Jose Mourinho snaps at female reporter after she asked him a question about Manchester United’s chemistry
Bein Sports reporter Carrie Brown asked if United lacked chemistry and communication in the 3-2 defeat against Brighton and Hove Albion
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Jose Mourinho appeared to try and undermine female reporter Carrie Brown after giving a sarcastic response to a question about the chemistry of his Manchester United side following the 3-2 defeat by Brighton and Hove Albion on Sunday.
The United manager lost his cool in his post-match press conference as he hit out at the media for their reporting of his comments last season, but it was a one-on-one interview with Bein Sports reporter Brown that caught attentions for all the wrong reasons.
Speaking to Mourinho immediately after the match in the Amex Stadium tunnel, Brown asked the Portuguese whether the performance was one “befitting of a Manchester United side”, receiving a short answer for her efforts.
“We made mistakes, and we were punished by the mistakes,” Mourinho said.
Brown followed up by questioning whether it was fair to say that the United team lacked chemistry and communication during the performance, which triggered the stern response from Mourinho.
“You must be fantastic in your job to have the ability to speak about chemistry between players,” he said, without looking at Brown while he answered.
Brown asked a third question based in the substitutions that Mourinho made at half-time, with Andreas Pereira and Juan Mata replaced by Jesse Lingard and Marcus Rashford in an attempt to spark his side into life.
But when he was asked about why his side still lacked the creative attack needed to break down Brighton in his press conference, he snapped once again.
“If I was in your position [the media], I think this game today would give me quite a lot of material to write about. But don’t expect me to speak with you about it,” he said.
“Because you and your colleagues were really critical me when in previous seasons I was probably too honest and too open in my analysing and I was too honest and too open in analysing about players’ performances. So don’t ask me to do what you criticised me so much for. Expect from me to be really happy to say after Leicester, A, B, C, D, an amazing performance, this and that. Don’t expect me to go in the other direction.”
The defeat is an early setback for United in their bid to close down the gap to rivals Manchester City last Sunday, with Mourinho’s side already three points off Pep Guardiola’s after their emphatic 6-1 victory over Huddersfield Town at the Etihad Stadium on Sunday.
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