Manchester: Jose Mourinho acknowledged on Friday Manchester United’s current run of form is unacceptable as he battles to turn around their season. The 55-year-old Portuguese is under enormous pressure, with United in their worst position after seven league matches since 1989 — they are 10th, nine points adrift of the top two Manchester City and Liverpool — and a public dispute with star player Paul Pogba has sewn discord in the dressing room. His side are looking to end a run of four home matches without a win — their worst run at Old Trafford for 29 seasons — when they host Newcastle in the Premier League on Saturday.
Mourinho is adamant United will improve on their current league position of 10th but he accepted their form at present is not good enough. “Yes, I accept,” he said, although he refused to answer when asked if he could assure the fans he was doing everything he could to improve their form. A large part of the problem is the manager’s seeming inability to settle on a first-choice defence. He has started with nine different defensive combinations in 10 competitive fixtures across three competitions this season. “We don’t have the technical quality to build from the back,” Mourinho complained this week, although the inability to keep out opponents is also vexing him. Mourinho does not appear to have complete confidence in any of his four senior centre-backs
Chris Smalling, Phil Jones, Eric Bailly and Victor Lindelof — despite the fact that the latter two were his signings. The Portuguese manager has come up with some interesting attempts to solve the problem, including leaving Bailly on the bench and drafting in midfielder Scott McTominay as one of three centre-backs against West Ham last week. It is not the first time this season that Mourinho has thrown a selection curveball. Ander Herrera, another midfielder, was used in a three-man back line as Tottenham won 3-0 at Old Trafford in August. There was speculation after the Tottenham defeat that Mourinho’s selection might have been a protest against executive vice-chairman Ed Woodward’s refusal to sanction the signing of defender Harry Maguire from Leicester. The club were also linked with Tottenham’s Toby Alderweireld and Bayern Munich’s Jerome Boateng but ended up with no central defensive signings this summer.