Are Man United heading for trouble with Mourinho?

And Mourinho couldn’t bring himself to be positive about Paul Pogba after the Frenchman’s starring role in the World Cup, either.

He’s basically had a go at the World Cup too, bemoaning how he doesn’t have a full squad to work with on the team’s pre-season tour.

Sir Alex Ferguson would occasionally berate a player in public, but it was always engineered in order to elicit a performance from the targeted player.

Does that tactic work these days? Guardiola and Klopp rarely go down that path, and yet both are enjoying great success at Manchester City and Liverpool respectively.  

A positive mental attitude appears to be the name of the game. Positive comments in the press usually keep the owners happy, too.

Mourinho’s negative, tough-love approach is increasingly looks like a managerial method from a bygone era.

Warning signs

The Old Trafford boardroom can’t say they weren’t warned.

Mourinho has fallen out with Chelsea twice, and on the second occasion the players simply stopped playing for him.

It was widely believed then that Jose’s tough-love approach had failed. Three years on it appears little has changed.

What lies ahead?

The United squad stuck with it last season, but will they tolerate another year of it if results don’t come?

United are 6/1 to win the Premier League this season, but this is also Mourinho’s third season with the club and he’s never made it to a fourth year with anyone…

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