JOSE MOURINHO : THE CLOCK IS TICKING.

Jose Mourinho really should be in politics; his ability to twist the truth, or even to deny it, is remarkable.

After losing 3-0 at home to Tottenham last night, he appeared in front of the media and claimed that his side were far superior and should have been at least 2 goals ahead at half-time. Yes, Lukaku did miss something of a sitter, but Tottenham were also denied a clear penalty after Phil Jones blatantly fouled Lucas Moura in an incident which was missed by the officials. In the second half, Tottenham scored 3 times and could have had more had Dele Alli passed to Kane when the latter was clear, and managed to get his feet sorted out when he had only De Gea to beat; additionally, Kane missed a header when it must have been easier to score.

Mourinho sees only what he wants to. Nothing is ever his fault, this time it all appears to be down to the failure of the club to cough up millions more to buy new players, despite the fact that the arrival of Romelu Lukaku and Paul Pogba alone had cost at least £165m. Tottenham, on the other hand, have never paid more than £40m for a single player and have never spent a tiny fraction of Mourinho's annual transfer budget; they rely on developing young players through a programme of early identification of talented youngsters followed by intensive coaching. This year, they brought in no new players at all, relying on the squad they already have.

Mourinho doesn't do development. He has thrived by only managing teams with big budgets and established players; as soon as things have started to deteriorate, he's moved on. He's never been challenged to achieve success with an existing squad enhanced only by a minimal transfer budget; basically, he doesn't have the ability, or desire, to do it.

When things go wrong, Mourinho whinges; he deflects questions and criticisms, as he did yesterday when he confusingly turned a discussion of a 3-0 home defeat into a conversation about him having won the Premier League 3 times, using the number 3 as some sort of anchor for his argument. Mourinho relies on an arguable reputation to keep him in his job; effectively, you can't sack me, I'm too good. "Give me the resources I demand, and I'll win for you", is his argument. Well, he's had millions and it's still not enough; he needs more for defenders, midfielders or whatever. The truth is that he could be given an unlimited chequebook and he'd still complain. 

If Manchester United are to regain their old prowess, Mourinho has to go. The media stories about conflict between him and his chairman, Ed Woodward, or between him and his players may or may not be true but they are symptomatic of problems at the heart of the club. Those problems won't go away until Mourinho does.