Manchester United head coach Jose Mourinho cut a despondent figure at his pre-match press conference on Friday, refusing to give supporters assurances he can turn fortunes around.
United have experienced a miserable few weeks, failing to beat Wolves and Valencia, losing at West Ham and exiting the Carabao Cup through a loss to Derby County.
The red devils take on Newcastle United at Old Trafford looking to win at home for the first time in five games, though Mourinho seemed to be hopeless when he met the media.
He conceded that United have underperformed ‘for many different reasons’ though refused to talk much on those, before the questioning was directed to Saturday’s match rather than the happenings at the club.
After talking about Newcastle’s threat, the topic turned back to United’s poor form, and Mourinho accepted that a fifth straight home game without a win would be unacceptable.
He was then asked to give fans assurances that he will turn the club’s fortune around, but instead of answering he stared in silence for seconds until the press officer moved onto the second.
Q: Jose, you’ve gone four without a win, the club’s only gone five without a win once since 1999, do you accept that kind of run for a club of this size is not good enough?
JM: Yes, I accept.
Q: And are the fans assured that you’re doing everything that you can to try and turn this around?
Jose Mourinho refuses to answer.
However, Mourinho did agree that it was important for United to win against Newcastle, saying: ‘That’s true. Only one defeat at home all season, only one defeat in last seven matches, but not victories at home in the past three matches.
‘Three draws. Not the feeling of the defeat, but not the happiness of the victory. So yes it’s important for us to try to win this match on Saturday.’
He added: ‘I know we are in the beginning of October, and we look to tables all around Europe and in many of the leagues the tables in September, October they don’t reflect what is going to happen in a few months later, or even in the end of the season.
‘But we are in a position that we can do much better than that. And to do that we need points.
Click below to follow us for more football updates…
Facebook – @Livesoccerupdates
Twitter – @Lsoccerupdates
Instagram – @Lsoccerupdates
Would you like to receive football updates for free?
WhatsApp the word NEWS to +2349034642498
‘Points that we lost especially in the last two Premier League matches with one point out of six and we know that to improve that position we need to win these three points [against Newcastle].’
