he seems like a coach out of step with his players and that is being reflected in performances such as this. The result made a mockery of Mourinho’s aim of being in the top four by new year as Palace deservedly picked up their first point at Old Trafford since December 1989.
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