Manager Jose Mourinho guided Manchester United to the EFL Cup title last weekend and he has the Red Devils currently in the race for top four, and alive deep into the FA Cup and Europa League. Today brought his weekly Friday press conference, and with it a ton of great soundbites.
However, one section truly stood out, heads and shoulders above the rest.
“I think Manchester United learn I am not the monster that you say I am, I’m not such a bad guy, an arrogant guy, a difficult person to work with, at least until now nobody at the training ground runs away when I arrive, not even Karen,” Jose Mourinho said in response to a question about his future with the club.
“So I think I am better than you think, people are quite happy to have me around and to work with me, the relation with the players is very good and with my owners and my board the relation I don’t think is just professional, it’s also a relation of trust and a relation that goes further than the contract, the manager, the owner, the board, so I’m happy.”
“My feeling is everyone is happy but obviously my contract is three years, not seven or eight months and I want evolution and improvement.”
The Special One is obviously having some fun with the negative coverage he sometimes receives in the press, but you can’t overlook the timing of this statement. Yesterday, we saw excerpts from Mesut Ozil’s book published, and they revealed that Mourinho once called him “a coward” during their Real Madrid days.
Of course, Ozil maintains that he really likes Mourinho, then and now.
Here’s the full session from earlier today. Have a watch via YouTube at this link.
United head to AFC Bournemouth where they will be substantially favored. Here is the link to our injury and fitness report for this match. And the link to our starting XI prediction.
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank.net and TheBank.News, partnered with FOX Sports Engage Network. and News Now. Banks, a former writer for the Washington Times and NBC Chicago.com, contributes to Chicago Tribune.com, Bold, WGN CLTV and KOZN.
Follow him on Twitter, Instagram, Sound Cloud and YouTube