Manchester United manager Jose Mourinho just met the media ahead of tomorrow night’s massive UEFA Champions League group stage clash at home versus Juventus, and boy, there is a whole lot to unpack here.
The press conference got extremely testy, and the session included Mourinho hitting out at reporters, and then taking the discussion in the direction he wanted to go, focusing on the topics he was interested in. To be fair, there is blame on all sides for why this press conference was so awkward, and often contentious.
Video of the full session is below:
Manchester United vs Juventus FYIs
Injury Report for both clubs: go to this link
Kickoff: Tuesday October 23, 8pm BST, Old Trafford
United starting XI Prediction: go to this link
Odds via Odds Checker: United 12/5, Draw 12/5, Juventus 7/5
Prediction: Juventus 1, United 0
The United press officer has been extremely testy and stubborn all season long, but on Monday she was really obstinate about trying to make all reporters ask game related questions only. Sorry, but that’s not how media works. You can’t tell reporters what to ask and what not to ask, just like you can’t tell coaches and players what to answer and what not to answer. Freedom of speech is a two-way street.
Also, Mourinho and the press officer started a slippery slope by claiming questions about individual players aren’t game-related queries. If the specific player being queried about is in the game being previewed, it’s a fair question; period. Also, Mourinho was needlessly defensive and surly in response to the Ronaldo question, which hasn’t especially confrontational.
Now on the other hand, Mourinho is completely right- Spanish media are only really interested in Cristiano Ronaldo and Real Madrid most of the time. Given how this is a game that doesn’t feature Real Madrid, and that it’s between an English side and an Italian club, he makes a good point. Also, I do applaud his taking the discourse in the direction he wanted to go, to get his message out there. Kudos to him on that.
Now let’s run-down the major takeaways from the session.
Both Antonio Valencia and Alexis Sanchez are injured and won’t participate.
“The players you saw are the players that are available,” Mourinho said. “There is nothing to hide and Alexis is out.”
He dismissed any links to Real Madrid, and maintains that he is happy with United and would like to stay beyond his contract.
“My future is here,” he said. “I have a contract and until the final days of my contract I only think about Manchester United. I would like to stay after my contract runs out as well.”
Mourinho doesn’t believe Marco Ianni, the number two assistant under Maurizio Sarri at Chelsea, should be sacked for celebrating in front of him on Saturday at Stamford Bridge. Mourinho accepted Ianni’s apology, and expressed thanks to Chelsea and Sarri.
“I want to thank Sarri for his honesty, I want to thank Chelsea for its honesty, too, but I’m not happy that it is going too far with the young boy, I don’t think he deserves more than what he got,” Mourinho said.
“He apologized to me, I accept his apologies, I think he deserves a second chance, I don’t think he deserves to be sacked.”
“His club was strong with him and he went through a situation he recognizes he was wrong. So I hope everybody does the same as I did which is not to disturb a career of a young guy which is probably a great guy, is probably a coach of great potential and I’m not happy with it more than that.”
“It is end of story, with me, in the minutes he apologized to me, but I would really like the boy not to go through more than that. Let him work, everybody makes mistakes, I made mistakes, I hope they let the kid go.”
At the 5:22 mark of the video above, Mourinho received a question about Paul Pogba facing his former team, and that’s when he got ultra-defensive.
“I don’t like this press conference,” Mourinho said.
“I think the press conference is going in other directions. If the press conference is going in other directions then I want to go in another direction. I don’t want to speak about Pogba, I don’t want to speak about individuals or Spanish journalists. I want to speak about one of the biggest candidates of winning the competition. That is what motivates me, that’s what brings me here. If the press conference is going in other directions, I want to go in another direction.”
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank.net and TheBank.News, which is partnered with News Now. Banks, a former writer for NBC Chicago.com and Chicago Tribune.com, is currently a regular contributor to SB Nation, WGN CLTV and Chicago Now.
Follow him on Twitter, Instagram, Sound Cloud and YouTube. The content of his cat’s Instagram account is unquestionably superior to any and all of his.