Mourinho Must Stop Criticising Stars – Paul Parker

Jose Mourinho thinks that he can “go around and say what he wants” but he cannot, according to former Manchester United defender Paul Parker.

United manager Mourinho singled out left-back Luke Shaw for criticism after the club’s 3-1 defeat at Watford on Sunday, which was their third defeat in a row in all competitions.

Parker told Eurosport: “After 16 years as a manager, he still hasn’t learnt to lose with dignity — shifting the blame for everything on to referees and his players. I’ve been concerned from the moment Manchester United took him on and his scathing remarks about Luke Shaw only make me more concerned.

“Mourinho thinks he can go around and say what he wants — because of his name and what he’s achieved — and the players will accept it. Newsflash: they won’t.

“If it was Sir Alex Ferguson, the players would bite their tongues, but even he never went to the press and pulled out one player. You would have thought Mourinho had learnt his lesson from Chelsea.”

Parker, who played under Ferguson between 1991 and 1996, fears that United could finish outside the top four again. He believes that the three wins at the start of the season were “deceptive” and that United would have won more emphatically against those opponents in years gone by.

Discussing captain Wayne Rooney, he said: “Are you not allowed to drop Wayne Rooney because he’s England captain? Every single fan is laughing at the situation. [Henrikh] Mkhitaryan must be thinking: ‘Rooney isn’t fit to lace my boots. He can’t even run.'”

Parker did not blame world-record signing Paul Pogba for the poor form, adding: “United have to get people around him to extract the best from him. Bring back Bastian Schweinsteiger. The man’s a World Cup winner and has won numerous amounts of medals playing as one of the best central midfielders in world football. He could do a good job in a deeper position, allowing Pogba the freedom to play.”