Mourinho: The distance between big clubs and the others is getting shorter

Manchester United manager Jose Mourinho claims that the gap in quality between the top clubs and everyone else is closing.

The Red Devils have had a tempestuous start to the season beset by inconsistency on the pitch and controversy off it. The Red Devils have already dropped points in the Premier League to much less successful clubs, and were chucked out of the League Cup on Wednesday by Championship side Derby County.

Capitulations against Brighton, Wolves and Derby might be one of the reasons that Mourinho has insisted that the quality-gap between those clubs and elite outfits like United have closed, despite all evidence to the contrary, which encompasses everything from finances, stadia and silverware.

“First of all, if you want to be pragmatic, if you want to be analysing what sport is and what sport can be, Real Madrid lost 3-0, Barcelona lost five points in two matches, AC Milan drew against Empoli, a newly-promoted team,” Mourinho told reporters (via Football 365).

“It looks like in football it is getting shorter and shorter and shorter the distance between the big clubs and the other clubs. That, for me, is an obvious situation.

“But, you know, I sometimes feel frustrated because the work we do and what we give to the process, I’m always expecting more.

“Especially I’m expecting more in terms of stability in the process and it looks like when we feel that we are really improving and playing better and having a good run of results, it looks like there is always a little going down in terms of the focus or the motivation.

“That I feel. That’s why when I come to you, you never see me speaking like ‘I don’t know what is going to happen tomorrow.’ I expect to win tomorrow, I expect to play very well tomorrow.

“We work very, very well, especially Wednesday and Thursday, so tomorrow I expect a very good performance and I expect to win a very difficult match.”

Mourinho asked commentators to judge him after his third season with United. The Portuguese tactician is at the beginning of his third campaign with the club and it’s already evident that the Red Devils are unlikely to clinch the Premier League title this season, and could even be lucky to finish in the top four.

In the summer transfer window, Mourinho’s relationship with Ed Woodward appeared to be strained after the vice-chairman did not sanction, or failed to secure, the bulk of his reported transfer requests.

The adversarial saga between Mourinho and Paul Pogba also intensified over the last week, with the France international being removed as United’s vice-captain, and a viral video emerged of the pair engaging in a boxing-style stare down at United’s training ground.

Pundits have debated and so far have failed to reach a consensus on the causes of United’s struggles, but this isn’t the first time that Mourinho has presided over a fractious dressing room. The common denominator here appears to be Mourinho.

With highly successful managers like Zinedine Zidane apparently looking for a new home, Mourinho will be under increasing pressure to improve results at Old Trafford. He faces his next test when the Red Devils take on Valencia in the Champions League on Tuesday.

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