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Paul Scholes: 'Out of Control' Jose Mourinho Is 'Embarrassing' Manchester United
October 3, 2018
Manchester United legend Paul Scholes has hit out at manager Jose Mourinho and feels he is "embarrassing the club."
Mourinho oversaw a drab 0-0 draw with Valencia in the UEFA Champions League on Tuesday, but Scholes spoke before the match following on from the 3-1 defeat at West Ham United on Saturday.
Scholes appeared as a pundit on BT Sport:
Per the Daily Mail's Chris Wheeler, he said: "I am sat here actually surprised he survived after Saturday. The performance was that bad. He's constantly having a go at players. He's having a go at those above him because he's not getting what he wants. I think his mouth is probably out of control, and I think he's embarrassing the club."
Per Samuel Luckhurst for the Mirror, Mourinho did not engage with the former midfielder's comments: "I don't need to know what he said. He said what he wants to say, I'm not interested, honestly, I'm not interested. Freedom of speech, free country, you can say what you want."
Scholes has been vocal in his criticism of United at times since his retirement, and Saturday's showing against the Hammers was a new nadir in Mourinho's reign.
The Special One will have been hoping for a response from his players at home to Valencia Tuesday, but while the team was somewhat improved they failed to break down the Spanish side.
Football writer Liam Canning and ESPN's Alex Shaw struggled to take positives from the game:
Speaking to BT Sport, Mourinho said he was pleased with his side's effort but questioned their technical ability:
Scholes was puzzled by Mourinho's comments, however.
"When has one of his teams ever tried to play out from the back anyway?" he said, per Wheeler. "They've always been defensively very good and not really been a total football team that like to play out from the back. It won't give the lads confidence will it? Especially the two centre-halves."
United's squad is stacked with talent, but it does not appear to have been assembled in a coherent manner by Mourinho, who has spent almost £400 million on players since he arrived at the club in 2016.
What's more, not only have the players struggled to work well as a team, many aren't even close to performing to the standard they're capable of on an individual level.
Mourinho bears much of the responsibility for that, and with each passing failure to win he seems to get closer to the exit door at Old Trafford.
In their next match the Red Devils will take Newcastle United at Old Trafford, where they'll have the task of breaking down a team that will hand them the initiative while they look to sit back and grind out a result.
A moment of individual skill could unlock them, but Mourinho's side will have a much stronger chance of winning with a comprehensive team performance. If they fail to deliver that yet again, the coach's position will be even more under threat.