Jose Mourinho Leaves Manchester United Pre-Match Presser After 212 Seconds

Manchester United manager Jose Mourinho made himself available to the media for only three minutes and 32 seconds on Friday, calling short his early-morning press conference with the pressure on him building at Old Trafford.

Not beating Newcastle United on Saturday would see United fail to win five home matches straight for the first time in 28 years.

Mourinho is under scrutiny and called an early 8 a.m. BST press conference on Friday, but even then, he wasn't in an enlightening mood, per The Times' Paul Hirst:

Adam Shergold and Chris Wheeler of MailOnline also quoted Mourinho, who said "I accept" when asked whether the club's recent form was not good enough. 

However, Mourinho was less decisive when asked by BBC Sport's Simon Stone whether the utmost was being done to correct the club's issues:

United started the campaign with a 2-1 home win over Leicester City, but they have since lost to Brighton & Hove Albion, Tottenham Hotspur and West Ham United and drawn against Wolverhampton Wanderers, Valencia and Derby County—the latter ousted them from the Carabao Cup on penalties.

Mourinho is clinging to whatever positivity he can, however, and doesn't consider the Carabao Cup elimination to Derby—following a 2-2 draw in normal time—the same as a loss, per Wheeler:

The third-season curse that's affected Mourinho at other clubs appears to be striking once again at Old Trafford. The Special One endured a turbulent third season at Real Madrid before rejoining Chelsea, whom he guided to Premier League glory before being sacked in December 2015, midway through the third term of his second stint at Stamford Bridge.

James Ducker of the Telegraph wrote about Mourinho's "45-minute rant" at his players before Tuesday's UEFA Champions League stalemate with Valencia, which is said to have worsened relations.

It didn't have the desired effect. The Red Devils looked uninspired in attack, and their displays of late resemble the same lethargic ones Chelsea produced in the buildup to his firing.

Eurosport's Tom Adams took a more positive approach to Mourinho's call for an earlier press conference on Friday:

The club broke football transfer record to re-sign Paul Pogba for £89 million the summer Mourinho arrived, while a deal was cut in January to bring in Alexis Sanchez and make him one of the best-paid players in the world.

The boss was also given what appeared to be an elite striking solution in £75 million Romelu Lukaku, leading club legend Paul Scholes to suggest to BBC 5 Live Sport that Mourinho is ungrateful about the resources that have been afforded to him:

Friday's press conference was Mourinho's method of dealing with his ongoing travails, but only performances matter in the end, and a great onus will be on United's players to turn the tide against winless Newcastle.