How Rio reacted to outspoken Mourinho's opinion on Man Utd quartet: "I just don't think it's right"

Former Manchester United defender Rio Ferdinand has lashed out at Jose Mourinho after the manager questioned the mentality of club youngsters.

Mourinho, 55, has been known to publicly criticise his players in the past, but his latest outburst was met by much dissatisfaction from Ferdinand, who believes the Red Devils manager was wrong to publicly undermine the club

What did Mourinho say about Man Utd youngsters? Four things to know

1. Speaking in an interview with Spanish TV, Mourinho said Man Utd youngsters lack the “character” of previous generations.
2. He suggested that young players are not as “prepared for life” as in previous years when progressing through the ranks.
3. Mourinho was critical of Luke Shaw, Anthony Martial, Marcus Rashford and Jesse Lingard.
4. The Portuguese manager was also particularly judgmental of Shaw, stating that the England international lacked the mental resilience to cope when he first took the reins at Old Trafford.

Shaw was unavailable for selection this weekend, but Rashford, Lingard and Martial all collectively fired a blank and were noticeably poor in a rather insipid United performance against the Eagles, and Ferdinand believes Mourinho’s comments beforehand would only have hindered the quartet’s progress and confidence.

“When you get comments where he’s hammering four or five of the young players at the club, saying their mentality isn’t right, what do you expect?” the former United defender said during BT Sport’s coverage of the late kick-off between Spurs and Chelsea.

“Do you expect to have players on your side or do you expect your players to go ‘hold on a minute, my manager is hammering me in public again’?

“I just don’t think it’s right for a football manager to be doing that. I don’t think you’re going to get productivity out of those kinds of comments. I don’t think it’s proactive for the club.

“What he’s said might be true. He’s behind closed doors, he sees these boys day in, day out. He might look at those four or five kids and go ‘you know what, this is exactly how I feel about you’. He’s got that right to say that.

“But I think behind closed doors, in the changing room, embarrass them in front of the team. You don’t get positivity doing that publicly and the fans don’t like that either.”

READ MORE: Man Utd 0-0 Crystal Palace: five things learned as Mourinho’s side are booed off at Old Trafford

“Man Utd lacked heart v Palace”

Speaking after the Crystal Palace draw Mourinho further hit out at his side, stating that a number of his players lacked “heart” in the match.

Palace had a number of golden opportunities but could not take their chances, while United lost further ground on the race for a top-four finish, with the club now seven points off fourth-place Chelsea, and Mourinho was less than impressed with the performance.

“You must play with brain and also with heart and I think not enough heart,” he told BBC Sport.

“We didn’t have that intensity that in my opinion is basically related with your brain, with your heart. There are games that are special games and not just one more, and this was a special game.

“It was the first of eight Premier League games until the end of December and a game we needed to win, and it was not enough from the heart.”

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