But after a week when Manchester United have come under fire for their lack of attacking sparkle in the away games with Liverpool and Benfica, Mourinho insists he will not change the pragmatic methods that have established him as the most successful manager employed in the game.
Asked about the flak from former players and sections of the media, Mourinho made it clear he is in the business of getting results and winning rather trophies rather than pandering to the purists with an easy-on-the-eye style.
He said: “I think it’s my fault [the criticism] because people are used to my teams getting good results and winning titles.
“Other people have more time than I have. Other people have different standards than I have and that’s not a problem for me at all.
“We are going to lose matches, that’s obvious, and I can imagine we are going to have even more criticism than we have now. But honestly, it is no problem. I simply don’t care.
“It doesn’t change my mind or my stability. We work hard, we try to do the best we can and get the best possible results. In relation to the last match in Benfica, I would like to know when United last won two consecutive away Champions League matches? And I would also like to know the last time United won nine points from three matches in the Champions League? We are doing OK.”
United have kept nine clean sheets in 13 competitive matches this season, conceding only six goals, and despite criticism of their negativity in some games, manager Mourinho made it clear he will continue to adopt a cautious approach in certain fixtures.
“If a team defends badly, concedes five goals but attacks phenomenally well and scores six, then that’s absolutely beautiful and amazing,” he said.
“But I know my team cannot score four, five or six in every match. I know that, especially with a certain profile of matches, it is difficult for us to score a lot of goals. We have to try to find balances and I’m really happy with what the team is doing. Critics? No problem.”
United make their first visit to Huddersfield for 46 years today, the ‘Holy Trinity’ of George Best, Denis Law and Bobby Charlton scoring the goals in a 3-0 win in the 1971-72 season – the last time the Terriers were in the top flight.
Mourinho insists it will not be so easy this time around.
“We are silly if we don’t know what to expect,” he said.
“Everybody knows what it means to play against newly-promoted teams. The Huddersfield players will be buzzing and the supporters will be happy to have a big club playing in their stadium.”
And their head coach David Wagner has warned Huddersfield’s supporters to avoid becoming too demanding as the Premier League honeymoon effect wears off.
Wagner believes that his team will have no chance of survival if the fans start barracking the players when results go against them.
Reality is starting to bite for Huddersfield in the top division, with no wins and only one goal to show from their last six league matches as United prepare to visit.
As a result, Wagner’s team have dropped down the table, having briefly enjoyed top spot after winning their opening two matches.
“There is one mistake we should not make, and I know our supporters are so smart that they will not make that one mistake,” said Wagner.
“We must not take the extraordinary as ordinary, and we must not take the unusual as usual.
“What we have done so far, both this season and last season, is extraordinary. This is nothing we can take for granted.
“We are working on the extraordinary, and we want to deliver the extraordinary, day in, day out, but we have to accept that it is extraordinary, it is not ordinary.
“Are we struggling at the minute for goals? Yes. Is it usual? Of course it is, we are Huddersfield and we are in the Premier League.
“Do we try to change it? Yes. As hard as we can. Will we change it? Yes, of course we will.”
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