The Manchester United boss was not happy about his squad, the referees and plenty more after a loss to the Reds in Michigan
Jose Mourinho saw his Manchester United side beaten by Liverpool in Michigan – and then insisted American supporters deserved more from the International Champions Cup.
The United boss was in an abrasive mood following his team’s 4-1 defeat on Saturday evening, pulling no punches in a remarkable 12-minute post-game press conference.
In it, he called on his board to deliver at least one new signing before the end of the transfer window, revealing he had given them a list of five names “months ago” and claimed United had been in the USA this summer only to “survive” and to “get some not-too-ugly results.”
His comments about the quality of the match though, will cause the most stir. Saturday’s game was watched by a crowd of 101,254, but Mourinho told them afterwards that he would not have paid to see what was served up by the two teams.
“The atmosphere was good, but if I was them I wouldn’t come,” he said. “I wouldn’t spend my money to see these teams.
“These people here showed how much they love their clubs. They come just to enjoy their clubs. That is fantastic, and why people like [Ander] Herrera and others have so much respect for the fans, and they give everything they have."
Though he was impressed by the fans, Mourinho didn't have quite the same feelings toward the American referee crew.
“The atmosphere was obviously fantastic. Two fantastic goals from [Andreas] Pereira and from [Xherdan] Shaqiri, but the referees they came by mistake," the manager said. "They were called by the baseball federation and thought it was a baseball game, they arrived here and it was soccer! It was good fun.”
Mourinho added: “The passion that many Americans have for soccer deserves more. It deserves the best teams.
“What creates passion is quality, the good players, the good teams. It’s a good Liverpool-Manchester United, a good Manchester United-Real Madrid. But then you have the World Cup, no respect for the clubs or the players, the players deserve holidays. It’s confused.
“I feel sorry for people that work since 2004 to try to promote soccer in the country, the way they invest to bring the best clubs in the U.S. We and some other clubs, Liverpool was different, were not able to give the people the real quality football, which is what can attract even more passion.”
Asked about the need for ‘reinforcements’ at Old Trafford before the new season, Mourinho said: “This [result] is nothing to do with reinforcements. The reinforcements are Pogba, Fellaini, Lindelof, Rashford, Lingard, Matic, Valencia. These are reinforcements.
“This is not our team, this is not our squad. We started the game with almost half of the players who are not even going to belong to our squad on Aug. 9. They will not be here.
“This is not our squad. Reinforcements, you mean players that I would like to buy, to add to the squad. That’s another thing, but this is not my squad, this is not even half my squad, or 30 per cent of it. So don’t look to this.
“I would like to have two more players. I think I am not going to get two. I think that it’s possible I will have one. And that one, I gave a list to my club of five names a few months ago. And I wait to see if it’s possible to have one of these players. If it’s possible it’s possible, if it’s not it’s not. If it’s possible it’s good, if not then we keep fighting and working and believing in the players that we have.”
Mourinho revealed Nemanja Matic would miss the start of the season following surgery on an unspecified injury, and defended senior players such as Alexis Sanchez, who has cut a frustrated figure during their tour of the USA.
“Look, do you want him to be very happy with the players he has around him?” Mourinho said. “We are not playing here to improve the team or our dynamic or routines. We are playing here just to try to survive and to have some not-very-ugly results.
“Alexis is the only attacking player we have. We don’t have wingers, we don’t have strikers. He’s the only one who is here, and the poor man is there trying his best, with the frustration of somebody that wants more. Against Milan he played fantastically well, and he did his best here.
"I don’t think you are right to say he is not happy. If he is not happy he is not ready to play two consecutive matches of 90 minutes and 85 minutes working the way he worked.”