Manchester United players have been left ‘stunned’ by Jose Mourinho’s ‘hands-off’ approach at Old Trafford.
Mourinho was appointed manager in the summer, replacing Louis van Gaal and signing a three-year contract.
It is the Portuguese’s first job since being sacked as Chelsea boss in December, and after a promising start at Old Trafford, things have quickly turned sour.
The club are seventh in the Premier League, six points behind Manchester City, Arsenal and Liverpool at the top of the table, and succumbed to a humbling 4-0 defeat against Mourinho’s former employers Chelsea on Sunday.
The news only gets worse for the United manager, as Paul Hirst of The Times is now reporting that the players are ‘stunned’ by the manager’s methods in training.
According to Hirst, ‘some members of the United squad’ are ‘surprised’ that Mourinho often leaves assistant Rui Faria in charge of training. He writes:
‘According to a source close to a senior United player, Mourinho cuts a distant figure, sometimes leaving his assistant, Rui Faria, to conduct training sessions while he watches from a distance or works in his office.
‘The former Chelsea manager will, according to the source, come out and instruct his players at the start of the session before disappearing to his desk. On some occasions he does not return, leaving the session in Faria’s hands.
‘It represents a change in practice from his time at Chelsea, where he was hands-on in training sessions. Mourinho’s cold approach to his players in one-to-one situations has also disappointed some United players. Some of them were expecting Mourinho to take a keen personal interest in them, but he has often cut himself off from the rest of the squad.’