Jose Mourinho believes Louis van Gaal’s legacy is to blame for his plight at Manchester United, according to the Mirror.
Manager Mourinho is wrestling with his first crisis at Old Trafford after losing three games in eight days and it is understood he reckons he is still dealing with the fall-out from predecessor Van Gaal’s reign six games into his debut season.
Mourinho has told friends he feels the players are still hindered by the rigid style of play under his old Barcelona mentor Van Gaal, three months after he began working with them.
He believes he is having to retrain the players to think for themselves after two years of being stifled by the Dutchman’s mental-straitjacket approach.
The new United boss criticised left-back Luke Shaw for Watford’s second goal in the 3-1 defeat at Vicarage Road last weekend, but does understand the full-backs are being asked to do the opposite of what was required of them by Van Gaal.
Mourinho wants his full-backs to push forward, after they had two years of LVG telling them to pass inside to the centre-half to retain possession.
It is believed he feels midfielder Ander Herrera, in particular, is struggling to cope after being told to play differently by Van Gaal.
Mourinho is confident the players will successfully adapt to his style of play though, given time.
The club hierarchy are remaining calm in the face of the losing run, and are relaxed about Mourinho’s controversial man-management style following his public criticism of Shaw so soon after his return from a year out injured.
They feel Sir Alex Ferguson never shied away from an argument or confrontation and remain fully behind the Portuguese.
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