Jose Mourinho Comments on Chris Smalling, Luke Shaw Criticised by Gordon Taylor

Gordon Taylor, chief executive of the Professional Footballers' Association, has criticised Jose Mourinho after his comments on Manchester United duo Luke Shaw and Chris Smalling on Sunday. 

Per Goal's Alex Young, Taylor spoke at the VSI Sporting Directors governance dinner and said: 

"

I was disappointed by that because, knowing the individuals, they are both highly thought of.

They've got personal problems which I don't need to relay, but sometimes a manager needs to be a psychologist as well, and also to be a counsellor because you can't treat everybody in the team [the same], every manager must know that. Every player in a team is different.

"

Taylor advised caution when making comments about players and pointed to the case of former Wales boss Gary Speed, who committed suicide in 2011:

"

When you see what happened with Welsh football and Gary Speed, that brings it home to you that somebody can look on top of the world, with no problems, but [in reality] it's quite different and that's why we have a 24-hour counselling service.

We get some 200 calls a year to those lines because a player could be out of the team, he could be injured. It's a short-term career and we're all human beings.

"

Mourinho appeared critical of the pair after United's 3-1 win over Swansea City as both had made themselves unavailable to play at the Liberty Stadium, per Sky Sports News HQ:

He continued discussing the issue in his post-match press conference, via Guardian sport:

According to the Telegraph's John Percy, both have required painkilling injections to get through games this season with Smalling suffering from an unspecified "foot problem," while Shaw has only relatively recently returned from a lengthy lay-off after breaking his leg in September last year.

Twitter user Alistair Fergusson believes the Special One's comments were warranted and praised Phil Jones for appearing in Smalling's stead:

Under Sir Alex Ferguson, United were imbued with an inherent and unshakeable winning mentality, regardless of the quality present in their squad at the time.

Sky Sports' Tom McDermott believes the lack of that mentality is the reason United have struggled since the Scot's retirement:

With Mourinho hoping to return the Red Devils to that kind of success, he needs to restore their winning mentality and his desire for commitment to the cause is understandable, particularly in light of the poor performances his side have often produced this season.

However, Taylor also has a point—every player will respond to different methods of motivation and the best man-managers will recognise as much and adjust their approach accordingly.

For Shaw in particular, the comments would seem harsh given the severity of the injury he suffered and how recent it was—concerns over his own fitness are likely to linger for some time.

How he and Smalling respond to the criticism—not to mention the reaction of those he praised for taking the field—will determine whether Mourinho was right to air the issue so publicly.