Manchester United manager Jose Mourinho has launched an attack on Antonio Valencia and Anthony Martial following his side’s pre season defeat to Liverpool, according to Sky Sports.
The Red Devils slumped to a 4-1 defeat against their fierce rivals, with Mourinho unhappy at the slowness of Martial’s return following the birth of his child and Valencia’s poor condition upon returning from holiday.
“Antonio Valencia comes from holiday – I think too much holiday for him. His condition was not good when he was back, then injury and also go back,” he told MUTV.
“Anthony Martial has the baby and after the baby is born – beautiful baby, full of health, thank God – he should be here and he is not here.
“So we have Alexis [Sanchez] and [Juan] Mata who play every minute of every match and now we have Real Madrid and after that Bayern Munich and that’s our start.
“We play Real Madrid and we have no more players than what we have.”
OPINION
It’s never a surprise to see the Manchester United boss go after his own players; it’s his favourite motivational technique. However, you do sometimes wonder if these situations were better dealt with in-house. Obviously the Red Devils are struggling for numbers this pre season, with several injuries and a few players still to return from their World Cup excursions, too. His criticism of Valencia’s condition upon returning from holiday is fair if he judged the Ecuadorian to be unfit. But his attack on Martial for being slow to return from the birth of his baby seems slightly harsh. Of course, the mounting speculation over the Frenchman’s future at Old Trafford may have something to do with Mourinho’s agitation. It’s possible the Portuguese saw this situation as his chance to twist the knife in a bit as Martial tries to leave the club. Whether Mourinho’s harsh words have the desired effect on his players remains to be seen, but this one’s just plain old Jose.