For just the third time in his entire managerial career, Jose Mourinho, the new Manchester United boss fell to three consecutive defeats. After the loss to Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City, Untied fell prey on trips to Feyenoord and Watford and are now without a win in their last three games.
However, the manager does not seem fazed by the situation and has simply pushed the blame onto the referees saying that it was bad refereeing that cost them the game.
This kind of an attitude was precisely what got him out of his job at the Bridge last season and early signs are clear that Mourinho has not learnt much from his previous mistakes.
Stressing on the very fact was former Manchester United boss Ron Atkinson.
Atkinson, who managed United from 1981 to 1986, in a recent interview opened up about the situation at the club at the moment and urged the new manager to change his methods to find some success.
He went on to say that he has made certain changes to his approach to the game and felt that he needed to do certain things right to have a better time at the club than his predecessors in Louis van Gaal and David Moyes.
“I have never been a huge fan of this siege mentality he brings to his clubs,” Atkinson said.
“There’s nothing wrong with being fiercely protective of your players, but that doesn’t mean you have to antagonise everybody else,” he added.
He went on to say that the approach Mourinho has to the game will not help him sustain his place at the club and felt that it can change that whole outlook of the club in years to come if he keeps his mentality going.
“I don’t think that approach would work at Manchester United because it can lead to the club becoming claustrophobic,” he said.
He also added that a club of United’s stature should not indulge in trying to pin the blame on others and though it will keep his players confident, that it might dent the popularity of the club.
“It is a global brand and you cannot run it as your personal fiefdom. United is a expansive club, it’s a club of the people. Telling everyone that ‘It’s us against the world’ doesn’t really wash, because United have lots of friends – they probably have more fans on the planet than anyone else.
“Jose has an engaging personality and it would be a shame if he got sidetracked by siege mentality and taking on the world,” he added.
The manager will try to get back to winning ways this mid-week when United face Northampton in the English League Cup on Wednesday.