Manchester United’s fans are still behind Jose Mourinho

Manchester United's turbulent start to the new season took a severe turn for the worse on Monday when they were thumped 3-0 at Old Trafford by Tottenham Hotspur.

As well as giving underfire manager Jose Mourinho his record home defeat in his career, the loss also ensured United's worst start to a Premier League season in 26 years.

Sportsmail asked Manchester United supporter Sam Peoples from the Peoples Person for his thoughts on Mourinho's position at Old Trafford and where the finger of blame for the poor start should be pointed.

Every Manchester United fan expected this Premier League season to be tough with Liverpool and Manchester City looking so strong. But no United fan expected the club to be thrown into chaos only a few games into the season.

On the surface for other fans, United look like a circus with Jose Mourinho not getting enough out of a squad he’s been allowed to invest more than £300million in.

The solution is simple - sack Mourinho, bring in a replacement and move on. But the problems at United run so much deeper than Jose.

In January 2018, Mourinho was given a new contract with United until 2020. The club backed Mourinho’s path and where he was moving toward. Fast forward six months and United’s problems began to surface with a dour Mourinho making it clear there were issues with his relationship and the board.

Ed Woodward and Co decided they knew more about  transfers than the manager they publicly backed with a new contract only a few months before.

Up until that point, Mourinho had absolutely been backed by United in the market. A world record deal for Paul Pogba, big money on Alexis Sanchez and Romelu Lukaku not to mention Fred and Diogo Dalot in the summer of 2018 - that’s a lot of investment.

It’s fair to criticise Mourinho for not getting more out of the players he had already signed. However, Woodward’s decision to undermine Mourinho created conditions for chaos which United now find themselves in.

Mourinho’s defenders know he doesn’t trust them as he wanted to sign new ones but wasn’t allowed to by the board.

Mourinho’s whole squad knows he didn’t have the club’s backing in the transfer market and so his ability to actually manage was completely undermined by the actions of the board. That’s why chaos has surfaced so early in the season. United have had plenty of shocking results in the last five years but the context of the current situation has caused the problems to manifest.

That’s not to say Mourinho is faultless because he isn’t. Jose’s combative style of management looks to be backfiring.

World Cup winning Paul Pogba looks lost again, Lukaku is misfiring, Fred is struggling to settle and as for United’s defence, that is an abomination bar Luke Shaw - even David De Gea looks shaky this season.

At Chelsea and Real Madrid, Mourinho’s relationship with the club’s higher powers eventually led to him being sacked or leaving. At United, fans hoped that would change and for the first two seasons it did look that way.

Unfortunately, into Jose’s third season fans are seeing the exact same sort of breakdown in relationships which eventually led to Mourinho moving on.

United fans are beginning to split about whether Mourinho is the right manager but the central support still stands behind him. You saw that with their round of applause in the Stretford End following the defeat by Tottenham Hotspur.

Mourinho still has time to turn it around, to get this United team playing the way they should be, to get United challenging for the Premier League. With the support of fans, Jose can still do it but he faces an uphill struggle.

Mourinho is an isolated figure against the press and United’s board - who are ultimately at fault for running this club like a business first and foremost - but he doesn’t stand alone. United’s core support are still behind Jose and if he can create that siege mentality again we thrived on under Sir Alex Ferguson, anything is still possible.

For more Manchester United news and views from Sam Peoples, visit thepeoplesperson.com